Rise of Australia

Chapter 390
Time passed quickly, and soon came the second year after the war, that is, 1915.

Although the Australasian army arrived on the battlefield in October last year, although the British and French allied forces at the Battle of the Marne achieved great success, and although Germany has just experienced a disastrous defeat, the current war on the Western Front is still in a war of attrition, even if Germany has shown Despite the decline, it is still not easy to defeat him.

War is a huge war of attrition, which is true in any era.

Although the Australasian Expeditionary Force went to Europe for only two months, so far, the colonial army has suffered more than 8.2 casualties, and the Fourth Division has suffered more than 3000 casualties, which is enough to prove the cruelty of this war.

Thanks to the exaggerated equipment of the Australasian army, the actual consumption of weapons and ammunition is even more exaggerated.

It's just that half of the military expenses of the expeditionary force going to Europe are borne by the United Kingdom. Therefore, according to Australasia, the burden caused is not too great, at least for now, it is completely acceptable.

According to public or semi-public battle reports from various places, the current European war has invested a total of nearly 800 million troops.

Especially the main countries headed by France and Germany, the number of troops has now expanded to more than one million people.

The total number of armies and casualties of the participating countries in Europe are as follows:

Germany currently has 191 million troops, with 11.4 dead and 22.7 injured.

France currently has 175 million troops, with 19.8 war dead and 35.2 injured.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire currently has 129 million troops, with 7.8 dead and 11.5 injured.

The Russian Empire currently has 193.8 million troops, with 17.2 dead and 25.5 injured.

The British Empire currently has 87.2 troops, with 5.8 dead and 11.2 injured.

Australasia currently has 47.8 troops, 3.3 dead and 5.2 injured.

In just over four months in 1914, the war resulted in more than 60 deaths and nearly 110 million injuries.

What is even more exaggerated is that this data is limited to the casualties counted by the military of various countries, and does not count the civilians affected by the war.

If civilians are to be counted, it is conservatively estimated that the list of casualties must be at least doubled.

Moreover, the four months of 1914 were not overly brutal compared with the year that followed.

Although the armies of various countries have multiplied several times, they can still recruit more troops to join the war, which also means more casualties and consumption.

It can be predicted that in the coming year, the war will only become more cruel, because all countries have no retreat, either win the war or be destroyed in the war.

No one will hope that the enemy will spare them after the defeat. The casualties of this war have been very tragic. Under the cover of this kind of hatred, the Allies and Allies have long been in a state of either you or me.

On January 1915, 1, the Australasian Cabinet Government's annual report meeting was officially held.

The reason why the meeting was delayed by one day was because of the delay in counting casualties on the front line, and the casualty report from Europe was not received until close to the early morning.

During the meeting, Arthur looked at Minister of Defense Raul, and asked with a serious face: "Minister Raul, tell us about the current casualties of our expeditionary force!"

Defense Minister Raul nodded, looked at everyone, and said with a heavy face: "Your Majesty, everyone. So far, our 31.6 expeditionary force has only 21.7 combat soldiers. The casualties of the Fourth Division are also relatively heavy. At present, there are only about 1.3 people capable of combat."

After hearing the news of such tragic casualties, the ministers of various departments turned their attention to the Minister of Defense Raul.

You must know that the total number of expeditionary forces in Australasia is only 31.6, and nearly one-third of them have been lost in just two months.

Doesn't this mean that in the new year, Australasia still needs to send a certain amount of colonial troops in order to maintain the scale of the expeditionary force in Europe.

Although most of the dead were indigenous people, it didn't feel so distressing.But it takes a lot of money to train a native into a barely qualified soldier.

Therefore, the best situation is that the casualties of the aborigines can be less, at least there is no need for frequent transportation of aborigines from Australasia to the European battlefield.

"The French side is already asking, when can we send the second expeditionary force to Europe?" Minister Raul glanced at Arthur's reaction before continuing.

In fact, it is normal for the French to ask such questions. After all, according to the agreement at the time, Australasia needs to try its best to keep the total number of combat troops in Europe at more than 30, of which at least one division is the main force.

But if you are not in charge of the family, you don't know how expensive daily necessities are. Arthur has only one thought now, and that is to send the army as late as possible.

"Replying to France, our army training will take some time, and coupled with the long distance to Europe, Australasia will not have any reinforcements for at least three months, and can only provide certain material support." Arthur thought for a while. After a while, it was said.

Although Australasia does need to make a certain contribution in the war in exchange for the distribution of benefits after the war.

But it was not in Arthur's plan to shed his own blood to support the French.

It seems that the casualties of the colonial army did not cause much loss to Australasia, but in fact, the training expenses of these indigenous soldiers, as well as their weapons and equipment, etc., brought a considerable military burden to Australasia.

After all, the British only provide half of the military expenses of these troops, and they will not provide the weapons and equipment of these indigenous soldiers when forming the colonial army.

Minister Raul nodded, indicating that he understood.

After the Ministry of Defense's episode ended, the 1914 annual report summary meeting officially began.

According to the report of the Ministry of People's Livelihood, by the end of 1914, the total population of Australasia had successfully exceeded 1500 million, reaching 1537 million.

This is no small milestone for Australasia. After the population exceeded [-] million three years ago, the population of Australasia has reached a new figure again.

Of course, the population also reflects the bad news that since the outbreak of the European War, the number of immigrants in Australasia has plummeted.

Throughout 1914, the population growth of Australasia was about 144 million people.

Although it looks like a lot, the number of newborn babies reached 37.8.This also means that the number of immigrants in the whole year of 1914 was only 106.2 million, of which the number of Russian immigrants was as high as more than 80, accounting for nearly [-]% of the new immigrants from Australasia.

The number of immigrants fell by almost 30 in the year to last year, a significant portion of them British and German immigrants.

Even if the relationship between Australasia and the United Kingdom is good, the United Kingdom will close the immigration channel during the war to reduce the outflow of immigrants as much as possible.

After all, most civilians don't like war. If immigration is not restricted in a special period, I am afraid that a large number of immigrants will go abroad to seek refuge before the war is over.

And this kind of loss of national power during the war is something that the major European powers are unwilling to see.

Not only the United Kingdom, but all the European powers participating in the war have enacted certain immigration restriction policies, which also cut the number of immigrants from Europe to the outside world in 1914.

Fortunately, Australasia also has a good brother, Russia, who can support Australasian immigrants at any time.

After all, in order to attract more Russian immigrants, Australasia has bribed Russia from top to bottom. Russia has given the green light to Australasian immigrants all the way. .

More importantly, because Australasia frequently transports supplies to Russia, the relationship between Australasia and Russia has also entered a long honeymoon period.

Coupled with the marriage relationship between the two royal families, Russian immigrants are indeed the best source of immigrants during this time period, under the premise that some revolutionaries of Russian immigrants are not counted.

Due to the possible future crisis in Tsarist Russia, Arthur has also made advance deployments.

First of all, through the selection of all Russian immigrants, thousands of Russian immigrants who recognized Australasia and were willing to pledge their allegiance were selected. After certain training, they were sent back to Russia to carry out secret latent missions.

Their general task was to enter the interior of some revolutionaries and Russian rebels to find out more news for Arthur.

No matter how corrupt Russia is, the Russian royal family still needs to be saved.Even if the ruler is not the current tsar, at least he must be a close relative of the Romanov family.

This is not only determined by the good relationship between the Australasian royal family and the Russian royal family, but also by Russia's geographical location.

As long as Russia exists, at least in the Far East, it will be an ally of Australasia and share the pressure from the island countries and the United States for Australasia.

However, Russia is currently in a relatively chaotic state. Whether these more than 1000 trained Russian immigrants can penetrate into those people's interior is also a problem.

It is worth mentioning that some lawbreakers in Russia have already fled to the territory of Australasia by taking advantage of the opportunity of emigration.

But Arthur had already been prepared for this. The customs in Australasia had strict inspections on all immigrants.

Not only are they prohibited from carrying weapons, but also too many immigrants from the same area are not allowed to gather in one area.

These immigrants from all over Russia will also be scattered to various parts of Australasia, including New Zealand and all colonies.

Of course, they can also not accept the government's distribution, and the price is to lose the government's welfare policy.

Although such a rule is a bit tough, it is not unacceptable to civilians who just want to come to Australasia to live an ordinary and happy life.

After all, Australasia's current immigration policy is also very lucrative.As long as you pass the immigration assessment for about half a year to a year, you can successfully obtain the citizenship of Australasia, obtain 4 to 8 acres of land (depending on the location and fertility of the land), and have access to Australasia. Opportunities to work in major factories in West Asia.

You must know that with the increase in per capita income in Australasia, the salaries offered by major factories have also been very generous.

Although the income level is not comparable to that of the top powers such as Britain, France and Germany, the consumption level in Australasia is also relatively low, especially in terms of beef, mutton and grain, the price is much lower than that in Europe, which also brings Europeans and Australians closer. The standard of living of the people of Greater Lasia.

According to statistics, in terms of beef, mutton and grain consumption, the per capita consumption in Australasia even surpassed that in some parts of Europe, including some big power countries.

In addition, in Australasia, the eight-hour working system is strictly implemented, and there are corresponding subsidies and overtime pay for overtime work, and the salary is also guaranteed.

Therefore, the factories in Australasia attracted a large number of citizens and immigrants to enter, and all walks of life in Australasia developed very rapidly.

Although more than 100 million immigrants are added every year, these people will be dispersed to various aspects such as agriculture and industry, which has not affected the unemployment rate in Australasia too much.

According to the statistics of the people's livelihood department, by the end of 1914, the per capita income of Australasia was 52.7 Australian dollars, which was still in a relatively stable growth state.

Economic growth can be seen from the gross national product.

Throughout 1914, the gross national product of Australasia was as high as US$16.77 billion, equivalent to 3.35 million pounds, 6.7 million Australian dollars, with a growth rate of about 6%.

Although the growth rate has slowed down compared to the previous year, war broke out in the second half of 1914, and such a growth rate is already good.

If Arthur's guess is correct, the major European powers participating in the war, especially France, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia, have absolutely negative economic growth.

You know, war consumes a lot of money for a country.In order to allow the country to better enter the state of war, these countries mobilize some civilian factories to enter military production. Those with technology produce more complex military equipment and weapons, while those without technology produce relatively simple military uniforms and helmets.

Although it has greatly eased the pressure on military supplies on the front line, it has also caused a huge impact on the civilian economy, and the country's economic growth has been slow, and even fell into negative growth.

The situation in Britain is relatively better, after all, the mainland has not been affected by the war.But after all, being in Europe, there must be an impact, at least much greater than that of Australasia.

In terms of government revenue, Australasia's government revenue in 1914 was 1.072 million Australian dollars, an increase of about 5.6% compared to the previous year.

The economy of Australasia was not greatly affected, and even made a small profit because of the export of a large amount of materials to Europe.

In terms of financial expenditure, because half of the military expenditure of the expeditionary force is borne by the United Kingdom, the military expenditure of Australasia has dropped to just over 3800 million Australian dollars.

The total fiscal expenditure of the Australasian government was 9871 million Australian dollars, and the fiscal surplus increased compared with the previous year, reaching about 850 million Australian dollars.

Although the military expenditure has been reduced a lot, the reduction in the government's total financial expenditure is not much.

After all, in the midst of war, it would cost a lot more to introduce immigrants from Russia. At the same time, in order to stabilize domestic production, a certain amount of effort was inevitable.

However, these efforts are destined to be earned back from the Allies.But as the war intensifies in the new year, the Allies will truly lack weapons, equipment and supplies.

At that time, it was also the time when Australia made a lot of money.Just relying on the trade of food and weapons and equipment is enough for the royal family and the Australasian government to make a lot of money, not only to pay off all the government's debts, but also to make a small profit.

If it weren't for the previous war between Argentina and Chile, the relationship between Australasia and the United States would have declined.

Arthur even wanted to borrow a large amount of money from the United States, and he could pay it back in francs or marks.

　Today is just one update, it is considered a leave of absence, and there will be two updates tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)