Chapter 1230: Chapter 239: Expedition to the Sultanate Even the United Kingdom, although its naval power far surpasses East Africa’s, the Royal Navy still lacks the ability to cross the oceans and pin down the East African Navy; if this were ten years ago, the British might still have had a chance.
But now, unless the East African Navy sends the vast majority of its strength to the North Atlantic, the United Kingdom basically has no other way to completely annihilate the East African Navy.
And East Africa’s advantages in the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic are even more obvious, especially in the Indian Ocean, where East Africa does not fear any challenge.
This is also the confidence that allows the East African Government, at this stage, to fight on two fronts and seize the rich raw material bases and markets in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Oceania.
After the war, regardless of whether the victor is Germany or the United Kingdom, the East African Navy will automatically be promoted to one of the world’s three major naval powers, after all, the loser of a European war will inevitably have its naval power stripped away by the winner.
In the previous life, Germany, as the loser, had its navy carved up by multiple countries, and at present the only countries ranked ahead of the East African Navy are the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States.
So with the United Kingdom and Germany, two tigers fighting, no matter what the final outcome is, the ones who ultimately benefit are still the United States and East Africa; of course, if it ends in a draw that’s another matter, though the probability of that is very small.
...
January 23, 1916.
Andafu Town.
This place lies at the northernmost end of East Africa’s eastern Azande Province, and is also the border junction between East Africa and the Darfur Region.
Darfur was the western region of the Sultanate in the previous life, and is now an autonomous region under the United Kingdom’s colonial rule over the Sultanate.
Today this East African border town has gathered the strength of one regiment from the East African Army’s Northwest Military District.
"Last year, Sultan Ali Dinar of Darfur, taking advantage of the United Kingdom being busy with the European war, declared war on the British colonial troops; now the entire Darfur situation is in turmoil. If we take this opportunity to attack the Darfur Region from the south, our chances of victory are quite high."
"According to what our informants say, the Darfur forces are already a spent arrow, completely incapable of re-organizing an army to confront us."
East African Colonel and regimental commander Farsheng analyzed the situation in the Darfur Region with his subordinates as he spoke.
Indeed, in 1916, East Africa was preparing to do something big in the Sultanate—armed occupation of the western Darfur Region of the Sultanate, formally bringing it into East Africa’s sphere of influence.
Regimental staff officer Hera said: "Although the Empire has always styled itself as the number one power in Africa, our country’s influence over North Africa has always been limited; this war also means the Empire is formally intervening in the North Africa situation."
"What we should be worried about now is whether we can complete this military mission; you must know that Darfur’s area is no small matter, a full two-hundred-plus thousand square kilometers."
Commander Farsheng said with great momentum: "Hera, you’re worrying too much. This time we’re fighting right on our doorstep; there’s simply no possibility of screwing it up."
"Besides, Ali Dinar couldn’t even defeat the British colonial troops stationed in the Sultanate; just our regiment alone is more than enough to deal with such a small fry."
There is no doubt that at the end of the last century, after the United Kingdom and Egypt’s Allies gave the tribes of the Darfur Region a sound beating, the area became part of the Sultanate.
However, at that time the British Government did not establish effective rule there, mainly because Darfur’s location was perhaps too remote; after all, simply pushing their sphere of influence deep into the Sultanate was no easy task, and that was with the Nile River providing water.
Darfur, on the other hand, lies deep inland, and for the United Kingdom to conquer it they would have to traverse vast deserts, with input and output completely disproportionate. This meant that after the Anglo-Egyptian Allies defeated Darfur, they could only allow it to join the Sultanate as an autonomous region.
The Sultanate, or more precisely the Anglo-Egyptian condominium over the Sultanate, actually also serves as a strategic buffer zone between East Africa and the United Kingdom; East Africa has no intention of pushing northward, and the United Kingdom has no strength to push south, so the role of the Sultanate for the United Kingdom is to block potential threats East Africa might pose to Egypt.
Of course, times have changed; the reason East Africa is now actively invading the Darfur Region is related to the strategic problems East Africa encountered last year.
Namely, the lack of a land corridor connecting to the Mediterranean. So East Africa ultimately set its sights on North Africa, and without involving Egypt, the East African Government regards Darfur as an excellent breakthrough point.
By way of Darfur, they can directly border what was Libya in the previous life; this is also the best route for a North Africa railway, second only to the Nile River corridor.
Here one must mention that Darfur’s climate is not all that harsh—of course, that’s only by the standards of the Sultanate. Darfur counts as one of the few rainy regions in the Sultanate; it should be the last area still reached by Atlantic moisture.
In the previous life, Darfur managed to support nearly six million people with this limited rainfall, which speaks volumes; remember that the entire Sultanate in the previous life had just over forty million people, the vast majority, like in Egypt, living along the banks of the Nile River.
This was mainly thanks to the Darfur Plateau and several large oases in northeastern Darfur; East Africa intends to make use of these three places to carry out future construction of the North Africa railway.
Then it will link up with the Jauf Oasis in southern Libya, and finally reach the Mediterranean via the coastal city of Billa.
Before East Africa gains control of either the Suez Canal or Gibraltar Strait, it will naturally attach great importance to this land corridor.
Hera said: "If we seize Darfur, that will mean there’s only a single Libya between us and the Mediterranean; this will greatly reduce the political cost of the Empire building future North Africa railways or highways."
Farsheng: "However, intervening in the Darfur Region at this moment is likely to provoke the anger of the British; that’s the biggest problem. By comparison, the Sultan Ali Dinar of Darfur is hardly worth mentioning."
Hera said: "There’s no need to worry about that. As long as we accomplish the military mission, that will be enough. After all, the issue you’re concerned about is certainly known to the higher-ups as well, which shows the Empire has long since prepared contingencies for this matter. We only need to do our own job well."
Farsheng said: "That’s true. In fact, I don’t hold out much romantic hope for the coming war; for the next few months we’ll probably be eating sand in Darfur."
Hera: "The only valuable targets in Darfur are a few oases. Once we occupy these oases, we can effectively control the area; this is far more practical than the British. And Darfur is not far from our military district, so other units can always be dispatched here for follow-up support."
"As for Darfur’s military forces, they’re not worth mentioning at all; our strength is enough to deal with any local armed group. In fact, our greatest enemy isn’t human, but the harsh local climate."
The climate and terrain within the Northwest Military District’s jurisdiction are extremely diverse—there are plateaus, mountains, and basins, as well as rainforests, grasslands, and deserts—so their routine combat training is also quite varied.
And a climate like Darfur’s is not uncommon in the Northwest Military District. What’s more, this time East Africa is fighting at its own doorstep, so Hera and Farsheng are very confident of successfully completing the mission.
Of course, East Africa does not intend to incorporate Darfur into its national territory after occupying it, but plans instead to establish a puppet regime there, similar to the Southern German Kingdom.
After all, aside from its strategic value, Darfur is frankly rather tasteless; East Africa does not wish to incur too high a governance cost here, as long as it can ensure that the region remains under East Africa’s control and manipulation.
Naturally, for an extreme state like East Africa, the indigenous inhabitants of Darfur clearly aren’t worth preserving; "emptying the cage to change the bird" has long since become an old tradition in East Africa.
Darfur is inhabited by Black people and followers of the Arabian Sect, and these two groups are inherently at odds with East Africa. Therefore, the follow-up supporting measures cannot be lacking; this also fits with the population moat scheme originally planned by the East African Government.
February 3, 1916.
The East African Army officially launched its invasion of the Darfur Region, while the Darfur local forces were busy fighting the British Army in the east. The East African Army encountered basically no resistance and smoothly occupied many areas in southwestern Darfur, including the Darfur Plateau.