Personnel Retraining

East African military industry was primarily centered on heavy industry. Light industry had short production cycles, required little investment, produced quick results, and could rapidly recoup capital and turn a profit.

Heavy industry, conversely, suffered from these drawbacks. Of course, in the nineteenth century, heavy industrial development was still in its infancy, so these issues were not yet obvious. In countries such as Britain, France, and Germany, heavy industry profits were quite substantial. In normal years, the risks were basically minimal, making investment in heavy industry both profitable and relatively stable.

It also benefited competition among nations. In the nineteenth century, military strength was the fundamental guarantee of national development. Otherwise, one side might be producing in peace today, only for the great powers to arrive tomorrow with "sturdy ships and mighty guns," blast open its gates, and destroy its domestic industries. In that case, development would be out of the question.

"Military industry is one of the few industrial sectors in our country capable of independent research and design. The state has invested its limited talent into military industrial development, while among civilian industries, only a few sectors—railways, steel, electricity, automobiles, and the like—have such capital. Given East Africa's talent training cycle, we will have to wait until at least after 1895 to reach the standards of Europe and America."

This was the current state of East Africa's talent reserves. East African talent mainly relied on the early graduates trained by Hechingen School—that is, the various schools established in Europe by the Hechingen Royal Family—supplemented by East Africans currently studying and working in Europe. Training local talent, meanwhile, took more than a decade, or even several decades.

As of 1888, East Africa still retained more than seven hundred language schools, with over eight thousand faculty and staff.

"Further