The war was still raging, and Franz had already drawn up plans for Africa's postwar development. By this point, the Anglo-Boer War had evolved into a confrontation between Britain and Austria.
Amid the upheaval of the entire international situation, the South African battlefield was merely one link in the chain. Now that the world had been carved up completely, it had become exceedingly difficult for everyone to remain restrained.
One could imagine that colonial conflicts would continue to play out in the future. This South African War was only a warm-up match, an exploration of new paths for resolving international conflicts.
The strong devouring the weak would be the theme of this world, while competition among the great powers was growing ever more feverish. The strong seized larger pieces of the cake and became stronger still; the weak suffered exploitation, their room for survival further squeezed.
South Africa, West Victoria.
An endless stream of supply wagons kicked up rolling clouds of dust, as though shrouding everything beneath them. The carts creaked onward, winding for dozens of miles along the hastily opened road.
Bathed in the morning light, the bedding tossed onto the wagons glimmered red; rakes, iron shovels, and small wooden buckets stood upright, like sentries...
In the distance, busy crowds were clearing obstacles from the road. South Africa in this era was vast and sparsely populated. For hundreds of miles along the route, there were only a few native tribes, and transportation infrastructure was practically nonexistent.
The road they were traveling now had originally been built by the British for their attack on the Boer Republic, but many stretches along the way had been damaged.
Infantry on the march could overcome such difficulties, but supply convoys could not. The roads had to be repaired first.
The troops originally meant