Chapter 4 The Possibility of Acquiring Congo

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Seemingly dissatisfied with her husband's carelessness, Queen Olga turned to George and said angrily: "George, are you going to say something?".

George picked up the napkin, wiped his mouth calmly, and said slowly: "For Constantine, this matter, whether his plan succeeds or fails, is a rare experience, and from my point of view, it is indeed possible to succeed, although the possibility is not great."

Queen Olga was very dissatisfied when she heard that her husband still supported her attitude. She imitated George's tone and shook her head and said: "Whether it is success or failure, it is a rare experience. George, you are really a good father. So far, Constantine's plan has spent 4 million francs. It depends on the situation. It will continue to cost a lot. You'd better be mentally prepared."

The so-called Constantine's plan is to fund explorers to explore central Africa. The explorers will get honor and money, and Constantine will get colonies.

The reason for taking such a risky move is also forced.

Greece became independent from the Ottoman Empire in 1830, but the Greek peninsula is not a place suitable for farming. It is mountainous and resource-poor.

The theme of the 19th century was empire and conquest, with frequent wars. The strength of a country depended on the output of coal and iron.

Greece not only has a sparse population, but also lacks coal and iron mines.

Lignite is rich in content, but it has low calorific value, large combustion dust, and high sulfur content. It is the lowest quality coal. In the 19th century, this kind of coal could only be used for burning and power generation.

As for iron ore, there is no iron ore distribution in Greece.

In the 19th century, there was no coal and iron. Such a country could only play soy sauce and had no sense of existence.

Greece is such a country. By 1882, Greece had been independent for 50 years, but its industry was still in its primitive state. The backward transportation led to the closed and conservative rural areas, outdated concepts, and backward agriculture. It even had to spend precious foreign exchange to import food every year.

It would be fine if it could not become an industrial country, but according to Greece's resource endowment, it could not even be an agricultural country.

The country is weak, and can only allow the powers to arrange it, follow the powers step by step, and act as a younger brother. Britain and France are still protectors of Greece.

The backward economy naturally leads to political chaos. The prime ministers elected to power have a term of office of only a dozen days at short and a year at long, and they are replaced like a revolving lantern.

Due to the long-term backward and barbaric rule of the Ottoman Turks, although a constitution was formulated and universal suffrage was promoted, it was implemented suddenly, and there were many drawbacks in the election process, and bribery and corruption emerged in an endless stream.

It is impossible to develop industry, and agriculture is not enough to feed the hungry.

In order to maintain the country, Greece can only borrow a large amount of foreign debt. After borrowing the foreign debt in the 19th century, it cannot get the full amount. It has to be discounted. It is good to give 90% of the ten.

Although Greece is independent in name, the country's policies are always influenced by various imperialist countries. Britain, France and Russia have a deep influence in Greece. Greece has never been independent in fact.

In the Crimean War of 1853, Britain, France and Turkey were on one side, and Russia was on the other. Nearly one million troops fought on the Black Sea coast. The attention of the Ottoman Turks was almost completely attracted by the Russians, and the Turks had no time to care about Greece.

When the people in Greece saw this situation, they were outraged, and nationalists shouted to recover their territory and restore their glory.

At this time, King Otto I, who was under great pressure at home, was also happy to take this opportunity to expand his territory and enhance his prestige in the hearts of the Greek people. He mobilized the army and prepared to join the war.

As a result, Otto's move caused great dissatisfaction with Britain and France. The British and French ambassadors came together, severely reprimanded King Otto, and sent a fleet to assemble in the eastern Mediterranean.

Under great pressure from Britain and France, Otto could only compromise, but it made the Greek people seriously dissatisfied, believing that he was incompetent and weak. Later, Otto was deposed by the Greeks.

In the original history, in the later World War I, Greece staged a similar scene again, but this time the person involved was Constantine himself.

Encountering a muddy situation like Greece, even if he was a time traveler, Constantine was overwhelmed for a while.

A mouse pulling a tortoise, there is no place to bite.

Once, he accidentally heard King George say that European explorers were conducting expeditions in southern Africa, and he often sponsored some money.

Hearing this, Constantine's heart moved. Isn't this a good opportunity to break the situation? Greece's bad situation will not change in a short time. People can't get rich without windfall, and horses can't get fat without night grass. It's better to try opportunities abroad.

If it fails, it will only lose some money. If it succeeds, if Greece can get a resource-rich African colony, it may not be able to catch the tail of the Second Industrial Revolution and grow stronger.

At that time, the world had almost been divided up, except for southern Africa, which had inconvenient transportation and was in a wild state. The African natives lived in the tribal era and were too backward. It could not provide the cheap raw materials and commodity dumping market that the imperialist countries urgently needed.

Only Britain and France established several bases in southern Africa because of the needs of colonial activities and overseas trade, such as the Cape Town colony.

Therefore, there are still large areas of blank unowned land in the inland areas of southern Africa, such as the Congo River basin.

Then why has no one gone up the Congo River for business and exploration activities with such a large flow?

The reason is very simple. The Congo River has a steady flow in the lower reaches, a wide river surface, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean from the west coast of Africa. However, if you sail inland for a few dozen kilometers (near Matadi), you will encounter the waterfall area in the lower reaches of the Congo River. There is a series of waterfalls that prevent people from going up the river. Therefore, until the end of the 19th century, the Congo River basin was still shrouded in mystery, and its true appearance was still unknown.

In 1816, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the London Geographical Society was surprised that there was still so little information about the Congo River three centuries after the estuary of the Congo River was discovered, so they commissioned Captain Tucker to take the Congo sailing ship to explore whether the Niger River and the Congo River were connected.

This expedition was a huge disaster. They were blocked by the waterfall and could only walk through the waterfall area. The 65-member expedition team, including several experts and scholars, died one after another.

In the next half century, no scientific expedition dared to venture to the Congo River.

The series of waterfalls on the Congo River has greatly reduced people's interest in this area. No matter how rich the resources in the Congo River Basin are, if transportation is inconvenient and water transportation is not available, it will be meaningless if they cannot be transported out.

Unless a country is determined to spend a huge amount of money to build a railway in the Congo River Basin to bypass the waterfall area of ​​the Congo River and other tributaries of the Congo River.

Before there is no scientific survey data and geographical information to figure out the resource situation in Congo, this is almost impossible.

In the original time and space, the early commodities produced in the Congo River Basin were rubber and ivory. Relying on these two commodities, it would take a long time to make back the huge investment in building railways.

In the original time and space, it was King Leopold II of Belgium who was responsible for this role, but Leopold II in this time and space did not make up his mind after consulting geographical experts.

It is precisely because the development of the Congo River Basin requires a lot of investment, and the specific conditions of geography, society, natural resources, etc. are still unclear, that no other country has shown much interest so far.

After Constantine knew about this situation, he told George I his ideas. After listening to Constantine's reasons, George I also felt that there was a possibility of success.

This possibility depends on two conditions:

First, it is difficult to develop the Congo region and obtain benefits.

Colonial powers such as Britain and France have vast colonies. Instead of investing money in the Congo River Basin, which is hot, rainy, and has relatively high risk of returns, it is better to invest in other places with higher returns and lower risks, such as South Africa in Britain and Vietnam in France, which are much more profitable than the Congo River Basin.

This determines that Britain and France will not pester and entangle in the Congo region.

Second, the Congo River Basin is geographically important.

Open the map and you will understand that the Congo River Basin is located in the center of Africa. If a powerful country occupies this place and stands firm, it will definitely attack everywhere and expand in Africa. Other countries that colonize the marginal areas of Africa will be very passive.

This determines that whether it is Britain, France, Germany or Italy, these countries with the intention of colonial expansion, even if they have the idea of ​​occupying the Congo River Basin, other countries will strongly oppose it.

Combining these two points, it seems impossible for a country like Greece, which is weak and can be controlled at will, to get Congo.

After thinking through these two points, whether to bet heavily on Congo or not, there is only one decisive question left, is Congo worth betting heavily?

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