Of course, the construction of the "three ministries" was also tied to the broader course of international economic development. This brought things back to the economic crisis of 1873. From East Africa's perspective, the effects of that crisis seemed to have ended long ago—or perhaps it had never happened at all. It could even be said that its positive significance for East Africa outweighed its negative effects.
Yet in reality, the negative effects of the 1873 economic crisis continued to this day. Although it had ended in 1879, world economic trade subsequently fell into a depression. Its specific manifestation was that free trade was replaced by trade protectionism, and Europe and America had yet to fully emerge from its shadow.
Russia was a typical example. After the economic crisis ended, the Russian economy remained sluggish. After all, Russia possessed the weakest economic system among the European and American countries. Thus, even after the crisis ended, a lack of investor confidence resulted in severely inadequate Russian economic growth.
Other countries fared much better, especially Germany and the United States, whose economies had already recovered through various economic measures. As for Britain and France, they took the colonial route, shifting the crisis onto their colonial territories. This was also one of the causes of the South African War.
Unfortunately, even through war, Britain had failed to pry open the East African market. As a result, it could only intensify its exploitation of colonies such as India.
However, as time passed, this economic crisis—the most influential of the nineteenth century—would eventually come to an end. It was now 1895, and in the original history, the effects of the 1873 economic crisis would end next year.
What followed would be more than thirty years of "Great Prosperity" for the world economy. Although a World