The Rise of Australasia

Chapter 793 -593: Combat Plan Against the US_1

Before David came to see Arthur, the British Government surely had made preparations and considerations in advance.

Australasia would not help the United Kingdom for nothing, even though the relationship between the two countries indeed was good.

Still, the same old saying applied: between nations, only eternal interests exist, not eternal relationships.

To maintain good relations between Australasia and the United Kingdom, satisfying mutual interests was a necessary prerequisite.

This saying could also apply to interpersonal relationships among people. Aside from the elements of kinship and love, to maintain a relationship with a regular friend, respecting mutual interests was very important.

When you are very important to someone, you are that person’s friend. And when someone is very important to you, they are your friend.

Humans are like this, most of the time there is no absolute selflessness, only the satisfaction that comes after mutual interests are respected.

Hearing Arthur’s terms, David hastened to say, “Of course, Your Majesty. The war in the Philippines should end along with the war in Central America, as both conflicts are of the same nature. However, such significant losses are something the American People are bound not to accept, so perhaps we should prepare for the possibility of a full-scale war.”

For the American People to accept gaining both the Philippines and Central America from the United States all at once was out of the question.

They would either launch a war to prevent such an outcome or lick their wounds in a corner – those were the only two choices left for the American People.

In any case, it was essential to prepare in advance. Although it was highly unlikely that the United States would initiate a war, who could guarantee the American rulers wouldn’t have a sudden change of heart?

If President Coolidge were to have a crazy moment and start a war, could it be retracted?

If the United Kingdom and Australasia were unprepared and thus allowed the American People to win the war in the Philippines and Central America, they would become the laughingstock of the world.

"Of course, the Australasian Army is always ready for combat,” Arthur nodded in satisfaction upon hearing David’s agreement to his demand and made a generous promise himself.

Even if a war with the American People broke out, it was something Arthur was willing to see.

The American People’s strength lay mainly in their navy, something the British could fully handle.

Once the American Navy was dealt with, the British-Australian forces could sweep across the continental United States, marching all the way from Los Angeles to New York and occupying the entire United States, and hold a Parade ceremony at the White House.

Arthur was not only pleased with the conditions set by the British, but the British were also pleased with Arthur’s readiness for war.

And for that reason, the secret talks quickly resulted in a final cooperation agreement, with both parties deciding to issue a final ultimatum to the American People after joint preparations, aiming to end the war that had lasted for over a year.

To guard against potential backstabbing by the Islanders and interference from other countries, the two sides even agreed on the distribution ratio of their fleets in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, ensuring that they could completely suppress the military of the United States and the Island Nation.

However, the likelihood of the Island Nation strongly supporting the United States was not significant. After all, the Tokyo earthquake had severely damaged the industry of the Island Nation and it would take years to recover.

As for countries that might interfere, the French were the most likely. The gap between Britain and France was widening, and the French would probably not want to see the British become stronger.

However, the chances of France and the United States uniting were also slim, as the French no longer had much interest in the Pacific Ocean – they surely couldn’t be willing to risk themselves just to limit Britain, could they?

The British-Australian preparation would take at least over a month, which is the real reason why the ultimatum to the American People was scheduled for late April.

For one thing, it would be an ideal time to transport more weapons and equipment to Central America, arming it into a stronger pawn to share some pressure from the American People on behalf of the British-Australians.

At the same time, it would also allow for the assembly of the navy to reach the strategy of threatening the American People should they disagree.

Having reached a strategic agreement with the British, Arthur temporarily resolved the crucial issue of the United States, which improved his mood.

But not long after, a message from Germany caused Arthur’s expression to change back and forth.

Arthur had thought that Germany, by maintaining Monarchism, would develop very differently from its historical trajectory, but he did not expect that certain individuals, despite changes in their backgrounds, were destined to stand out.

Mussolini’s success in Italy had given Adolf Hitler hope. This common solider, formerly part of the German Army and forcibly discharged, found solace for his soul.

The German Workers’ Party was founded in 1919, with its latest name being the National Socialist German Workers’ Party.

However, this party didn’t have much of a connection with workers; it was led by the infamous Adolf Hitler, the man who single-handedly established the Third Reich.

Of course, Hitler’s status now underwent a significant change. Since the Weimar Republic never came into being, Germany’s history also diverged greatly from the original course.

Yet, one commonality between the present Germany and the historical Germany is that the domestic situation is fairly chaotic, the economy is quite depressed, and the lives of the people are extremely impoverished.

In the aftermath of World War I, most countries experienced currency devaluation, with Germany and Russia being the most severe cases.

The devaluation of the Russian Ruble was understandable, given that the Civil War lasted longer than World War I itself and directly destroyed Russia’s industry; the Ruble maintaining its value would have been the real surprise.

The devaluation of the German Mark was even more severe, with the most fundamental reason being Germany’s terrible political situation after the war and the chaotic autonomy of its federal states.

It may seem unbelievable, but the current German Mark was already not circulating in powerful federal states like Bavaria, which had been replaced by the Bavarian Thaler.

Even the value of the Bavarian Thaler was much higher than that of the German Mark, which further destroyed the economic value of the Mark within Germany.

Before the war broke out, one pound was equal to twenty German Marks, and the purchasing power of the Mark was very high; German people’s lives were among the wealthiest and happiest in Europe.

However, after the war broke out, the value of the Mark had drastically decreased. If the fact that one pound could exchange for hundreds of Marks at the end of the war was already a clear indicator of the collapse of the German currency, the current situation where Marks can’t even be exchanged for foreign currency proves just how severe the collapse of the German currency has been.

The infamous incident of bread costing 500,000 Marks was not so much about the price of bread reaching 500,000 Marks at the worst of times, but rather, it highlighted the collapse of the German economy during that period.

The actual state of Germany was far worse than what was recorded in history; workers’ wages soared to tens of millions of Marks, yet eating a piece of bread each day was a luxury.

It was precisely because of the dire current situation in Germany, that the extreme speeches of politicians like Hitler gained popularity among the people.

At present, Hitler’s party had already won considerable support from the German people. Although it hadn’t reached the point of exaggeration of gaining political power in Germany, it was definitely among the top five major political parties.

If no restrictions were placed on Hitler’s rise, his gaining government power with the support of the people was inevitable.

This also meant that Germany still had the potential to become the historical Third Reich, with William II facing a high chance of being completely sidelined, and Europe likely to face a war far greater than World War I in the near future.

Arthur expressed concern about the situation in Germany and had the intelligence organizations closely monitor every move made by Hitler.

But, whether to prevent the rise of Hitler had become a difficult problem that Arthur considered continuously.

If we look solely at the current situation in Germany, even if Hitler’s rise were blocked, there could be other individuals emulating Hitler, transforming Germany into that belligerent Third Reich.

Unless the current situation in Germany could be completely changed, which was utterly impossible. After all, none of the countries that received compensation was willing to give up their reparations, the French wouldn’t lift their restrictions on Germany, and the British wouldn’t allow Germany to continue growing into the second major power.

It could be said that the current predicament of Germany was solely crafted by the Allied nations. By the power of Australasia alone, it was impossible to restore Germany to its pre-war situation.

Furthermore, the damage caused by the partition of Germany and the harm done to the German people was irreversible by any decision or plan.

The Germans’ hatred for the victorious nations, particularly France, had deepened dramatically; could anyone erase their memories?

This was the real reason why Arthur ultimately didn’t impede Hitler’s rise to power: because the inevitable war between Germany and France simply couldn’t be avoided. Without Hitler, there would be a Battler, a Cattler, or similar individuals leading Germany to war.

Rather than letting someone else rule Germany, it was better to have the familiar Hitler in charge. At least Arthur was somewhat familiar with the Germany under Hitler’s rule, and it was somewhat controllable to a certain degree.

Another major event that coincided with this regarding Germany was still about the German reparations situation.

To ensure that the Germans were genuinely destitute and not deliberately defaulting on payments, after research by numerous recipient nations, it was decided to jointly control German banks, reorganize Deutsche Bank, and implement currency reform in Germany.

The Allies jointly loaned eight hundred million Gold Marks (39 million pounds) to Deutsche Bank to help stabilize the value of the German currency.

Because raising funds through contract factories was too slow, Germany also needed to pledge its tariffs; the monopolistic taxes on tobacco, spirits, sugar, tea; railway revenue, and industrial and commercial tax as conditions for the loan, ensuring that Germany could ultimately repay this loan and all reparations.

Of course, to protect Germany and ensure that the threat from France did not materialize, the British specifically added a condition: no single nation could impose sanctions on Germany. Instead, sanctions had to pass through a meeting of all the Allied nations before they could be enforced on Germany.

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