After the Franco-Prussian War, Prussia unified the German Confederation and established a powerful German Empire. Until World War I, this period was the heyday of the German nation.
With the remnant power of the unification victory, the pride of the entire German nation was unprecedentedly high, and the cohesion of the domestic people was unparalleled. In addition, Prussia had a long-term and effective comprehensive compulsory education, which made Germany at that time the most technologically advanced country in the world. The highest country.
Between 1870 and 1913, Germany adopted new technologies and equipment, and its industrial production increased 46 times, while the United Kingdom only increased 19 times; the United Kingdom's share of the world's total industrial output dropped from 318 in 1870 to 14 in 1913. , while Germany rose from 132 to 157!
The reason is that the British were too immersed in their glorious fantasy of an empire on which the sun never sets, and neglected to invest in basic science education.
Everyone knows that the opportunity of the first industrial revolution was based on the first human technological explosion.
The most important inventions of mankind at that time were the steam engine, the railway, the Jenny spinning machine, and the vigorous development of navigation technology. Britain did catch up with the historical opportunities at that time, and thus achieved the glory of the empire on which the sun never sets.
But just like the practice of all old empires, once anyone reaches the top of the world, he will immediately become arrogant, lustful and arrogant.
Britain slowly fell into the illusion of its own power, ignoring the competition from other countries.
Judging from the political ideological struggle between Benjamin and Gladstone, we can feel the arrogance of the British people at that time. The powerful Britain did not take the lead in promoting compulsory education, and allowed Prussia to take the lead in the world.
The result of Prussia's long-term investment in education was a wave of very powerful scientific and technological breakthroughs between the Franco-Prussian War and World War I.
Technology has promoted great improvements in production efficiency, which in turn has promoted an explosion in the country's gross national product. In fact, before the outbreak of World War I, Germany's gross national product had surpassed that of the United Kingdom and became the world's largest country. two.
The United Kingdom is only the third largest country in the world, with the United States at the top of the list, which has long practiced isolationism. However, the United States’ first-ranked GDP is based on its vast territory and abundant resources. In fact, in terms of efficiency, the United States ranks first. , the scientific and technological efficiency and industrial production efficiency of the United States at that time were far inferior to those of Germany.
This was actually the reason why Kaiser Wilhelm dared to launch World War I. It was precisely because he had such powerful power that he dared to challenge Britain's hegemony. In World War I, especially on the Western Front, Germany almost independently suppressed the allied forces of Britain and France.
Artillery battles and trench warfare are all about national strength and steel! If Germany did not have the second largest GDP in the world, how could it possibly fight a war of that scale?
War was only the final solution to conflicts, but other forms of competition were still hot before the war, including Kaiser Wilhelm's ambitious plan, the Baghdad Railway.
Since Britain has fully controlled the world's shipping, the sea routes are completely within the artillery range of the Royal Fleet. In addition, the navy is a very, very money-burning service, and the accumulation of talents in the navy cannot be achieved overnight. .
Therefore, although Germany has surpassed Britain in terms of technological level, culture and education, gross national product, etc., it is a pity that they are completely unable to counterattack in terms of navy. In terms of talent accumulation, Prussia and Germany are far less rich than Britain.
The lifeblood of the ocean has always been in the hands of Britain, including several famous straits and famous transportation arteries around the world, which are also tightly controlled by Britain.
In order to break through this dilemma, Kaiser Wilhelm launched the Baghdad Railway Plan, building a railway starting from Berlin, all the way through the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and through the Balkans directly to the Ottoman Empire, which was later Turkey.
The Bosporus, also known as the Istanbul Strait, is the dividing line between Europe and Asia. At that time, Germany's plan was to build a railway from Berlin to here, and build a bridge here, and then pass through In cooperation with the Ottoman Empire, a railway was built through the Iranian plateau to Baghdad, directly leading to the Persian Gulf.
In this way, German goods and German military power can be directly delivered to Central Asia without going through the ocean, and even expand to East Asia through Central Asia.
Historically, this plan was strongly obstructed by Britain and France, but Germany at that time was no longer the Wu Xia Amon of the past. Under Germany's strong national pressure, Britain was forced to make a series of concessions, and in the first Before the outbreak of World War I, Germany's plan to build a railway to Baghdad was officially approved.
It is a pity that the First World War forcibly interrupted the construction of this plan. At that time, Germany only built the railway to the European side of the Istanbul Strait. In other words, the earliest railways in the Balkan Peninsula were built by the Germans.
If Kaiser Wilhelm is really allowed to complete this mega-project according to his plan, then global geopolitics will definitely undergo huge changes in the 20th century.
It may be difficult for modern people to understand the influence of railways on the world structure at that time. They may think that your railway has to pass through so many countries, and each country has its own political considerations. How can you Can the entire railway become your core interest in Germany?
Will some country recognize your control of the railway today, but then act rogue and snatch it away tomorrow? Otherwise, what if I destroy it for you? Because after all, the railway passes through other people’s territory!
People who think like this probably don’t know the rules of railway construction at that time. In the 19th and 20th centuries, when global powers began to expand railways around the world, his investment model was completely different from that of other countries in later generations. the same.
For example, Britain and France built railways, and built the railway from Beijing to Shanghai in the Qing Dynasty. According to the international practice at the time, such super projects invested and built by foreign powers, in order to ensure the core interests of their own countries, they had to jointly and severally obtain the right to garrison troops. .
In other words, if the Qing government accepted it, British and French funds, technology, and their companies, and corresponding British and French troops, could be stationed along this railway.
A very realistic example in history is the Middle East Road, which is the Northeast Railway trunk line that we are very familiar with. It runs from Dalian to Harbin and then connects to the Trans-Siberian Railway. This section of the railway in the three northeastern provinces, the north-south artery, is called the Middle East Road.
Until the Republic of China, which was the warlord Zhang Zuolin era, there were always Russian and Japanese garrisons on the Middle East Road. Of course, there were no Japanese garrisons at the earliest, and the earliest Middle East Road was entirely occupied by Tsarist Russian troops.
When did the Japanese troops stationed in? It was after the Russo-Japanese War that Japan defeated Tsarist Russia, and Tsarist Russia was forced to cede half of its rights and interests along the Middle East Road. This was the first time the Japanese army was stationed in the three eastern provinces.
If you think about it this way, you can understand how incredible Kaiser Wilhelm's Baghdad Railway was!
If it was really built like this at that time, the German army would have rushed along the railway to the Persian Gulf, which would have been like a sharp knife piercing directly into the hinterland of the British colony. To the south it threatens Africa, to the east it threatens India, and to the southwest it threatens the Suez Canal.
This is only of military and political significance. If you also calculate the commercial value of this railway, it is simply unlimited!
