Chapter 363: South African Dispute

The Austro-Hungarian Empire's act of purchasing battleships from Spain ultimately triggered a naval arms race that spread across all of Europe.

Germany and Italy also had plans to build battleships, and France and Russia naturally were not willing to fall behind; they also announced their own battleship construction plans respectively.

Britain, naturally, goes without saying; their speed in building battleships was the fastest, and they currently possessed the highest number of battleships.

This naval arms race, which spread across all of Europe, did not attract the attention of Gao Da, because in distant South Africa, the conflict between British colonists and the Boers seemed to have reached an irreconcilable point.

It must be admitted that after the failure of Portugal's Pink Map plan, the situation of the Boers in South Africa had also become much worse.

Britain's colonies suddenly expanded to the south of the Congo region, and coupled with Portugal's Mozambique colony, they directly surrounded the Boers, leaving only a small coastal area in the eastern Transvaal Republic that could still communicate with the outside world through ports.

With the continuous expansion of British colonies, the living space of the Boers was also continuously compressed. What was even more fatal was that various precious mineral resources were constantly being discovered in the areas where the Boers lived, which also attracted the covetousness of more British colonists.

As early as three years ago, in 1890, in order to cope with the constant influx of British colonists, the Transvaal government announced that all foreign residents living in Johannesburg must pay full taxes.

These foreign residents who paid the full amount of taxes, however, could not possess the right to participate in presidential and legislative elections unless they had lived in Transvaal for 14 years and joined the nationality of the Transvaal Republic.

In addition, all foreign residents who had not obtained the nationality of the Transvaal Republic were not allowed to hold public office in the Transvaal government. The children of residents could not enter government-funded schools, nor could they enjoy the medical subsidies issued by Transvaal.

Once such regulations were promulgated, they immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of British colonists. Because Transvaal was almost surrounded by British colonies, the colonists here were also mostly British.

To put it bluntly, the regulations of the Transvaal Republic were mainly aimed at the British.

Faced with such naked targeting, how could the British possibly accept it?

In order to retaliate, the British colonies led by the Cape Colony increased tariffs on the Transvaal Republic and embargoed some resources that the Transvaal Republic was scarce in.

The Transvaal Republic also refused to make concessions; they immediately increased tariffs on the British colonies and formulated high-tax and economic restriction policies specifically aimed at British residents.

It was precisely because both sides refused to give in that the relationship between the Boers and the British deteriorated rapidly. Although no large-scale war had broken out, small conflicts in some border areas had already become quite common.

European countries reported on the conflict between Britain and the Boers with great relish; they were truly too happy to see Britain suffer setbacks in the African region.

Such reports also increased British hostility toward the Boers; it was precisely because of these Boers that Britain's colonial expansion in Africa had suffered obstacles, ultimately allowing the Germans to snatch a piece of East African land.

Germany's East African colony was located north of Portugal's Mozambique colony, exactly on the Cairo-Cape Town line of the British.

This also caused the Cairo-Cape Town line that the British had planned for a long time to be directly shattered; only by annexing Germany's East African colony, or annexing the Congo colonies of Portugal and Spain, would there be hope of reconnecting Cairo and Cape Town.

But it was very clear that whether it was annexing Germany's colony or setting one's sights on the Congo region, neither was easily achievable.

Germany had the blessing of the Triple Alliance, was a super power in Europe itself, and was on par with Britain.

Although Spain was a bit weaker, it was not to the point of being easily manipulated by the British. If they couldn't handle Spain, getting Portugal's colony would be of no use, and it would also make the Portuguese even more hostile toward Britain, which was clearly not worth it.

It was precisely because of this that Britain's colonial focus in Africa gradually changed from the Cairo-Cape Town line to operating at both ends.

The expansion of the Egypt colony in the north was still quite smooth, and no strong enemies were encountered during the expansion process.

As for the Cape Colony in the south, the only obstacles were Transvaal and Orange, which were the Boers.

The dispute between Britain and the Boers had been talked about with great interest by European countries for the two years following this.

The British hatred for the Boers also grew deeper and deeper; they could not wait to sweep the Boers in the African region into the dustbin of history and destroy the two Boer nations of Transvaal and Orange.

Time soon arrived at 1895.

In these two years, Spain had also undergone relatively large changes.

The first was the smooth completion of the five-year shipbuilding plan.

All five battleships had been completed before July 1894, and the latest, the battleships Philip II and Carlos I, would also complete their launching test phase in January of next year and officially serve in the Royal Navy.

As for the earlier Ferdinand II and Isabella I, both had completed construction in the first half of 1892 and served in the Royal Navy in the second half of 1893.

Currently about to enter service was the battleship Carlos I. This battleship officially started construction in May 1892, was completed in December 1893, and entered the launching and sea trial phase.

It was expected that around the middle of this year, Spain's Royal Navy would be able to welcome the service of the battleship Carlos I.

At that time, the Spanish Royal Navy, possessing three battleships, would also thoroughly rank among the top three in the world.

Except for Britain and France, the four major powers of Germany, Austria, Italy, and Russia all lagged behind Spain in terms of progress on battleships, which was also the reason why Spain could become the third-largest naval power in the world.

Of course, Spain's naval scale had not been able to pull away from the countries behind it.

Britain's naval scale was in a class of its own, and France was in a class of its own thereafter. After that, the naval scales of the five countries of Spain, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Russia were at the same level.

The only standard for evaluating the naval strength of these five countries was the number of battleships; after all, battleships were the most powerful main warships at this time, and their role in naval decisive battles was incomparable to other warships.

It is worth mentioning that the three battleships Spain built for the Austro-Hungarian Empire had also all started construction.

The first battleship officially started construction in May 1893 and was completed at the end of last year, entering the sea trial phase.

The remaining two battleships could also enter the sea trial phase around this year, and between the end of 1896 and the beginning of 1897, these three battleships could all be delivered to the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

A powerful navy was of course a good thing for Spain, but if compared to what was happening on the African continent, the latter was still more exciting.

At the beginning of 1895, British mining tycoon Cecil Rhodes became the Governor of the British Cape Colony.

The mining company under his banner discovered a huge gold mine in the area surrounding Transvaal, and this news also caused a sensation throughout the Cape Colony.

Discovering a gold mine not only meant that the mining company would make a lot of money, but it also meant that the surrounding public could become gold prospectors. The areas around gold mines were all places where one could make a lot of money; in the eyes of many British people, the news of discovering a gold mine represented one pound note after another.

The news of the gold mine was naturally also learned by the Transvaal government.

Because the relationship between Britain and the Boers had been quite bad during this period, the Transvaal government, with almost no hesitation, forcibly expelled the British mining company on the charge of illegal mining on Transvaal land and announced that the newly discovered gold mine was the state property of the Transvaal Republic.

This immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of Cecil Rhodes. As a mining tycoon, he naturally understood the income brought by a large gold mine.

More importantly, at this time, Cecil Rhodes had already achieved success and fame. As the most powerful person in the Cape Colony, he could not tolerate the provocation of the Boers against him.

Cecil Rhodes invited his good friend, Dr. Jameson, who served as a senior staff member of the South Africa Mining Company, to lead more than 500 police and soldiers belonging to the mining company to return to the place where the gold mine was discovered, wanting to forcibly occupy the gold mine.

This move aroused the strong dissatisfaction of the Transvaal Republic, which sent troops to engage in battle with the company-affiliated armed forces led by Dr. Jameson.

Although the South Africa Mining Company had purchased several machine guns to arm its military forces, in the face of a scaled national military force, it was ultimately unable to resist the latter.

More than 500 soldiers belonging to the mining company, after more than an hour of fierce fighting, paid the price of more than 100 casualties.

Other senior executives of the mining company, including Dr. Jameson, were all captured by the Transvaal Republic, and the battlefield around the gold mine was in a mess, making it impossible to tell which side the remains on the ground belonged to. In order to rescue Dr. Jameson and his party who had been captured, the Reform Committee of Foreigners, formed by British residents, launched a rebellion in Johannesburg, attempting to overthrow the President of the Transvaal Republic, Paul Kruger.

At this time, the Transvaal Republic already had a full sense of precaution against these British residents; after the so-called Reform Committee of Foreigners launched the rebellion, they quickly gathered police to suppress the rebellion.

The leaders of the Reform Committee of Foreigners were sentenced to death by the Transvaal court, and it was announced that the execution would be carried out publicly in a week.

This act aroused the dissatisfaction of a large number of British residents. They protested against the Transvaal Republic's act of sentencing British people to death, believing that only British courts had the right to sentence British people for crimes.

This incident immediately attracted the attention of all of Europe, and the heavy casualties of the British in this incident also caused a great uproar in Europe.

Standing from different positions, this matter actually possessed different natures.

In the eyes of the Boers, the mineral resources on the land of the Transvaal Republic naturally belonged to their own country. The act of the British prospecting and mining on Transvaal land without permission clearly infringed upon the interests of their country.

And in the eyes of the British, the mineral resources they had worked so hard to prospect were just confiscated by the Transvaal Republic like this, which was clearly a shameless act of robbery.

More importantly, several British people had already lost their lives in this incident. The Transvaal Republic even wanted to openly sentence British people to death; this was undoubtedly a direct slap in the face of the British government.

The British Times reported on this incident in detail, and wrote in the headline at the very center of the newspaper: "This is a provocation by the Boers against Britain!"

These newspapers and media had already publicized this incident as a provocation by the Boers against British colonial hegemony. In the eyes of the proud British, a country like the Transvaal Republic that attempted to resist Britain should be eliminated and beaten into the dust of history.

Of course, European public opinion could not be unanimous.

Compared to the righteous indignation in Britain toward the Boers, the public opinion of other European countries seemed somewhat different.

The Netherlands, which had quite a connection with the Boers, had domestic public opinion that supported the Boers. Some countries with poor relations with Britain, such as France and Russia, were also supporting the Boers.

It is worth mentioning that even Germany, which Britain thought had a good relationship with itself, seemed to have a trend of supporting the Boers.

Kaiser Wilhelm II sent a telegram that was quite famous in history to the President of the Transvaal Republic, Paul Kruger, in which he expressed congratulations on the victory of the Transvaal Republic and praised the Boers for carrying out a just struggle.

This telegram from Kaiser Wilhelm II severely damaged the relationship between Britain and Germany, and also let the British government see a fact, which was that the Boers seemed to have the support of Germany behind them.

This news not only did not make Britain back down, but instead strengthened Britain's determination to conquer the Boers.

If the trouble of the Boers could not be solved, the Transvaal Republic would sooner or later cause even bigger problems for Britain.

Of course, what made the British government make the decision was also the surging public opinion within the country.

For Gao Da, he was of course happy to see the outbreak of the Boer War. The Boer War was a quite important node for Spain; now that Spain's preparations were considered sufficient, and perhaps it could even win the support of allies, it naturally hoped for the outbreak of war.

Under Gao Da's deliberate arrangement, British newspapers constantly publicized the hatred between Britain and the Boers, portraying the Boers as the image of robbers who took things by force.

Although Britain was also such an image in the eyes of other countries, in the eyes of the British, Britain robbing others was a matter of course. But if others dared to rob British property, that was barbaric and shameless, and had to be firmly eliminated.

Under the propaganda of this public opinion, the British public was quite supportive of launching a war. Those capitalists who had shares in mining companies in Africa were also impatient for the government to launch a war, so as to get shares in the mineral resources of the Transvaal Republic.

These mineral resources represented money; for capitalists, nothing was more attractive than making money.

Because of the support of British public opinion at this time, the then Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, sent a telegram to the Governor of the Cape Colony, Cecil Rhodes.

The content of this telegram was long, but summarized, it was actually one sentence, which was to tell Cecil Rhodes not to have any concerns and to go ahead and do it boldly.

Since Joseph Chamberlain had already hinted at him so blatantly, Cecil Rhodes completely set his mind at ease.

He was the largest shareholder of the South Africa Mining Company; if he could snatch the Boers' gold mine, the one who would obtain huge benefits would naturally be him.

Cecil Rhodes, in the name of the Cape Colony, made representations to the Transvaal Republic, demanding that the Transvaal side immediately pardon the British residents and release all prisoners captured by Transvaal.

In order to make his statement look more righteous, Cecil Rhodes also added another demand to the last paragraph of the negotiations, which was to require all British residents in the Transvaal Republic to obtain the right to vote and be elected.

Such a demand, in the eyes of the Boers, was simply a fantasy.

You, Britain, planned the attack on the Transvaal Republic, and even let the so-called Reform Committee of Foreigners plan a rebellion to subvert the regime. Now that the plan has failed, you shamelessly demand that we release all prisoners and grant all British residents the right to vote and be elected; isn't this a joke?

If the demands of the British side were agreed to, wouldn't that mean that the Transvaal Republic had already admitted that all the faults of this incident were caused by itself?

The Boers were not soft persimmons; they certainly would not fear Britain, even if Britain was much more powerful than the Transvaal Republic.

The Transvaal government decisively rejected the demands of the Cape Colony and stated that it would invite European powers to enter Transvaal to investigate, judge who was at fault in this incident, and resolve the dispute with Britain.

As for the captured prisoners and the British resident rebels who planned to subvert the government, their criminal acts were solid, and the Transvaal Republic would not have any forgiveness.

And believe it or not, the Transvaal side really invited European countries to form a so-called investigation team.

They invited all European powers except Britain, and Spain was naturally among them.

After receiving the request from the Transvaal Republic, the Spanish side quickly sent representatives to join the investigation team and stated that it would impartially investigate the cause of this incident and resolve the dispute between Britain and Transvaal.

Other powers also expressed their positions at the same time.

France and Russia naturally would not let go of the opportunity to cause trouble for Britain; the relationship between Germany and Transvaal was still quite good, and the remaining Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy were purely there to watch the show.

Would the British side agree to the so-called international investigation team of Transvaal?

Of course not.

Just kidding, although Britain kept calling the Boers robbers, the British actually knew very well in their hearts that the ones who were truly in the right in this incident were the Boers.

Although the gold mine was prospected by a British mining company, the location of the gold mine fell within the control of the Transvaal Republic.

Britain prospected a gold mine in someone else's home; they could not simply occupy someone else's gold mine as well. The subsequent act of dispatching their own military forces to forcibly occupy the gold mine was truly the behavior of a bandit in the real sense.

As for the rebellion launched by the Foreigner Reform Committee, it also lacked any reason or basis. British expatriates did not possess the nationality of the Transvaal Republic; for a group of foreigners to launch a rebellion to subvert the regime in Transvaal seemed simply like a fantasy.

Looking at it this way, it seems the responsibility for the incident lies entirely with the British side; it would be a miracle if the British government agreed to let this international investigation team enter the Transvaal Republic to investigate.

Since matters had already reached this point, the British side naturally could not back down now.

Before the international investigation team had even arrived in Transvaal, the army of the Cape Colony had already taken the lead in launching a sneak attack in the border region.

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(End of this chapter)