Since Great Economic Crisis of 1929, totalitarian forces in the world have expanded rapidly, which is manifested in the rise of Extreme Nationalist Party in Europe, the governmentalization of the US military in South Africa, and so on.
This all shows that the world colonial system built by Britain and France since the end of the 19th century is on the verge of collapse.
This world order system includes military, economic, ideological, cultural and many other fields. The rise of totalitarian forces shows that the opportunity for the disintegration of the old international order in the ideological field has arrived.
Among these fields, the economy was the first to collapse. Since the end of the 19th century, countries such as Germany, United States, East Africa, and the Soviet Union have risen economically and industrially, which has broken the original world economic order.
The collapse of the economic order has contributed to the strengthening and awakening of national consciousness in late-developing countries and backward regions. Late-developing countries demand a redistribution of spoils, while countries and nations in backward regions demand independence.
If we want to completely overthrow the old international order, there is only one last step left, which is to break the military hegemony of the old international order headed by Britain and France.
All in all, the pace of war is slowly approaching. Whoever can gain more military advantages before the new spoils division conference will have the upper hand.
This is also the reason why East Africa attaches great importance to Austro-Hungarian military talents. This is an excellent opportunity for East Africa to study the development of modern European War.
July 5, 1934.
East Africa, lower Zambezi.
Since the start of Kabrasabasa Reservoir, the entire area in the lower reaches of Zambezi has been extremely lively and busy. The project itself has the strategic intention to change the pattern of East African economy.
Reservoir construction involves issues such as electricity consumption, water resource distribution, shipping, etc. that are directly related to the development of surrounding towns and villages. Therefore, the construction of Kabrasabasa Reservoir is a systematic project.
Today, the new Tete City Cross-River Bridge is officially completed.
This bridge spanning Zambezi River is 892 meters long and adopts a suspension structure. It is currently the first suspension bridge in East Africa and ranks first in length.
The reason why it is temporary is because the downstream Xindai city cross-river bridge is planned to be longer than it and also uses a suspension structure. However, due to technical problems, the construction started one and a half years later than Tete City Cross-River Bridge.
The main technical problem of the Xindai city cross-river bridge is wind resistance. The East African coast is also vulnerable to the threat of typhoons. In the last century, Bella City and other southeastern coasts were hit by typhoons.
Therefore, from the perspective of safety, East Africa has set up a scientific research team to overcome this problem and improve the wind resistance of the Xindai city cross-river bridge. In addition, Xindai city is located on the Zambezi River Delta continent, and its geological structure is also different from that of Tete City. The soil is softer, so it must deal with issues such as settlement.
"The construction of Tete City Cross-River Bridge will be more conducive to future development along the Tete City, break the geographical isolation of urban areas, help urban expansion, and drive the development of the south bank of the river." O'Connell, Mayor of East Africa Tete City, said at the press conference.
"At the same time, after the new cross-river bridge is completed, and when the new railway bridge is completed, the original Tete City old bridge will also be prepared for demolition."
"Thereby ensuring the compatibility of Tete City's land transportation and shipping, this will completely lay the foundation for Tete City's status as an important national water and land hub."
Originally, Tete City built a dual-purpose railway and highway bridge, which was completed in East Africa during First Five-Year Plan. The background was the accelerated construction stage of railways across East Africa at that time.
At that time, the national railway network in East Africa was rapidly forming, and Tete City was already scheduled to become an important industrial city in East Africa in the future and a new steel production base. Therefore, Tete City's transportation development was naturally a top priority during the First Five-Year Plan period in East Africa.
However, due to technical limitations at the time, the Tete City railway bridge did not have redundant space for later river navigation. Therefore, after the Zambezi River navigation plan was implemented, this railway bridge became an important obstacle.
However, it is not too late to dismantle it now. Since the Tete City railway bridge was built, it has served Tete City and East African railway for nearly thirty years. The cost has long been recovered, and its service life is almost reached. At the beginning, the expected life of the Tete City railway bridge was thirty to forty years. Even if it is not demolished now, it will need to be reinforced and maintained in the future.
As for why the design life is so short, it should be said that during the planned economy in East Africa, many projects were inherently eager for quick success.
Of course, under the circumstances at that time, large-scale engineering projects in East Africa were eager for quick success and instant benefits. This was not a shortcoming. After all, at that time, East African economic development was fast and the transportation was very backward. The conflict between the two just required East Africa to adopt this development model.
Economic development opportunities wait for no one. Once you miss this opportunity, you may not be able to wait until later.
Therefore, even if many technologies in East Africa were not up to standard and materials were not in place at that time, they had to be launched quickly to meet the needs of the rapid economic development at that time.
Of course, East African government did not forget this point in the follow-up. During the economic adjustment in the 1920s, these hidden dangers were slowly identified.
Today, it is actually the second round of infrastructure renewal in East Africa, the specific implementation stage.
Compared with thirty years ago, during the implementation of First Five-Year Plan, the conditions in East Africa have undergone earth-shaking changes. The talent team is more professional, the material field reserves are complete, and there are many breakthroughs. Industrial production capacity is strong, building materials are abundant, technology and equipment are more advanced, and the degree of mechanization is higher...
This makes East African projects completely move towards higher quality requirements in this round of infrastructure construction, while taking into account multiple factors such as humanities and economics.
This is in contrast to the current Soviet industrialization. In the stage of rapid industrialization, the Soviet Union paid more attention to practicality, and was forced to sacrifice aesthetics, comfort, and even safety.
But this is the only way for early industrialized countries. If we only focus on the first and last, and work slowly and carefully, it will be impossible to achieve rapid economic and industrial development.
After all, economic and industrial development not only considers internal factors, but also external factors. In the world market, countries all over the world are competing fiercely, and whichever country slows down will pay the price, unless it can ensure that its geographical location is safe and will not be involved in colonial aggression and war, or it does not care about foreign economic development issues.
Take East Africa, for example. Without the early industrial rush for quick success, East Africa would not have been able to quickly become a world power in just 20 to 30 years.
Instead of becoming a powerful country, it would have been beaten in the previous life at the beginning of the 20th century, and this was even more true at the end of the 19th century before the 20th century.
A typical example is South African War. At that time, East Africa had begun to take shape as a great power in the international community, but it was still inevitable to be bullied by the United Kingdom.
At that time, East Africa was definitely not weak in the world, especially in the military field. The army and navy were at the forefront. However, it still had to fight the United Kingdom, Portugal and other countries in order to obtain peace in the following decades. If it were other countries, it would be difficult to say whether they could withstand the pressure of the United Kingdom.
Mayor O'Connell continued, "As a city along the river, Tete City attaches great importance to the development of the coastal economy. To develop the coastal economy, we must overcome transportation restrictions."
"Tete City Cross-River Bridge is the thoroughfare for citizens on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Tete City, and is also an important hub for regional transportation."
"It is not only critical to our city and region, but also connects the future travel needs of people in the three major industrial zones in East Africa. It is an important part of Central-East Industrial Cluster."
The three major industrial zones are Bohemia Industrial Zone, Lake Malawi Industrial Zone in East Africa, and Lower Zambezi Industrial Zone, which is accelerating construction.
Bohemia Industrial Zone and Lake Malawi Industrial Zone were formed early. For example, Mbeya is one of the earliest industrial bases in East Africa. It is located on the north bank of Lake Malawi. Bohemia Industrial Zone has basically taken shape since the 1980s and became the new heavy industrial base in East Africa at that time.
After East Africa captured Mozambique from Portuguese, these two major industrial areas, Tete City became a natural hub city between the two.
Because Tete City is the only place between two major industrial zones that has the capability to build a large city, and it is also the most suitable place for transportation line selection.
Therefore, after the 20th century, multiple roads and railways intersected at Tete City to connect Lake Malawi Industrial Zone and Bohemia Industrial Zone.
Later, with the development of the steel industry and its geographical advantages, Tete City's industry rose rapidly, as well as the development of towns such as Hindai City on the lower reaches of the Zambezi River. Finally, the Lower Zambezi Industrial Zone, which was shaped based on the Zambezi River, came into being.
In fact, this has led to the Tete City becoming the core intersection of the three major industrial zones. In the future, after the Zambezi River midstream and upstream navigation is opened, it can also rely on shipping to integrate into the East African Central Industrial Zone.
These four major industrial zones constitute what the mayor O'Connell calls Central-East Industrial Cluster. Once this industrial cluster appears, it will become one of the regions with the most developed economy, the most complete industries, the most dense population and the most complete transportation facilities in East Africa and even the world.
Under Central-East Industrial Cluster's grand strategy, the development limit of Tete City, the core city, will be greatly expanded, and may even directly contribute to Tete City's competition to become the largest city in East Africa in the future.
Of course, Tete City's competitors are not weak either. First of all, Mombasa is currently the largest city in East Africa. Its advantage in the financial industry in East Africa has been established. It will be difficult for subsequent cities to surpass it, and Mombasa's economic hinterland cannot be ignored.
Mombasa's economic sphere of influence is mainly in northern East Africa and Great Lakes Region. Although northern East Africa has long been a weak area for East African economy, the scope of northern East Africa is large, and there are almost no Mombasa competitors in the region.
Then, the two cities in West Coast in East Africa, Cabinda and Luanda, are now on par with Tete City. In the economy of western East Africa, once a center is established, that is, whoever wins between Cabinda and Luanda, its development potential will also be expanded.
Finally, there is Xindai city. Xindai city is not currently ranked among the top cities in East Africa, but its future can also pose a threat to Tete City.
Tete City has a superior geographical location, but the same is true for Xindai city. Xindai city is at the position of Zambezi River estuary, which is the shipping terminal of the Zambezi River. Even Tete City's overseas trade must go through Xindai city. It is not easy to judge which of the two is better in the future.
In addition to the above-mentioned cities, other regions in East Africa are also very competitive, such as Beira in the south, Maputo, and Dar es Salaam in the north.
After all, under the current economic landscape in East Africa, competition among cities is extremely fierce, especially among the top ten cities, where the gap between them is very small.
But what is certain is that Tete City has a bright future. After the Zambezi River shipping is opened, it will be difficult for Tete City to decline from the big cities in East Africa, unless a war breaks out here.
Mayor O'Connell said, "In the future, Tete City will be the imperial steel industry base, the four major hub cities of national railway, highway, water transportation, and air transportation, Central-East Industrial Cluster core city, equipment manufacturing base, etc."
"Tete City will become the most prosperous metropolis in East Africa and even the world. Especially in the industrial field, we have huge advantages and consolidate East African industry's position as the first city."
The financial centers in East Africa include Mombasa, Cabinda, Rhine City, etc. It is difficult for other cities to obtain this status. The science and technology center includes Rhine City., Mbeya and other regions have concentrated educational and scientific research resources. It is not easy for Tete City to obtain this title. This is mainly because Tete City has a short history and insufficient accumulation.
As for the number of industrial centers in East Africa, Mayor O'Connell particularly emphasized the title of the first industrial city in the country. This is also the first point that Tete City is currently most likely to achieve.
Previously, it has been said that Tete City is located in the center of four major industrial zones. Among the four major industrial zones in East Africa, three are mainly developed based on the distribution of East African mainland mineral resources, namely Central Industrial Zone, Bohemia Industrial Zone and Lake Malawi Industrial Zone.
Therefore, as the intersection of these three industrial zones, Tete City can enjoy the advantages of this resource distribution. In addition, Tete City itself is also an important mineral resource city in East Africa, so it naturally has the foundation to become an important industrial city in the empire.
After the Zambezi River is put into navigation, Tete City can go one step further and import resources from overseas to reduce industrial development costs. Adding the two together, Tete City's industrial development costs can be reduced to the lowest level in the world, and at the same time it is conducive to industrial concentration.
Therefore, the basic conditions for Tete City to become the first city of East African industry, or even the first industrial city in the world, are already in place.
Of course, the number one in industry here refers more to the industrial scale. East Africa's positioning of Tete City is more similar to the Suzhou of the Far East Empire in the previous life, but being number one in industrial scale does not mean the most developed.
Tete City's core advantage lies in industry, but other cities in East Africa can overtake Tete City in other fields. For example, Mombasa, the largest city in East Africa, is obviously stronger than Tete City in finance, emerging industries, education, medical care, etc.
There is also a special city like Mbeya. Since Mbeya gave up its position as the country's first heavy industrial base to Harare in the last century, Mbeya's development focus has completely shifted. It no longer pursues industrial scale, but invests in high-quality fields such as education and technology.
There are many cities in East Africa with industrial scale above Mbeya, but no one dares to say that Mbeya city's economic development is worse than theirs, because Mbeya's development is too bright in the field of science and education, and other There are no obvious shortcomings in terms of it. The only one that can definitely surpass Mbeya in the field of science and education is Rhine City, but Rhine City is the capital of the empire, and other cities obviously cannot achieve this status.