Chapter 275: Southern Boundaries
Hearing Backhausen's words, Vincent had to calm down as well. Thinking it over, he felt regret: if only he had included the far side of the river in his ranch claims from the start. He'd assumed that since no one lived to the west, he could wait until he had enough manpower and then develop it. Now this so-called "East African Kingdom" had stepped in.
As for the Khoisan and other natives living along the west bank of the Limpopo, in the Transvaal Republic they weren't really treated as "people." Boers generally used Black slaves as laborers. Though East Africa also used slaves, it didn't explicitly define them that way: in official East African documents, natives were listed as "nationality unknown" laborers. In reality, most African natives had no concept of a nation; they only knew which tribe they had once belonged to.
While East Africa and the Transvaal Republic both used slave labor, their approaches differed. East African citizens, for example, still had to do their own work, while the Boers disliked working in the fields if slaves could do it for them. For Vincent's ranch, it was enough for the whites to keep weapons on hand and suppress the slaves as needed.
"Hmm, Backhausen—if those people across the river are Germans, might they plan on attacking our Transvaal Republic?" Now calmer, Vincent voiced his concern.
"Hard to say, boss," Backhausen replied. "But from what they told me, as long as we don't cross the river, they won't bother us."
"All right, that's a relief," Vincent said, breathing easier. His main fear was that these Germans were like the British, aiming to drive out the Boers entirely.
In truth, the Boers greatly feared the British at this point. Otherwise they wouldn't have fled the Cape Colony, crossing the Orange River and the Drakensberg to found new states inland.
In 1834, the British abolished slavery in Cape Town, which devastated the Boer economy based on slave-run farms. Under pressure from British policies, the Boers left the Cape Colony, migrating deep into South Africa. Though they arrived in the interior later than the Portuguese in Mozambique, they traveled farther because the British forced them to. The British had merely used legal pressure, yet that was enough to make the Boers give up the Cape, showing how cautious or timid they were.
Only after Bronkhorstspruit, where 77 out of 247 British soldiers died and another 157 were wounded, while Boer militiamen lost just 2 men with 4 injured, did the Boers realize how weak British colonial forces could be. They then dared to oppose the British directly, eventually leading to the Second Boer War.
Frankly, if these "Germans" had introduced themselves as an Austro-Hungarian colony, the Boers would have been just as uneasy. Little did they know the East African Kingdom posed an even bigger threat to them than Austria-Hungary would have. Austria-Hungary might be a Great Power, but overseas it was weaker than the Hechingen royal family. Even relations with Far Eastern nations were established almost at the same time as East Africa, and at present Austria-Hungary's minister to the Far East was also serving as minister to Japan and Siam, all from offices in Tokyo.
But the Boers were clueless about any of that. If not for Backhausen being German, Vincent might have assumed those East African troops were British.
"Boss, we should report this to the government," Backhausen advised. "We can't handle them by ourselves. Even that cavalry group on the opposite bank is probably more than our entire Transvaal could deal with, let alone the 'tens of thousands' they claim to have."
He wasn't exaggerating. One look at the East African soldiers, all in matching uniforms and carrying standardized weapons, clearly indicated a standing army—while the Transvaal had only a few thousand regulars. The entire Transvaal Republic had a population of around 200,000; adding in the other Boer state brought them to no more than 400,000. Meanwhile, East Africa had marched south with 30,000 troops.
Of course, raw numbers aren't the whole story. The Boers might have fewer soldiers, but every free man was armed. Vincent's ranch, for instance, issued firearms to all white males. They became militia in wartime, a force that famously challenged the British. This was precisely why Ernst didn't want to fight the Boers: if they waged guerrilla warfare, not only might East Africa fail to take any South African territory, it could threaten East African control over Zimbabwe and Botswana.
The Transvaal is vast and sparsely populated, and Boers own horses. If conflict erupted, they could vanish in a flash. To subdue them, East Africa would need more men—armed settlers, not just soldiers. Those settlers would set up strongpoints that would gradually encroach on Boers' living space. Only then could the Boers be defeated in the end.
During the Second Boer War, the British did send 450,000 troops—outnumbering the Boers themselves—and still ended up playing cat-and-mouse in the South African interior. The war budget reached astronomical sums, but Britain was wealthy enough to bear it.
"You're right," Vincent said. "If we can run into them here, there must be more of them up north. So their claim that there are tens of thousands of men along the Limpopo might not be a bluff."
He reasoned that the Limpopo runs over a thousand kilometers. Even excluding the section in Portuguese territory, some six or seven hundred kilometers remained. If the East African Kingdom set up defenses along it, they'd probably station even more troops in the north. This area near the Limpopo's source was relatively close.
(Map Note: Vincent's ranch—marked in red text.)
Soon enough, Vincent reported the presence of East African soldiers on the west bank of the "Crocodile River" (the Limpopo) to his government. Other Boer farmers by the Limpopo did the same, making the Transvaal Republic aware of this unknown force called the "East African Kingdom" for the first time.
From the piecemeal details each reporter gave, Transvaal's leaders concluded a grim picture: the sheer number of southward-moving East African troops deterred any reckless response. The only good news was that East Africa, for the moment, showed no interest in the Transvaal.
East Africa had nearly finished securing the Limpopo River line, stationing over 15,000 troops there and another 10,000 along the Mozambique border. By deploying its army in advance, East Africa had completely blocked the Portuguese and the Boers from further expansion into Africa's interior—unless they declared war on East Africa.
Would they be so foolish? Nobody could be sure—especially regarding Mozambique. The two sides share no clear natural boundary, so conflict might arise at any time.
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