Greece to roman road

Remember [Strawberry] in one second, fast updates, free to read!

Seemingly dissatisfied with her husband's carelessness, Queen Olga turned to George and said angrily: "George, aren't 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 with my experience From a certain point of view, there is indeed a possibility of success, although it is unlikely.”

Queen Olga was very dissatisfied when she heard that her husband was still supportive. 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 such a good father. So far, Constantine's plan has cost 4 million francs. Depending on the situation, high costs will continue, so you'd better be mentally prepared."

The so-called Constantine's plan was to sponsor explorers to explore central Africa. The explorers received honors and money, while Constantine received colonies.

The reason why he took such a risky move was because he was forced to do so.

The country of Greece became independent from the Ottoman Empire in 1830, but the Greek peninsula is really not a place suitable for farming development. It has rolling mountains and a lack of resources.

The theme of the 19th century was empire and conquest. Wars were frequent. 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 burned to generate electricity.

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

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 was such a country. By 1882, Greece had been independent for 50 years. Its industry was still in a primitive state and its transportation was backward. This resulted in a closed and conservative countryside with outdated ideas and backward agriculture. It even had to spend precious foreign exchange imports every year. food.

It’s okay if it can’t become an industrial country, but according to Greece’s resource endowment, it can’t even become an agricultural country.

The country's strength was weak and it could only allow itself to be arranged by the great powers and follow them step by step, acting as its little brother. Britain and France were still the protectorates of Greece.

Economic backwardness naturally leads to political chaos. The term of the elected prime minister is as short as ten days or as long as about a year, changing like a marquee.

Due to the long-term backward and barbaric rule of the Ottoman Turks, although a constitution was formulated and universal suffrage was implemented, it was suddenly implemented. There were many drawbacks in the electoral process, and vote bribery and corruption emerged one after another.

If industry cannot be developed, agriculture will not be enough to satisfy our hunger.

In order to maintain the country, Greece could only borrow a large amount of foreign debt. In the 19th century, the foreign debt could not be repaid in full after borrowing. It had to be discounted. If it was 90%, it would be good.

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

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

When the people in Greece saw this situation, they were furious, and the nationalists shouted to regain the country and restore its glory. At this moment.

The king at that time, Otto I, was under tremendous pressure at home, and he was happy to take this opportunity to expand his territory, enhance his prestige in the hearts of the Greek people, mobilize the army, and prepare to join the war.

As a result, Otto's move made Britain and France very dissatisfied. The British and French ambassadors came together, severely reprimanded King Otto, and sent a fleet to assemble in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Due to the huge pressure from Britain and France, Otto could only compromise, but this made the Greek people seriously dissatisfied, thinking that he was incompetent and weak. Otto was later deposed by the Greeks.

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

When encountering the mud-like situation in Greece, even as a time traveler, Constantine was anxious for a while.

The mouse is pulling the turtle, and there is no place to eat.

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

When Constantine heard about this, his heart moved. Isn't this a good opportunity to break the situation? The bad situation in Greece will not change in a short time. People are not rich without windfall, and horses are not fat without night grass. It is better to try Check out 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.

The world at that time was almost completely divided. Only southern Africa had inconvenient transportation and was in a barbaric state. The African indigenous people lived in the tribal era and were too backward. It could not provide the cheap raw materials and commodity dumping markets that the imperialist countries urgently needed.

Only Britain and France established several strongholds in southern Africa due to colonial activities and overseas trade needs, such as the Cape Town Colony.

Therefore, there are still large areas of empty unclaimed land in the interior of southern Africa, such as the Congo River Basin.

So for a river with such a large flow of water, why doesn’t anyone go up the river by boat to carry out commercial and exploration activities?

The reason is also very simple. The flow of water in the lower reaches of the Congo River is stable and the river surface is wide. It flows from the west coast of Africa into the Atlantic Ocean. However, if you sail dozens of kilometers inland along the river (near Matadi), you will encounter the waterfall area of ​​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 in a state of disarray. Hidden under a veil of mystery, her true appearance remains unknown.

In 1816, after the Napoleonic Wars, the Geographical Society of London was surprised that there was still so little information about the mouth of the Congo River three centuries after the discovery of the mouth of the Congo River, so it commissioned Captain Tucker to sail aboard The sailing ship Congo was responsible for exploring whether the Niger and Congo rivers were connected.

This expedition was a huge disaster. They were blocked by the waterfall and could only cross the waterfall area on foot. The sixty-five-person expedition team, including several experts and scholars, died one after another.

For the next half century, no scientific expedition team dared to venture into 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, transportation is inconvenient and water transportation is impassable. If they cannot be transported out, it will be of little significance.

Unless any country is determined to spend huge sums of money to build railways in the Congo River Basin, bypassing the waterfall areas of the Congo River and other tributaries of the Congo River.

Without scientific investigation data and geographical information, it is almost impossible to figure out the resource status of Congo.

In the original time and space, the early commodities produced in the Congo River Basin were rubber and ivory. Relying on these two commodities, the huge investment in building railways could be earned back, which would have to wait until the year of the monkey and the month of the horse.

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

Precisely because the development of the Congo River Basin requires a large amount of investment, and the specific conditions such as geography, society, and natural resources are still unclear, no other country has shown much interest so far.

After Constantine learned about this situation, he told George I his thoughts. After hearing Constantine's reasons, George I also felt that there was a possibility of success.

This possibility depends on two conditions:

It is difficult to develop the First Congo region and obtain profits.

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

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

The geographical location of the Second Congo River Basin is important.

If you open the map and look at it, you will understand that the Congo River Basin is located in the center of Africa. If a powerful country occupies here and establishes a firm foothold, it will definitely attack everywhere and expand in Africa. Other countries that colonize the edges of Africa will They will be very passive.

This determines that, regardless of Britain, France, Germany and Italy, these countries with colonial expansion aspirations will be strongly opposed by other countries even if they have the idea of ​​occupying the Congo Basin.

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

After thinking about these two points, whether to make a big bet on Congo, there is only one decisive question left: Is Congo worth a big bet?

Mobile users please visit

Reading, a better reading experience, bookshelf and computer version are synchronized.