Rise of Australia

Chapter 452 US Participation in War and Influence

When the Italian and Balkan coalition forces advanced rapidly on the border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the United States on the other side of the ocean was indeed a little panicked.

The reason why the Americans did not participate in this war does not mean that they do not want to share the benefits.

It's just that the Americans want to play a more important role in this war. They want to wait until the Allies and Allies are exhausted before joining the war as a mediator.

But unexpectedly, the Allies have shown signs of fatigue in the Allies' offensives, and even the Allies are left with only two major powers surviving.

If Italy and Australasia really join forces to defeat the Austro-Hungarian Empire, only the struggling German Empire is left, and it is destined not to last long.

The development of the current situation and the imagination of Americans can be described as two extremes.The Americans were surprised to find that the Allied Powers seemed to be able to win the war without themselves.

This makes the Americans a little anxious. If the Allied Powers defeat the Allies and divide up their interests, if the Americans do not participate, there is no hope of rising.

In order to carve up the benefits from this war, the Americans couldn't sit still and began to negotiate with Britain, requesting to participate in this war.

Because of the joining of Australasia in this world, the Americans have had little impact on this war so far.

Even the arms trade, which the United States has earned a lot of benefits in history, has no American share in this world.

Australasia was responsible for almost all the arms trade of Russia and the Balkan countries. Coupled with the assistance of Britain and France, the Allied Powers’ demand for arms imports was not that high, and naturally they would not rush to send money to the Americans.

The Americans failed to gain a lot of benefits from the war, so they have not yet reversed their European identities.

At present, the United States is still a debtor country, and a large amount of capital and economy of the United States are still controlled by European countries.

Seeing that the current situation has exceeded his expectations, US President Wilson made a decisive decision to join this war as soon as possible to strive for more interests for the United States.

At least to reduce Europe's control over the US economy, the US can develop better.

But the current status quo is that the Allies do not need the United States very much. If the United States wants to forcefully intervene to get a share of the pie, it depends on whether Britain and France agree.

While persuading Congress to launch a national mobilization, US President Wilson contacted Britain and France, requesting to join the war as an Allied power.

Although the United States can directly declare war on Germany, the distribution of benefits after the war is two different things if it fights against Germany alone or joins the Allied Powers to fight against Germany.

First of all, Germany's overseas territories have been basically divided up by the Allies, and it is impossible for the United States to obtain Germany's overseas territories on its own.

Although Germany still has a vast territory, do the Americans have the courage to send troops to capture Germany's territory without the permission of Britain and France?

Leaving aside whether the Americans have the guts, the current U.S. army cannot be an opponent of the German army. If the Americans want to attack Germany with their own strength, it is tantamount to blocking the car with their arms.

Regarding the proposal of the United States to join the Allies, Britain and France maintained a completely opposite attitude.

The British did not want the Americans to join in and take a share. After all, the war had gone smoothly so far, and the status of the five major powers of the Allied Powers was also very stable, so there was no need for extra trouble.

Although relying on the power of the Allied Powers alone is bound to lead to more casualties, the current casualties are not unacceptable to Britain, France and the entire Allied Powers.

After all, so far in the war, the two countries with the most casualties among the Allied Powers are France and Russia.

Although the casualties of the British were also high, the casualties of the regular army were only a few hundred thousand, and the casualties of the colonial troops were more.

Precisely because of the high casualties of the French, the casualties of the regular troops have reached more than 500 million, and the death toll has exceeded 100 million.

The French naturally hope that a power like the United States can join the Allied Powers, so that they can bear part of the pressure and also share part of the casualties for themselves.

The disagreement between Britain and France gave the Americans an opportunity to join the Allied Powers. Immediately afterwards, the Americans turned their attention to Russia, trying to win over the Allied Powers, which suffered the most casualties.

The Russians also supported the attitude of the United States to join the Allied Powers. The United States not only promised to provide some interest-free loans to Russia, but also promised to provide assistance to Russia for up to two years.

For the Russian government, which has experienced civil strife and is in short supply of supplies and funds, this can be regarded as a timely help.

Therefore, the Americans quickly won the support of Russia and agreed that the United States would join the Allies to fight against Germany.

The only remaining Allied powers are Australasia and Italy.Arthur's attitude is very clear, that is, like the British, he disagrees with the United States joining the Allied Powers to fight against Germany.

Although the joining of the Americans will bear part of the material pressure for Australasia, it will also take away a large amount of post-war benefit distribution, which is not a good thing for Australasia.

What's more, the Americans are the direct competitors of Australasia after the war, and they are also the countries most likely to compete with Australasia for European talents.

For such potential competitors, it is natural to weaken as much as possible, and it is even more impossible to give them a chance to develop.

Italy's opinion is in line with Italy's position in World War I, and it is unwilling to offend Britain and Australasia, and wants the United States to join in to obtain a large amount of financial and material assistance.

The fact that the United States wanted to join the Allied Powers this time exacerbated the division of the Allied Powers to a certain extent.

Britain and France already have a big rift in the distribution of strategic interests, and after Russia experienced civil strife, it has shown an attitude that pays more attention to funds and materials than to feelings with other countries.

In other words, whoever can provide Russia with more material and financial support will also receive support from Russia.

Doing so is indeed very helpful to the national interest, but it is not a good thing for the United Kingdom and Australasia.

Britain and Russia have many conflicts. If France and the United States are close, they are likely to be close to France and the United States.

In this way, the camp of the Allied Powers has become the United Kingdom and Australasia against France, the United States and Russia, plus Italy, which is like a grass on the wall. The distribution of benefits after the war is destined to be unstable.

At the end of May 1917, the U.S. government once again met with the Allied Powers and promised conditions that were almost impossible for major countries to refuse.

First of all, the United States is willing to provide an interest-free loan of 20 billion U.S. dollars to Britain, France, Russia, Australia and Italy, and provide at least 100 million combat troops and a main fleet to go to war.

According to the pre-war exchange rate, 20 billion U.S. dollars is equivalent to about 4 million pounds, which is definitely not a small number.

You must know that the annual military expenditure of Britain and France before the war was only more than 6 million U.S. dollars. This fund can provide the military expenditure of Britain and France for at least three years before the war.

However, since the outbreak of the war, the military expenditures of all countries have skyrocketed at a double rate. In 1915, Britain's military expenditure was as high as more than 100 billion U.S. dollars, and last year's military expenditure was as high as more than 500 billion U.S. dollars.

Compared with the exaggerated military expenditures of Britain and France, this $20 billion interest-free loan is nothing.

However, for countries with relatively underdeveloped economies such as Italy and Australasia, the $20 billion interest-free loan is still very useful.

You must know that Italy's military expenditure last year was only a little over US$10 billion, and this interest-free loan is enough for the Italians to support them for another two years.

Compared with other countries, Australasia should benefit the most. Total military expenditure in Australasia in 1916 was only 1.2 million Australian dollars, which was equivalent to almost 3 million US dollars.

This is the military expenditure when Australasia has close to 100 million combat troops and the navy is fully deployed.

The reason why the military expenditure is so low is that in the treaty with the British, the British have to bear half of the military expenditure of the Australasian troops fighting in Europe, which is an expenditure of up to 6000 million Australian dollars.

This also means that the US$20 billion interest-free loan provided by the Americans can almost allow Australasia to survive the war for seven years.

With this interest-free loan, France and Russia are even more supportive of the Americans joining the Allied Powers.

Even Italy was persuaded by the Americans, and finally agreed with the Americans to join the Allies to fight against Germany with a 3-2 advantage.

However, Britain and Australasia are not without countermeasures.

First of all, all German overseas territories currently occupied by the Allied Powers are divided according to the existing occupied areas, and the Americans do not participate in the allocation of these areas.

The Americans can obtain the distribution of the benefits of the occupied German land, but it must also be based on a premise, that is, the distribution of benefits is based on the contributions of each country in the war as agreed by the previous Allied Powers.

Because the Americans joined the war relatively late, even if the Americans will get a share, the American contribution to the war will definitely not be too great.

In this way, even if the Americans join the war, they will be at the same level as Italy in the distribution of benefits at most, and will not pose any threat to the distribution of benefits of the original four major powers of the Allied Powers.

On June 1917, 6, after obtaining the consent of the Allied Powers, the Americans couldn't wait to declare war on Germany, and immediately dispatched a transport fleet to transport an army division and the US Expeditionary Force Headquarters to Europe.

The U.S. Army has the smallest number among the major powers. Even if President Wilson has already persuaded Congress to mobilize the country in advance, it will take at least more than a month to achieve results.

This also means that, at least before August, there will not be too many American troops on the European battlefield, and the influence of the American military on the war will be minimal.

This is actually an opportunity for Australasia.After learning that the United States had joined the Allied Powers to fight against Germany, he immediately contacted the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, General Thomas, and issued an order, asking the expeditionary force to capture Klagenfurt as soon as possible, encircle Vienna with the Italian army, and force the Austro-Hungarian Empire to withdraw from this country. war.

As long as the Americans made no contribution to defeating the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Americans would have no excuse or qualification to carve up the interests of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

In this way, Germany is the only remaining allied country that has lost its stubborn resistance. If the Americans want to obtain more distribution of benefits, they can only send out the army to fight the Germans with real swords and guns.

You must know that the interest-free loans provided by the Americans to the five major powers of the Allied Powers alone are as high as 100 billion U.S. dollars, plus the war expenses of the Americans, etc., the Americans spent at least 200 billion U.S. dollars in this war.

If only Germany's post-war benefits are distributed, it will be difficult for the Americans to obtain compensation of more than 200 billion US dollars.

After all, the distribution of Germany's interests includes the five major powers of the Allied Powers and the United States, and the six countries divide up Germany, and the benefits distributed to each country are very small.

In fact, besides the United States, there is another country that also wants to join the Allies to declare war on Germany, and that is the island country.

But the island country is different from the United States. The island country neither has such a developed economic system as the United States, nor does it have a navy that is enough for Britain and France to value.

Even the island country is very short of mineral resources in the country, and to join the Allies, it still needs the assistance of Britain and France.

Therefore, Britain and France directly rejected the island country's request to join the Allied Powers, and the island country's attempt to take advantage of this war to occupy Germany's colonies in East Asia was directly shattered.

If they do not join the Allies, the island countries can only declare war on Germany alone.However, the distribution of interests of the Allied Powers involved all of Germany's overseas territories. If the island countries openly invaded and occupied Germany's East Asian colonies, it would be tantamount to endangering the interests of the Allied Powers.

If the island country really dares to do this, even if the United States is an ally of the island country, it will definitely not be able to save the island country.

Although Britain and France suffered heavy losses after the war, it is still easy to clean up an island country.

You know, the military expenditure of the island country was only 2.2 million U.S. dollars last year, which could not even reach the military expenditure of Australasia. How could the island country have the courage to challenge the status of Britain and France?

Judging from the current strength shown by Australasia, if Australasia and the island country fight, the island country may not necessarily have a chance of winning.

Although Australasia is at a disadvantage in terms of army numbers, the Australasian navy has imposed a complete blockade on the island country. At the same time, the air force is constantly bombing the major cities of the island country. Soon the island country will face a shortage of supplies.

For an island country like an island country that is extremely short of supplies, if the navy is not strong, it will never have a chance to rise.

As long as there is a blockade, the island country will face more serious difficulties than Germany.The lack of various supplies is enough to collapse the country internally.

The biggest change brought to Europe by the United States' participation in the war is the attitude of public opinion in European countries.

Since the United States declared war on Germany on June 6, newspapers in various European countries have generally bad-mouthed Germany, and many media even directly declared that Germany's defeat was a short-term event, and people in the Allies would soon be able to cheer for victory.

After the United States joined the Allied Powers, the number of great powers in the Allied Powers came to six, while the Allied Powers had only two.

Even on paper, the Allies still maintain a huge advantage over the Allies.Such advantages lie not only in population, economy and industry, but also in the land area, mineral resources and various material reserves of the Allies.

No matter what else, even if it only compares the consumption of manpower and materials, it is absolutely impossible for the Allies to be the opponents of the Allies.

Even some media in the Allied countries, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, began to question the government's performance in the war.

The Germans are unwilling to believe that the powerful German Empire is the disadvantaged party in this war, and it is very likely to lose the war.

Fortunately, Germany is currently under the rule of the military government, and the government's rule will not be shaken by the doubts of some newspapers.

The military government has such benefits. The rear government understands the front-line commanders very well. The German government and the Junkers are still staunch main fighters and have not been affected.

However, while Germany was spared the crisis, Austria-Hungary was not so lucky.

There were many forces in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In addition, Karl I had just ascended the throne and did not have such a high prestige. The media in the Austro-Hungarian Empire can be said to speak freely.

The major newspapers questioned the government's decision-making in the war at first, and finally even began to question the government and Karl I.

Under the influence of these newspapers, the public has also had a crisis of confidence in the government.

Strikes and demonstrations broke out in major factories and streets in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, demanding that the government stop the war and restore the pre-war order.

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(End of this chapter)