Chapter 879 Military Attention

Regarding the promotion of radio, the military also directly participated in it this time. After all, the military value of radio is too great. Therefore, in order to better strengthen the preliminary experiments of radio in the military, the scientific research groups under the military have begun to take action.

"The application of radio is inseparable from the transmission of information, and its application is also reflected in the specific point of wireless telegraph. In the past, our army could only transmit messages through wired telegraphs, and the laying of lines is extremely restrictive, which greatly delays the speed of military information transmission, and radio is extremely malleable in this regard."

"Of course, radio also has a disadvantage, that is, its signal is directly transmitted in the air, so that the enemy can obtain our information by building signal receiving devices. This requires our army to work hard in the field of information security, especially compiling new code books to prevent the enemy from easily cracking our military information."

"At the same time, this also shows that wired telegraphs are still useful, especially some important military units and departments, which use wired telegraph transmission to ensure national information security."

The senior military leaders in East Africa are very knowledgeable about the application of radio, which is also easy to understand. The East African army can be said to be the group in the world that is most receptive to advanced military technology.

Because the East African military system is young and well-educated, the application of advanced military technology is also an important reason why East Africa was able to defeat Britain in the South African War.

Archduke Ferdinand said: "Our navy must popularize radio on ships on a large scale. After all, warships cannot be connected by wires. In the past, communication between naval ships basically relied on traditional forms. Now the emergence of radio represents that our navy is about to undergo a major change."

"Not only that, our overseas military bases also have a great demand for this technology. After all, the investment cost of promoting wired transmission is high, and the spread of radio allows us to directly connect the Kingdom of North Hawaii and the Lanfang Overseas Province with the East African mainland."

The emergence of wired telegraph and submarine cables has extended Britain's tentacles to all parts of the world. Britain has established the world's largest telegraph network based on wired telegraph. For example, the communication between East Africa and the Far East Empire must first be in Europe and then circulated through India.

East Africa's wired telegraph has also developed rapidly in the past 30 years, and has basically formed an effective network covering the whole country. Of course, places like Mozambique and Angola are definitely less densely distributed.

But the cable telegraph network in East Africa is only a regional network, while the British one is a "global network", which can only be achieved by a country like Britain that holds the world hegemony.

As early as 1880, the submarine cables laid by Britain reached an astonishing 1.56 million kilometers. Today, the scale will only be larger, basically connecting all major British overseas colonies, including Canada, Australia, India, South Africa, etc.

Relying on the submarine cable network, the British government can realize the plan of monitoring the world. The British submarine cable eavesdropping is a well-organized secret agency. They set up eavesdropping agencies at the connection points where the cables must pass, install eavesdropping devices, and quickly summarize important information for research.

The earliest case of this in the previous life occurred during the Boer War. After the British lost, the gloating German Emperor Wilhelm II heard the news and sent a telegram to Paul Kruger, President of the Transvaal Republic, warmly congratulating the Boers on their victory and saying that Transvaal "independently defeated the invaders" and "defended national independence."

Before this telegram was transmitted to Transvaal through the submarine cable controlled by the British, it was intercepted by the British. Since then, Britain has paid more attention to the threat of Germany, changed its previous compromising attitude, and took confrontational measures around the world. Germany also responded tit-for-tat, and the contradiction between Britain and Germany gradually intensified, and eventually gradually fell into a "shipbuilding competition" and the establishment of an alliance with each other as imaginary enemies, which eventually led to the outbreak of World War I.

There is a certain possibility for this statement, but it is definitely not the fundamental reason. After all, William II himself is a "big mouth" and often "speaks shockingly" in the international community.

However, this also indirectly proves the authenticity of Britain's use of the global wired telegraph network to obtain intelligence from relevant countries.

At least Ernst himself believed that this was a traditional craft of the Anglo-Saharan people. Later, the British "filial son" and the United States also had "prisms" to monitor governments of various countries, and as the relevant righteous people fled, they were made public, so the prevention of Britain was not "making a fuss".

Put yourself in their shoes. If Ernst had this "network" in his hands, he would definitely do the same for the national interests and security of East Africa.

Of course, the wired telegraph network from East Africa to Europe is still safe, directly connected to the Austro-Hungarian network, using a separate line without the need to transfer to Cape Town.

However, it is feasible to connect the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the British Mediterranean and the Far East Empire, but this is also a complicated project. The East African government can completely ensure information security through "disguise".

Of course, in the end, it is definitely necessary to take the path of building an "independent" network. In fact, after realizing the British behavior, the United States, France and Germany all began to build independent submarine cable systems in the 20th century.

In the 20th century, there were more disputes between wired telegraphs. During the war, a special ship called "cable cutter" appeared. This ship would cut off other countries' submarine cables without hesitation during wartime, and the powerful British Royal Navy could ensure the smooth operation of these "electric pirates".

So even if the wired telegraph is more secure, it is not foolproof, especially since East Africa’s access to Europe and the Far East Empire will inevitably pass through the British sphere of influence. If the submarine cable is cut off, it will be the end.

So in the East African telegraph industry, Ernst’s plan is to "walk on two legs", to achieve the mutual complementation of wired telegraph and wireless telegraph, independent of the wired telegraph transmission outside the UK, and at the same time with the wireless telegraph system, so as to achieve the information security of East African countries.

In addition to the military, the demand for wireless telegraphs in other departments should not be ignored, such as the postal system, academic exchanges, commercial information transmission, and the connection between the central and local governments.

This means that in the next few years, East Africa’s traditional information transmission methods, which originally relied on wired telegraphs, railways, and post stations, will be greatly affected.

The information industry in East Africa will undergo tremendous changes with the birth of wireless telegraphs, which is tantamount to an information revolution.

Of course, this also means that East Africa must prepare for the popularization and promotion of radio, such as the problem of easy interception mentioned by the military before. This requires various departments and scientific research institutions of the East African government to compile new communication rules and add new equipment.

This involves the production of radio equipment, which is also a complex issue. For example, the military's requirements are definitely relatively high. After all, the threshold for electrical equipment to meet military standards is very high. The military cannot keep "delicate" electronic equipment. It must meet the needs of field operations and be able to work normally under various extreme climatic conditions. At the same time, it must be waterproof and shock-resistant.

Especially in the navy, the required standards will only be more stringent. Ships will definitely encounter various extreme weather conditions when operating at sea. After all, the East African Navy cannot always be active in the tropical waters around East Africa. Occasionally, it has to go to high-latitude waters for training. The sea is extremely bumpy. In this case, higher requirements are placed on the performance and stability of electronic products.