Chapter 398: Even a Dog Must Get Slapped Twice
Ernst had no idea that Cape Town was already planning some form of interference in East Africa, starting by trying to pressure Germany. But before the war, Ernst had known that East Africa and Cape Town wouldn't part ways amicably. As for pressuring Germany to interfere with East Africa, that was little more than Britain's wishful thinking.
This time, East Africa's strategic goal was to take natural barriers like mountains and rivers as boundaries, occupying places that were easy to defend and annexing the mineral-rich territories of South Africa. In many of South Africa's mountainous and river areas, British influence was already present—for example, the Griqualand Republic—yet it happened to be north of the Orange River.
If the Griqualand Republic had lain south of the Orange River, East Africa probably wouldn't have swallowed it, as such territory wouldn't be defensible and would just become a bleeding wound.
There's also the border between the Zulu Kingdom and the Natal Colony, which likewise had no clear delimitation. That's easy to understand: in the past, the British believed themselves the dominant force in Africa—at least in South Africa—facing no real opponent. So they never bothered to sign border treaties with these natives; leaving the boundaries vague also made it easier to expand.
As it turns out, the East African Kingdom is no different from Britain. From its colonial days until now, East Africa has only ever signed a border treaty with Egypt.
First, Egypt occupies a crucial strategic position, has a long history, and is carefully watched by all major powers. Second, the land bordering East Africa and Egypt is in Sudan—a desert climate with only a bit of farmland in the Gezira Plain, making troop movement difficult. Third, Egypt itself isn't weak.
At least East Africa considered Egypt strong enough to sit at the negotiating table. Even so, the final treaty let East Africa gain the upper hand, forcing Egypt to cede some "worthless" parts of Sudan that, as it turned out, contained oil.
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After a brief pause in Pretoria, the 123rd Division soon went to reinforce Felix's campaign against the Zulu Kingdom. Not long after, once the 514th Division had rested a few days, it also marched out—its objective was the Kingdom of Basutoland, which later history calls Lesotho.
Right now, in South Africa, as people say, "Even a dog must get slapped twice by East Africa." And Lesotho was about to endure those slaps.
East Africa's reason for attacking Lesotho was simple. Lesotho is the highest-elevation kingdom on the South African highlands, effectively the region's "water tower." Many South African rivers originate there—such as the Orange River, some tributaries of the Vaal, the Tugela River flowing into the Indian Ocean, and so forth.
In earlier history, Lesotho and South Africa ran a well-known water diversion project: taking water from Lesotho to supply the industrial needs of Pretoria and Johannesburg.
Meanwhile, the Basutoland Kingdom stands precisely on the watershed between the Orange River and the Tugela River. So Ernst plans to annex the northern portion of Basutoland.
Doing so will help East Africa, using the Lesotho area as a center, to build a defensive line around the Tugela River, the Vette River (a tributary of the Orange), Champagne Castle Mountain, the Vaal River, and the Orange River.
(Chart)
Ernst calls that line the "Southern Line," its main purpose being to guard against the Cape Colony.
By now, East Africa has offended every power in South Africa: the Boers, the Swazi, the Zulu, the Basotho, the Griqualand Boers, and the British.
Yet East Africa must also keep its ambition somewhat in check and can't treat Cape Town too rudely. So far, friction with Cape Town is at most an ongoing conflict. If East Africa actually attacked Cape Town, that would no longer be just friction; it would be war on Britain itself.
Though the Griqualand Republic is part of the Cape Colony, Griqualand isn't important. Basutoland, too, is a British protectorate, but East Africa doesn't plan to wipe it out entirely, just take half.
These main conflict zones are sub-level colonies under Cape Town, not part of Cape Town proper. In effect, Cape Town is Britain's "son," while those two are the "grandsons." And Britain proper doesn't directly manage them—Cape Town is mostly in charge.
In reality, the Cape Colony can be seen as a nearly independent country. Though it belongs to the British Empire, it has some autonomy, with a main governing body called the Cape Parliament, staffed by locals. The official head of state is the British Queen, and the actual top administrator is Britain's commissioner for South Africa, who doubles as Cape Town's governor—namely Henry Barkly. Combined with Britain's garrison in Cape Town, the empire firmly controls South Africa.
This setup is basically like Australia's, though a bit less than Canada's. That's because in 1867, the British Parliament passed the British North America Act, making Canada a self-governing dominion almost on par with an independent nation.
Had the East African Kingdom not interfered, the Cape Colony's white inhabitants would probably achieve self-government this year, forming a cabinet responsible to parliament and thus establishing true autonomy.
But now that East Africa has come in as an enemy, the Cape white population's focus has shifted from opposing London's authority to dealing with East Africa. Without the Empire's protection, how could the Cape Colony, with its weaker forces, stand against a mightier East African Kingdom? So the local white power in Cape Town suddenly needs to rely on London, something that's not altogether bad for the British government.
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East Africa's wars against both the Zulu Kingdom and Lesotho kicked off nearly simultaneously. Among them, the Zulu campaign was toughest, but once the 123rd Cavalry Division joined Felix, matters shifted dramatically in East Africa's favor.
In open country, cavalry can easily pin down the Zulus. If the Zulus try retreating to rugged terrain, they can't escape the pursuit of East Africa's mountain troops.
This predicament irritated the Zulu Kingdom. They had previously held their own against the Boers thanks in large part to the terrain. But East Africa's mountain division is composed of soldiers from mountainous regions, allowing them to move faster in the Drakensberg than the Zulus themselves can.
In fact, the Zulu Kingdom had only settled there a few decades prior, founding their kingdom. The original locals were the Khoisan. Indeed, all of South Africa used to be Khoisan land; now the Khoisan remain mostly in Cape Town, the East African Kingdom, and in what was once Namibia, with only about a hundred thousand left.
Khoisan are an independent group, brownish in skin tone. Because Bantu peoples moved south (including the Zulus), many Khoisan in eastern South Africa became mixed-blood (with Khoisan mothers), hence darker than, say, the indigenous in the former Dutch East Indies.
Essentially, every group on South African land today—except the Khoisan—are all invaders, including the Zulus, whose history there basically dates from the same period as the Boers. Also, being pastoralists, the Zulus seldom ventured into the mountains, so they weren't necessarily experts on the terrain.
Under constant attack by the East African Army, the Zulus had no choice but to flee to even more rugged mountains. The mountain division might be strong, but the cavalry was worse for them in open plains—there it was practically a death trap.
On June 8, 1872, the last Zulu Kingdom force was driven by the East African Army into the Champagne Castle Mountains, on the left bank of the Tugela River. But the East Africans pursued them, and eventually the remnants of the Zulu Kingdom crossed those mountains into the Natal Colony, marking the kingdom's destruction.
On June 12, 1872, East Africa launched a surprise attack on Maseru (south of the Tugela River valley), capital of the Basutoland Kingdom (Lesotho). Forced out, Basutoland moved its capital south of the Orange River valley to Quthing, appealing to the British for help.
On June 14, 1872, the Transvaal Republic's government-in-exile arrived in Cape Town, as Andries Pretorius Jr. sought aid to restore the nation.
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