Putting down the "Africa Strategy" in his hand, Franz could only sigh that everyone's goal was ambitious, and he circled most of the African continent in one go.

That's right, it's encircled, not occupied. At present, Austria has not yet completed one-third of the above-mentioned plan, and the area of actual control may be less than one-fifth.

Even though Franz had made an effort to emigrate, the population of Austrian Africa was still less than five million.

With such a small population controlling seven or eight million square kilometers of land, it is conceivable how vast and sparsely populated the land is.

Of course, this is not counting the local natives, otherwise it would have exceeded 10 million long ago.

If the next strategy is to be completed, it will not work without tens of millions of people. However, the population of the entire New Holy Roman Empire has only just crossed the threshold of 60 million.

Now that the world is almost finished, the last piece of borderless land must be indispensable for a dragon fight.

At present, France and Austria are at the forefront of colonizing Africa, followed by the British, Portuguese, and the Dutch, who also have small colonies.

This macro strategy of the colonial ministry should be better described as an "ideal strategy".

As long as countries are not stupid, they will not let this plan become a reality.

A cursory look at the map shows that it stretches from Guinea and Mali in the west, to Libya in the north, to the Boer Republic in the south, and to Somalia in the east.

Although there was no satellite positioning in this era, Franz initially estimated that the total area of these areas combined was 20 million square kilometers.

After thinking about it, Franz picked up the pen and began to make a cross on it, ready to hit it back for the Colonial Department to redo it.

This unrealistic strategy is simply not feasible. Unless a world war is provoked and Austria becomes a big winner, there is the capital to make it happen.

However, Franz was not a war maniac, and Austria was not the German II Reich in history that had to challenge the world.

Although many people believe that the German Empire provoked wars because of economic development, resources and markets, Franz believes that the main thing is resources, because the problems of the market can be solved.

The world economy is a big cycle, and the national economy is a small cycle. Theoretically, as long as this circular circle continues to function normally, the economy can continue to develop.

At the heart of this economic cycle is population and resources, and the world's population is now more than a billion people.

Among them, there are about 275 million in Europe, mainly Russia, Austria, France, and the United Kingdom, which together exceed 200 million.

There are about 820 million people in Asia, 700 million in the two most populous countries in the East, and the rest of the region is also vast and sparsely populated.

The African continent is about 60 million people, and the impact of colonial activities has led to population growth, as many areas have experienced negative growth due to the large number of migrants leaving in recent years.

There are about 60 million people in the Americas, which is the real vast and sparsely populated area, and the North and South America combined are only so small in people, and the two United States occupy half of them.

The current international trade volume is actually not large, and the economies of various countries mainly depend on the domestic economy, taking Austria as an example, the proportion of international trade in the economy is less than 5% of the total.

If the volume of colonial trade is included in the domestic economy, then international trade is even less worthy of mention in the total Austrian economy.

This is determined by the productive forces, the total wealth of society is limited, and the commodities that can be exported are too simple, and the trade volume cannot be increased at all.

At present, in the international market, the largest export commodity is textiles, followed by grain. There is not much market for industrial and commercial products, machinery and equipment.

In the international market as a whole, the total value of all exports is less than a billion pounds, or even less than 700 million pounds.

The market is so big, and the main force of the economy of each country is the local market. Britain, France and Austria, the total local economy is not a billion can be measured, at least two or three.

In the era dominated by the domestic economy, the most important thing is internal circulation. As long as there are sufficient resources, the economy can theoretically develop normally.

Specifically, you can refer to the United States, many people think that Latin America is the backyard of Americans and a dumping ground for American industrial and commercial products.

The reality is that there are more than 2 million people in Latin America, and 60 or 70 percent of them are Indian tribes, with a Mao's purchasing power.

South American countries do not buy American accounts, and people would rather import European goods than buy American junk products.

Yet, from the late 19th century onwards, the U.S. economy continued to grow by leaps and bounds, growing ninefold in four decades.

That's the power of resources. Similarly, due to the lack of an adequate export market for goods, the Germans were forced to go to the battlefield by capital, while American capital was able to stabilize it by relying on its own abundant resources.

In Franz's view, "resources" are at the heart of colonization. It was under this idea that the colony indigenization movement took place.

After much hesitation, Franz did not directly dismiss this "whimsical plan". He was very averse to drawing flatbread, but having to do it was very effective.

Otherwise, there would not be so many whimsical plans in history, such as the 2C plan of the British, from Cairo to South Africa directly from south to north.

Including: Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Tanzania.

The plan was huge, but John Bull came to fruition. However, it did not last long before the colonial empire collapsed.

As a latecomer, the Germans also came up with the "Teutonic Africa Plan", which was not very ambitious, but only included: Namibia, Angola, Congo, and Tanzania.

Whether the strategy can succeed depends on its strength, and it has nothing to do with the size of the ambition, so this strategy died.

The "2S plan" of the French is a bit perverted, and after the occupation of North Africa, the French are also preparing to kill from Senegal to Somalia.

This plan is similar to Austria's strategic plan, and the difference between "Guinea to Somalia" and "Senegal to Somalia" is not large.

As for Austria's southern Boer Republic, it has barely been realized, with a thousand-strong colony in Zimbabwe.

It's not difficult to reach Libya as far north, as it's an inland part of Africa that competitors can't reach.

Only as far east as Somalia is still far away, with Sudan and Ethiopia in between. Of course, it is also possible to bypass it from Uganda and Kenya.

In fact, it is definitely not that simple to operate. Because of Austria's colonial strategy, these areas were included together.

Regardless, spiritually it is worth affirming. Since the plan was submitted, it meant that the Colonial Office believed that there was a possibility of success.

Of course, this success is not the completion of all goals, it is only said that the plan is strategically completed, and a few colonies are missing in the middle, which is inevitable.

Considering that this was a critical moment for the localization of the colony, Franz acquiesced to the existence of this plan, of course, when it came to implementation, it must not be so rigid.

For example, areas with river connections should be prioritized, desert areas should be relegated, areas with strong indigenous power should be put on hold first, and areas that may trigger conflict should refrain from expansion......

In this era, there were no borders on the African continent, and most of them were a bunch of indigenous tribes, so it was still too nonsense to talk about the concept of a state.

This colonial strategy naturally did not follow the national borders of later generations, and in fact, Franz had no way to find out the national boundaries of later generations on the map.

After a period of revisions, Franz managed to condense the strategic plan.

For example, the deserts of North Africa do not compete with the French, and they cannot be controlled in this era anyway.

Specifically, most of Mali is gone, and Niger is basically gone. If it weren't for the connection with Libya, Chad's Franz would have been ready to give up, and now he would be reluctant to stay.

Ethiopia and Somalia in the east are also ranked last by Franz, and other areas will not be paid attention to until they are occupied.

Namibia and Tanzania are in the penultimate order and are basically abandoned regions. The rest of the area depends on the ability of his subordinates, and how much they can take is counted.

As a result, the plan has shrunk by almost one-third, and the feasibility has been greatly improved.

Occupying most of the continent is too much of a hatred, but with one-third, or about 40 percent of the continent, Franz thinks it is possible to succeed.

This is determined by strength + first-mover advantage. Once the localization strategy is successful, it will be another peak period of immigration. As long as there is a sufficient population, Franz is not afraid of any challenge on the African continent.

For example, in West Africa and the Congo, where there are millions of people, who can afford to take these places away?

War also has a cost, and without enough benefits, it is simply not enough for the colonial empire to wage war.

Except for the gold mines of South Africa, there is no other part of the continent that can trigger a war between the great powers.

In fact, South Africa's gold mines are not worth the battle between the two great powers. Despite the high reserves of gold, it was the same until it was mined.

Don't look at the production of hundreds of tons a year, in fact, gold mining also has a cost, relying on gold to recover the cost of the war, Franz did not think that it would be possible in his lifetime.