Rise of Australia

Chapter 361 The US-Japan Alliance
In order to make the Argentines completely terrified, all the troops of the Allied Powers did not save weapons and ammunition this time, and even assembled hundreds of artillery pieces to bombard the Argentine frontline, blowing up the lush forest into wasteland and destroying the border. All the peaked hills have been flattened.

The bombing on the 11th alone consumed more than 4 rounds of shells from the Allies, with an average of hundreds of shells fired by each artillery.

It is not clear how many casualties were caused to the Argentine army, but it can be seen from the position of the Argentine front that the Argentine casualties are definitely not small.

After two rounds of shelling in a row, the Argentines couldn't bear it anymore. On November 1913, 11, Argentina asked for an armistice again.

The good news is that peace negotiators from the Allied Powers and Chile are still staying in Sydney because they understand that Argentina will not last for a few days.

As for Argentina, the country did not have much thought to withdraw the peace talks representatives, which also made the peace talks very smooth and quickly restarted in Sydney.

Perhaps because they understood their current situation, the Argentine's performance in this peace talk became very obedient.

After two days of peace talks and negotiations between the two sides, on November 11, the amount of compensation for Argentina was finally determined, a total of 15 million pounds.

Among them, the four major powers of the Allied Powers paid a total of 800 million pounds, and Australasia received 200 million pounds.

And the remaining 383 million pounds, 200 million pounds as war reparations to Chile, 183 million pounds compensation to the Chileans and the Chilean government who suffered losses in this war.

For Argentina, the compensation of nearly 1200 million pounds is not a small figure.

Even with the help of the Americans, it may take several years to fully pay off the indemnity.

More importantly, this is also a big blow to Argentina's national self-confidence. It may not be easy for Argentina to restore its status as one of the three major South American hegemons.

You must know that Chile can obtain a total of more than 300 million pounds in compensation, which will greatly alleviate Chile's current economic weakness.

This will also indirectly cause the gap between Chile and Argentina to widen. Argentina will personally cultivate a difficult enemy for itself.

Of course, Chile is not the main target of the Argentine government's current headache.After the complete contract is released, the first thing the Argentine government has to face is the angry Argentine people.

As for the cession of the entire province of Fuego requested by the Chileans, the Argentine government absolutely cannot accept it.

Once the demands of the Chileans are accepted, even if Argentina does not perish in this war, the Argentine government will be overthrown by the angry Argentine people.

For any country or any nation, ceding the country's land is a great shame and humiliation.And the person who agrees to sign the treaty will generally be nailed to the pillar of national shame.

Of course, the final decision makers in this matter are the four major powers of the Allied Powers, to be precise, the British Empire.

Including Australasia, they are not very interested in this matter, so the attitude of the British Empire has become very important.

Although the British Empire is an ally of Chile, the relationship between Britain and Chile is also very friendly.However, the consistent continental balance policy of the British Empire still makes the British government a little embarrassed about this matter.

The compensation after Argentina's defeat cannot be escaped, but the amount of compensation and the restrictions on Argentina are also a headache for the British Empire.

Let Argentina pay less, and Chile will inevitably be dissatisfied.But if Argentina is weakened too badly, South America's southern Chile will no longer stand in the way.

When Chile finished digesting the fruits of the war, South America directly became a confrontation between Chile and Brazil.

Judging from the current situation, Chile has an advantage, and it is not impossible to become the hegemon of South America.

Even if it can't fight against Brazil in a short period of time, Chile can continue to oppress Argentina and accumulate foundation for its own rise.

This is not allowed in the eyes of the British Empire.Chile has a saltpeter mine that is very important to the British Empire, which also means that the country of Chile cannot be too powerful, otherwise it is likely to exceed the control of the British Empire.

The Argentine representative also seemed to understand this point. After the territorial negotiations reached a stalemate, the Argentine representative asked to see the British representative many times and had a long time of secret talks.

Finally, on November 1913, 11, at the suggestion of the British Empire, Chile and Argentina each made a concession and changed their requirements.

The final result of the peace talks was also very smooth. Argentina agreed to cede the land east of Karen and north of San Sebastian, plus Estados Island, San Diego Island and other islands, and renounced sovereignty over all disputed areas.

Although Argentina finally ceded the land, the ceded are all small islands and soil, which is acceptable to Argentina.

Although the Chileans were a little reconciled, they had no choice but to face the decision of the British Empire.

Fortunately, it can be regarded as a new land, and it can be regarded as an explanation to the people and the media.

The only remaining issue in the peace talks is the establishment of a four-nation condominium zone in the black land area in northern Argentina that Australasia requested.

The reason why Australasia agreed to send troops this time was for the black land in Argentina.

And Australasia had reached an agreement with the British Empire before, so Australasia's request was supported by the other three major powers of the Allied Powers.

Facing the common demands of the four major powers of the agreement countries, Argentina has no ability to resist at all. After a long period of peace talks, it finally agreed to the demands of Australasia.

The black soil in Argentina is mainly concentrated in the Pampas Plain. The black soil here has a characteristic, which is basically reddened black soil.

The surface of this kind of black soil is red soil, and the real black soil is under the red soil. The disadvantage is that the soil is not as fertile as the normal black soil.

Moreover, if the development of agriculture in such black land has a defect, it is easy to cause soil erosion and damage the soil.

Neither is a problem for Australasia.The reason why Arthur wanted to acquire this land was to build a granary in a short period of time to prepare for the two wars.

After the end of World War II, this land must be returned to Argentina.

As for the scope of the co-managed black land, it is located on the coast of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, with the Port of Blanca as the center, and the land with a radius of tens of square kilometers was officially leased by the Allied Powers for a period of 45 years.

During this period, the four major powers of the Allied Powers can carry out various economic operations including agriculture and animal husbandry on this land, and Argentina must not interfere in any way.And all the results obtained belong to the labor side and have nothing to do with Argentina.

This also means that in the next 45 years, this land can be used as an overseas farm in Australasia to grow a large number of crops for Australasia.

The local Argentine people can also serve as cheap farm laborers, and Australasia needs to sit back and enjoy a lot of food.

For the soil erosion and the destruction of soil fertility that mass planting has brought to this land, it has nothing to do with Australasia 45 years later.

Of course, in order to protect its own interests in this land, Australasia specifically requested that troops be sent to this land to protect the safety of Australasian enterprises and the people of Australasia.

At the same time, the garrison can also deter the Argentine government and allow the Argentine government to restrain the Argentine people.

On November 1913, 11, the "Sydney Treaty" was officially signed in Sydney, the capital of Australasia, which also represented South America's formal entry into the peace phase.

Witnessed by many media and the public, representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Australasia, Chile and Argentina signed the contract one after another, which also means that the contract has officially begun to be implemented.

According to the agreement between the two parties, the Argentine government's high compensation needs to be repaid within a maximum of five years.

Once the period of compensation exceeds five years, [-]% interest will be paid to the victorious country every year.

Considering the financial situation of the Argentine government, even if the Argentine government can pay these reparations within five years, the financial situation of Argentina will become very bad.

Perhaps in order to save this soon-to-be-lost ally, and at the same time express apology for its inaction in the war, the US government contacted Argentina within a few days after the Sydney contract was announced, claiming that it could help Argentina pay reparations.

Although the Argentine government no longer trusts the Americans, this is one of the few options that Argentina currently has.

Fortunately, the Americans are sincere in wanting to save their ally Argentina.Within a few days, the United States and Argentina reached a new agreement. The United States provided Argentina with 300 million pounds of free aid and 1500 million pounds of low-interest loans to help Argentina restore the post-war order.

The two sums of aid totaling 1800 million pounds finally dissipated most of the anger of the Argentine government.

At least after repaying the war indemnity, this fund can still have about 500 million pounds left to save the domestic situation in Argentina.

In fact, Americans have already felt the pressure from the Allies at this time.The four major powers of the Allied Powers join forces, even Germany can't support it, let alone the United States, which is currently not strong in military strength.

In order to ensure that their own security will not be threatened, in early December 1913, the Americans announced a new round of naval expansion bills, using the way of aggressively expanding the navy to express a message to themselves and the public that the United States is still safe. of.

After all, it is the United States with deep pockets, and the naval expansion bill looks very exaggerated.

According to the Navy Expansion Act announced by the U.S. government, from 1914 to the end of 1916, the United States will build three super dreadnoughts and two battlecruisers every year for three years, and a total of nine super dreadnoughts will be built. ship and six battlecruisers.

If the U.S. Navy Expansion Act can be implemented smoothly, the number of major warships in the United States will reach the top three levels in the world by the end of 1916, greatly improving its naval strength.

The reason why the Americans have such an exaggerated naval expansion plan is due to the joint actions of the four major powers of the Allied Powers.

In the previous time, the United States believed that with its unique geographical location, the security of the United States could not be threatened.

However, with the joint actions of the four major powers of the Allied Powers, the United States understands a truth, that is, no matter how far the distance is, the navy can reach it.

Either have a powerful army that can annihilate the enemy on land.Although it may burn the flames of war to one's own homeland, the advantage is that it can kill the enemy's vital forces and achieve the final victory of the war.

Or have a powerful navy, destroying the possibility of the enemy landing on your own land at the root.

As long as the shores of the United States are not threatened, the homeland of the United States is not threatened.

The current situation in Europe has clearly favored the Allies, something Americans do not want to see.

If the Germans were defeated, the most threatening country in the British Empire would be the Americans themselves.

At that time, the geographical location that the Americans think is very safe will not be able to withstand the naval blockade of the four major powers of the Allied Powers.

Rapidly improving the strength of the navy so that the U.S. navy has the ability to protect the coast is what the U.S. is urgently doing now.

It is precisely because of the pressure from the Allied Powers that the passage of the Navy Expansion Act went smoothly, and the corresponding financial appropriations were quickly passed by the US Congress.

You know, before the U.S. government wanted to reach any kind of visit, it would take a long time to talk to Congress about appropriating funds.

Now that the U.S. Congress has agreed to allocate funds so quickly, it is enough to show that those congressmen also feel a lot of pressure on the Allies.

This is actually quite normal.After all, the most powerful country in the world has the most powerful navy in the world, plus two top powers with a strong mainland navy and one power with a good army and navy. Such an alliance of four countries, Unless four countries with the same size fight against each other, they will be unstoppable in this world.

At present, the most powerful allies to fight against the Allied Powers are nothing more than the world's largest army and the Austro-Hungarian Empire with a good army.

As for Italy, it could be regarded as a power with a fairly good navy before, but it was a bit stretched in terms of the army.

In fact, the actions of the Americans are far more than that.

The strength of the Allied Powers made Americans feel the pressure, but it also made Americans understand the importance of allies.

But there are not many allies worth making all over the world, especially the relatively powerful countries, which are either in the whirlpool of Europe, or are not very powerful.

The United States is definitely unwilling to let the United States join the allies to directly oppose the United Kingdom.

Not to mention whether the Allies can fight against the Allied Powers after the United States joins the Allied Powers, just facing such a powerful Allied Powers at present is a headache for some people in the U.S. government.

After thinking about it, the Americans finally set their sights on the island countries on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

This is a country in the Pacific Ocean that has a relationship of hatred and competition with Russia, one of the Allied powers.

Although the relationship with the British was good before, because the British wanted to win over the Russians, the UK has temporarily stopped its exchanges with the island country.

And the special geographical location of the island country is doomed that if this country wants to rise, it must set its sights on the mainland not far away.

The former overlord of the Far East was still Russia, which also means that if the island country wants to rise, it must fight Russia and the Allies behind Russia.

From this point of view, island countries are suitable to become allies of the United States.In addition, in order to fight against Russia, the United States has already established contact with the island country, and it will be easier to win over.

Therefore, the U.S. government internally formulated a plan to win over the island countries, aiming to ease the pressure on the United States from the Allied Powers by winning over the island countries and forming alliances with the island countries.

As for the island countries, they were naturally overjoyed at the olive branch thrown by the United States.You know, since the United Kingdom suspended aid, the island country seems to have fallen to the bottom.

Originally, various industries in the island country were severely restricted, and there was no sufficient supply of mineral resources.Coupled with the fact that the United Kingdom cut off aid, the island country not only lost its status as a great power, but may even lose the possibility of becoming a powerful country.

After all, the enemy of the island country becoming a powerful country is Russia, and Russia is a member of the Allied Powers.

At present, the power of the Allies is weaker than that of the Allies, not to mention the island countries that are not even great powers.

Therefore, after receiving the olive branch from the Americans, the islanders agreed to the American inquiry without even thinking about it.

For island countries, an ally like the United States has another advantage, that is, there will be no conflict with the United States in a short period of time.

The United States has not fully extended its hand to the Pacific Ocean, and the island countries currently do not have much interest in the Pacific Ocean.

This also leads to the fact that if the two countries form an alliance, they will be in a honeymoon period in a short period of time, and the relationship will be relatively close.

On December 1913, 12, the U.S. government announced that it had reached a cooperation with the island country on the joint construction of dreadnought ships, and the two sides signed a mutual trade agreement, marking the initial conclusion of the U.S.-Japan alliance.

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(End of this chapter)