The Austro-Hungarian Empire had already fallen into a vicious cycle militarily. This was not an economic problem, but a political one. The East African Navy felt it most deeply; in its cooperation with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it could clearly sense the severe decline in troop quality, while the pace of equipment upgrades also lagged behind East Africa's. The East African Navy had merely refrained from expanding in size, whereas the Austro-Hungarian Navy was completely crawling forward in place.
Under such circumstances, Germany's position in Europe truly did not look promising. Without Italy, that two-faced turncoat, and with the Austro-Hungarian Empire dragging it down militarily, even if Germany wanted to launch a war as it had in the previous life, it would first need to find suitable allies. From the look of things, it was hard to say whether the Central Powers of the original history could even be formed.
Of course, there were pros and cons. Seeking new allies also meant avoiding the pitfall of a scoundrel like Italy, who switched sides before the war in the previous life.
Of course, the likelihood of the First World War breaking out still exceeded eighty percent. After all, Germany's national strength was growing even faster than in the previous life. With the British lending a hand, East Africa would naturally avoid Britain in economic cooperation, while East Africa's enormous market and most of its raw materials had gone cheaply to industrial nations such as Germany.
Yet East Africa simultaneously maintained ambiguous relations with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, France, Tsarist Russia, Spain, and other nations, so Ernst himself was curious about how the course of history would change.
April 28, 1898.
Pontianak Port.
As East Africa's most important port in the Nanyang region, Pontianak Port had received considerable investment from East Africa. Even