Chapter 4 The Possibility of Acquiring Congo

Seemingly dissatisfied with her husband's carelessness, Queen Olga turned to George and groaned: "George, you are not going to say something?".

　　George picked up the napkin, wiped his mouth in a hurry, and said slowly: "For Constantine, this matter, whether his plan succeeds or fails, is a rare experience, and it is based on mine. From a point of view, there is indeed a possibility of success, although it is unlikely."

　　When Queen Olga heard her husband's supportive attitude, she was very dissatisfied. She imitated George's tone and shook her head. So far, Constantine's plan has spent 4 million francs. Depending on the situation, the high expenditure will continue. You had better be mentally prepared."

　　The so-called Constantine plan is to fund explorers to go to Central Africa to explore, explorers get honor and money, and Constantine gets a colony.

　　The reason for this risky move was also helpless.

　　Greece, a country, became independent from the Ottoman Empire in 1830, but the Greek peninsula is really not a suitable place for farming development. The mountains are undulating and resources are scarce.

　　The theme of the 19th century was empire and conquest, wars were frequent, and the strength of a country was determined by the output of coal and iron.

　　Greece is not only sparsely populated, but also lacks coal and iron ore.

　　Lignite is rich in content, but lignite has a low calorific value, burns a lot of dust, and has a high sulfur content. It is the lowest quality coal. In the nineteenth century, this coal could only be burned to generate electricity.

　　As for iron ore, there is no iron ore distribution in Greece.

　　In the 19th century, there was no coal and iron. Such a country could only beat soy sauce, without any sense of existence.

　　Greece is such a country. By 1882, Greece had been independent for 50 years. The industry was still in a primitive state, and the backward transportation caused the countryside to be closed and conservative, the concept was outdated, and the agriculture was also very backward. It even spent precious foreign exchange imports every year. food.

　　It doesn't matter if she can't become an industrial country, but according to Greece's resource endowment, she can't even be an agricultural country.

　　The country's weak strength can only be left to the arrangement of the great powers, following the powers' buttocks, and acting as a younger brother. Britain and France are also the protectorate of Greece.

　　The backwardness of the economy naturally leads to political chaos. The term of office of the elected prime minister is as short as a dozen days, and the term is only a year or so, which is replaced like a marquee.

Due to the long-term backward and barbaric rule of the Ottoman Turks, although the constitution was enacted and universal suffrage was implemented, it was suddenly implemented. There were many drawbacks in the election process, and corruption in elections was endless.

　　Industry cannot be developed, and agriculture is not enough.

　　In order to maintain the country, Greece can only borrow a large amount of foreign debt. In the 19th century, the foreign debt cannot be obtained in full after borrowing. It must be discounted. Ten percent is actually a good achievement.

　　Although nominally speaking, Greece has become independent, the policies of this country are always influenced by various imperialist countries. Britain, France and Russia have profound influence in Greece, and Greece has never actually been independent.

　　In the Crimean War of 1853, Britain, France and Turkey, Russia on the other, nearly a million troops fought off the coast of the Black Sea. The attention of Ottoman Turkey was almost completely attracted by the Russians, and the Turks had no time to take care of Greece.

　　When the people in Greece saw this situation, the sentiment was infuriated, and the nationalists shouted for the restoration of the land and the glory. It was at this time.

　　At that time, King Otto I, under great domestic pressure, was also happy to take this opportunity to expand his territory, increase his prestige in the hearts of the Greek people, mobilize his army, and prepare to join the war.

　　As a result, Otto's move caused great dissatisfaction with Britain and France. The British and French ambassadors came together to severely reprimand King Otto and sent a fleet to gather in the Eastern Mediterranean.

　　Otto could only compromise under the huge pressure of Britain and France, but it made the Greek people seriously dissatisfied with his incompetence and weakness. Later, Otto was deposed by the Greeks.

　　In the original history, in the later World War, Greece once again staged a similar scene, but this time it was Constantine himself.

　　When faced with a muddy puddle of Greece, even a traverser, Constantine was in a state of exhaustion.

　　The mouse pulls the tortoise, there is no place to talk.

　　Once inadvertently, I heard King George say that European explorers are conducting expeditions in southern Africa, and he often sponsors some money.

　　Constantine, who heard about this, moved in his heart. Isn't this a good opportunity to break the game? The bad situation in Greece will not change in a short time. There are no windfalls and no wealth, no horses, no grass and no fat. It is better to try Here is an opportunity abroad.

Failure is only the loss of some money. If it succeeds, if Greece can obtain a resource-rich African colony, it may not be able to hold the tail of the second industrial revolution and grow stronger.

　　The world at that time had almost been divided up. Only southern Africa was in a state of inconvenience and was in a wild state. African natives lived in the tribal era and were too backward. It could not provide the cheap raw materials and commodity dumping markets urgently needed by the imperialist countries.

　　Only Britain and France established several strongholds in Southern Africa, such as the Cape Town colony, because of colonial activities and overseas trade needs.

　　Therefore, there are still large blank landless areas in the inland areas of southern Africa, such as the Congo River Basin.

　　Then, for a river with such a large flow of water as the Congo River, why is there no one going upstream by boat for commercial and expedition activities?

　　The reason is also very simple. The lower reaches of the Congo River flows smoothly and the river is wide, from the west coast of Africa to the Atlantic Ocean. However, if you sail inland along the river for dozens of kilometers (near Matadi), you will encounter waterfalls in the lower reaches of the Congo River. There are a series of waterfalls that hinder people from upstreaming the river. With a veil of mystery, her true appearance is still unknown.

　　In 1816, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Geographical Society of London's entrance to the Congo River had been discovered three centuries later.

There is still so little information about this river, I can't help being surprised, so I entrusted Colonel Tucker to take the responsibility of exploring the connection between the Niger River and the Congo River on the Congo sailing ship.

　　This expedition was a huge disaster. They were prevented by the waterfall and could only travel through the waterfall area on foot. The sixty-five expedition team, including several experts and scholars, died one after another.

　　In the next half century, no scientific expedition dared to venture on the Congo River.

　　The series of waterfalls on the Congo River have greatly reduced people's interest in this area. No matter how rich the resources of the Congo River Basin, the transportation is inconvenient, and the water transport is impassable, it will be meaningless if it can't be transported out.

　　Unless any country is determined to spend huge sums of money on the construction of railways in the Congo River basin, bypassing the waterfall areas of the Congo River and other tributaries of the Congo River.

　　It is almost impossible to figure out the resource situation of Congo without scientific investigation data and geographic information.

　　In the original time and space, the early commodities produced in the Congo River Basin were rubber and ivory. Relying on these two commodities, the huge investment in building railways would be earned back, and it would have to wait until the year of the monkey.

　　In the original time and space, King Leopold II of Belgium was in charge of this role, but in this time and space, Leopold II asked a geographer. com did not make up his mind.

　　It is precisely because the development of the Congo River Basin requires a large amount of investment, the specific conditions such as geography, society, and natural resources are still unclear, which has led to no other countries showing much interest.

　　After Constantine knew about this situation, he told George I of his thoughts. After listening to Constantine's reasons, George I also felt that it was possible to succeed.

　　This possibility depends on two conditions:

　　It is more difficult for the First Congo region to develop and obtain benefits.

　　Colonial powers such as Britain and France have vast colonies. Instead of investing money in the Congo River Basin, which is hot and rainy, and the risk of return is relatively high, it is better to invest in other places with higher yields and lower risks, such as South Africa in the United Kingdom. , France's Vietnam is much more profitable than the Congo River Basin.

　　This determines that Britain and France will not stalk and entangle themselves in the Congo region.

　　The second Congo River Basin is geographically important.

Open the map and you will understand that the Congo River Basin is located in the center of Africa. If a powerful country occupies this area and gains a firm foothold, it will definitely attack everywhere, expand in Africa, and other countries that colonize the borders of Africa. Will be very passive.

　　This determines that whether Britain, France or Germany and Italy, these countries with the intention of colonial expansion, even if they have the idea of ​​occupying the Congo Basin, other countries will strongly oppose it.

　　Combining these two points, a country like Greece, which is weak and can control for them at will, seems impossible, but it is the most likely to get Congo.

　　After figuring out these two points, whether to place a heavy bet on Congo, there is only one decisive question left: Is it worth the heavy bet for Congo?