Rise of Australia

Chapter 459
Although Germany has declared a comprehensive armistice, this does not mean that the war is completely over.

Before the German representatives formally signed the peace treaty, Germany was still at war with the Allies.

If the theme during the war was how to defeat Germany, then the theme after the temporary truce is discussing how to carve up Germany.

Although the purpose of all countries is to obtain sufficient profits, at the same time give Germany a profound lesson.

However, different countries have different attitudes towards Germany.For example, the French, what they want is to weaken Germany as much as possible, annex more land, and even completely eliminate the possibility of Germany competing with France again.

But the British would never agree to do so.It is okay to weaken the Germans, but it must be within a reasonable range.

Otherwise, France, which has stood up again by exploiting Germany, will be Britain's greatest enemy in Europe. At that time, France will have no opponents in continental Europe, and the British can only compete with France in person.

This is unacceptable to the British. It runs counter to the continental balance policy that the British have always implemented, and it will also greatly jeopardize Britain's position in the European continent.

Therefore, it can be expected that the ensuing peace talks will turn into competition within the Allies.

Germany, which has already fallen everywhere, will have no resistance, but the disputes among the countries within the Allied Powers will make this peace talk more exciting.

On December 1917, 12, three days after the official armistice, all representatives of the Allied Powers gathered together to discuss the specifics of the contract with representatives sent by Germany.

It is worth mentioning that the first German unconditional surrender agreement was signed on a train, a carriage of which was once the exclusive carriage of the French emperor Napoleon.

Because Germany was established almost on top of the French at that time, this made the French bear hatred until now, and decided to take revenge when this contract was signed.

This Napoleon royal carriage, code-named 2419D, was directly collected by France after Germany signed the armistice agreement and placed in the museum.

The French used this method to avenge their humiliation decades ago, but it did increase the contradictions and hatred between Germany and France.

When the news that Germany officially signed the unconditional surrender agreement spread all over the world, it also officially represented the end of the three-year and four-month world war.

It was also on the same day that Australasian Prime Minister Kent met Arthur with a look of excitement, and couldn't wait to say: "Your Majesty, Germany has officially surrendered unconditionally!"

Arthur finally breathed a sigh of relief, ordered the maid to open a bottle of red wine, and celebrated with the Prime Minister of Kent.

Such a scene was staged all over the world at the same time, and most of the Allied countries fell into a carnival and celebration.

Repressed by the prolonged war, these people urgently need to release their emotions.Whether it's screaming, shouting or getting drunk, or taking to the streets to celebrate with your relatives, friends, or strangers you don't know, it's a good way to vent your emotions.

While Arthur breathed a sigh of relief, he couldn't help but feel a little heavy in his heart.

Under the influence of Arthur and Australasia, this world war, which lasted more than four years in history, ended in a hurry after only three years and four months. The consumption of Britain and France, especially the British, was not as good as so serious in history.

Although the Americans also participated in the war, the Americans did not contribute much to the war, and even participated in it for only half a year.

Even the moment before the victory of the war, the American Expeditionary Force did not have more than 20 troops in Europe, which is destined to not benefit the Americans too much.

This also made this war not as tragic as in history. The Allied Powers mobilized less than 3000 million troops, with more than 1400 million casualties and more than 500 million deaths.

The Allies mobilized more than 1500 million troops, with 940 million casualties and 410 million deaths.

The situation of the countries of the Allies is much better than that of the Allies. Even France and Russia, which suffered heavy casualties, are far from being as serious as in history.

Even Russia is still able to maintain a constitutional monarchy, and the bourgeois government has even suppressed the workers' union, which is completely different from the historical situation.

Arthur even wondered whether that country would still appear in history, and whether Russia could still grow into a world-class one?
These different changes in the situation make the future World War II unpredictable, and it is not even certain whether Germany will launch World War II as it did in history.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was not disintegrated after the war as in history. It still retains the main areas of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia. It is no problem to be a last-ranking power.

In a word, the post-war world seems to be a bit of a mess, and the difference from the original history is really huge.

The future experience that Arthur was originally proud of has also become a bit tasteless in this context. He can only promote the development of Australasia more vigorously and ensure that Australasia can rely on its own strength to protect the world at any time. Take good care of your country and people.

On the premise of celebrating the victory, Arthur did not forget to let the government actively fight for the interests of Australasia.

All of Germany's Pacific colonies, of course, cannot be snatched from Australasia by any country.

In addition, Arthur also issued an order to vigorously strive for German scientific and technological talents, skilled workers and scientific research and military enterprises, including relatively important industrial enterprises.

Post-war Germany is bound to go through a long period of chaos, and the famous 50-mark bread incident happened in history, all of which prove that the situation of the Germans after the war is not good.

Under such a premise, if some outstanding German talents can be attracted to immigrate to Australasia, it will be much more useful than seeking some compensation.

If Arthur remembers correctly, the indemnity owed by Germany in World War I seems to have not been repaid in the 21st century.

Instead of fighting for the proportion of those compensations, it is better to get some practical benefits, such as equipment, talents and skilled workers of German military factories and chemical factories, as well as some industrial enterprises, including talents from the German education system and so on.

Australasia's policy of soliciting talents adheres to the principle that it cannot get it, and it will never let other countries get it.It is not unacceptable for German talents who are unwilling to go to Australasia.

But these people will be closely monitored by the Royal Security Intelligence Service. If they have the intention to go to other countries, especially to the United States, these talents will be assassinated by the Royal Security Intelligence Service.

For the current peace talks, Australasia has sent the ambassador to France, Carles Puyol, and the real peace talk representative, Prime Minister Kent, is about to set off to be responsible for future peace talks and fight for interests.

There is no way to dispatch the prime minister. After all, the French president has decided to personally participate in the peace talks in order to vent his anger.

The British side did not give in too much, and sent Prime Minister Asquith as a representative.

Under such circumstances, if other countries send lower-level representatives, it is inevitable that they will look down on the British and French heads of state.

After comprehensive consideration, Australasia decided to send Prime Minister Kent as the final representative.

Although it will take a month for Prime Minister Kent to go to Europe, this benefit distribution meeting is destined to last for a long time. After all, carve-up of Germany is a big project.

Of course, Prime Minister Kent was not alone in going to Europe.Because the distribution of benefits this time involves all aspects of the country, almost all departments will send personnel, and even department ministers or deputy ministers will go there in person.

Before going to Europe, the ministers of various departments also need to have a plan for the benefits they need, so that they can better ask for their needs after arriving in Europe.

After seeing the list of war losses and claims submitted by the ministers of various departments, Arthur finally understood why Germany would bear a debt of 2260 billion marks after World War I. (relieved in 1921 because it was too much)

It is true that various countries spent a lot of money in the war, but everyone wanted to use the war indemnity to recover all the expenses at one time, and even earn some benefits.

For example, the actual cost of Australasia in this war did not add up to more than 3 million pounds.

However, the total value of the claim list given by the financial department is as high as 17 billion pounds, plus the technology, factories, technical personnel, etc. that Germany needs to transfer, the total value of claims is as high as more than 20 billion pounds.

Arthur couldn't help but gasped. He didn't expect the finance department to be so capable of telling lies.

But after all, he was seeking more benefits for the government, so Arthur didn't say much, and agreed to the claim form.

It is best to be able to win so much, and there is no loss for Australasia if it cannot be won.

It is estimated that the appetite of other countries is even greater than that of Australasia. After all, the reparations of more than 2000 billion marks in history are not so easy to make up.

In addition to demanding reparations, Arthur also issued another order to the Ministry of Finance, which is to use the opportunity of this reparation as much as possible to transfer Australasia's foreign debts.

Although Australasia's finances are very healthy, it has also borrowed a large amount of foreign debt from countries including Britain, France, Germany, and the United States in the past ten years.

Needless to say, Germany can use reparations to offset foreign debts.The remaining foreign debts of Britain, France and the United States should preferably be offset by German indemnities, and letting the Germans help them repay their debts can also reduce their pressure.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kevin, was a little reluctant to hear Arthur's request at first. After all, all the foreign debts of Australasia would not be repaid until around 1925 at the earliest.

And apart from the United States, there are not many foreign debts owed to other countries. It owes about 1000 million pounds to the United Kingdom and 1500 million pounds to France.

The government owes most of its external debt to the royal family and the United States.The government owes £1.1 million to the royal family and $22 billion to the United States, or roughly £4.4 million in pounds.

Although the government's foreign debt is as high as nearly 5.8 million pounds, the government's available funds have exceeded 7.5 million pounds, so there is no need to worry about the pressure of foreign debt.

What's more, foreign debts like the United States have only been owed for just half a year, so there is no need to rush to repay them, anyway, it is an interest-free loan.

However, Arthur's next sentence instantly changed Chancellor Kevin's mind.

Arthur looked at Kevin who was obviously unwilling to give up the German indemnity, and asked with a little deep meaning: "Minister Kevin, are you really sure that the Germans can repay all the indemnity?"

If it is only the 20 billion pounds that Australasia wants, Germany is not incapable of repaying it.

However, there are more than ten countries claiming compensation, and the sum of the compensation figures is definitely an astronomical figure.

Even if each country grants certain relief to Germany as appropriate, it will definitely not be lower than the real loss of each country.

No matter how developed Germany is, it will not be able to repay the expenses of the six major powers and many Balkan countries in this war, not to mention the current status quo in Germany is not very good.

It is certain that Germany will repay the compensation, but it is not certain how much it can repay.

It is definitely not a loss for Australasia to use the reparations that may not be fully obtained to repay the foreign debts that Australasia has already acquired.

Especially if Germany's reparations can be used to repay the foreign debt to the United States, it will be equivalent to 20 billion U.S. dollars in Australasia's free money.

After receiving the task from Arthur, Prime Minister Kent and his party hurriedly boarded the warship and headed for Europe after a few days of preparation.

This time, Prime Minister Kent was on a battlecruiser, which was much faster than normal battleships. It was not in war anyway, so there was no need to worry about the harassment of enemy warships.

It may take a month to travel to Europe in a super dreadnought.But if you take a battlecruiser, you can reach Europe in about 25 days.

In order to celebrate the victory of this war, Arthur ordered the royal consortium to distribute a batch of supplies to the people for free, so that the people can better spend this year's Christmas.

Some canned food and meat products that were supposed to be transported to Europe, now that the war was over, were also generously distributed to the people by Arthur.

At the same time, the rewards and rewards for combat soldiers, that is, the rewards and rewards for all the people who have contributed to the war in the country are under intense preparation.

After Christmas, when all the Australasian troops return to the country, Arthur will hold a grand celebration ceremony, and at the same time reward all those who have made great achievements.

This war is a good time, a time to rapidly expand the Australasian nobility.

If nothing else, after the enfeoffment ceremony, Australasia will have a new batch of nobles to strengthen the aristocratic class in Australasia.

In addition, Arthur will not be stingy with the three major medals and various rewards. Even the royal consortium has already prepared up to 2000 million Australian dollars to reward these soldiers, and another fund will be used as a pension. Distributed to the families of all fallen soldiers.

Because aircraft and tanks have already appeared in the war, the designers who study aircraft and tanks will also receive their due rewards during the entrustment ceremony.

Because Arthur attached great importance to soldiers and scientific researchers, these people were also the most likely to receive knighthood rewards.

There are certain differences between the nobility ranks in Australasia and the United Kingdom, but in general they are basically similar.

The lowest level of nobility is more of a knighthood as an honorary title, followed by a true nobility bottom baron, then viscounts, earls, dukes, and on to kings at the top.

The status of marquess in the UK is actually very embarrassing. At first, this title generally referred to the earls close to the Welsh area, and finally evolved into a first-level title above the earl and below the duke.

However, the number of marquises in the UK is very small, and they are considered to have the lowest sense of presence among the five levels of nobility in the UK.

The aristocratic hierarchy in Australasia directly merged the marquis into the earl. Anyway, all the aristocrats in Australasia are new-style aristocrats, that is, nobles with only titles and no territories.

The way for these new-style nobles to gain benefits is to join the noble consortium, which is controlled by the royal family and distributes dividends to all nobles every year.

Although there is no territory of their own, the nobles will get some castles and manors to ensure that the new nobles in Australasia can live a luxurious life.

By creating a joint consortium of nobles, these nobles can be better tied to the royal chariot, and the interests of all nobles and the royal family can be more closely united.

The status of these new nobles all come from the king and the royal family, and all their sources of income also come from the joint consortium of nobles controlled by the royal family.

In this way, it is impossible for the new nobles to betray the royal family, let alone Arthur.

Due to historical reasons, Australasia has too few nobles.In order to consolidate the status of myself and the royal family, at least hundreds of nobles will be added this time, and more nobles will be added in the next few decades to protect the next generation of monarchs, and even the Australasian royal family in the future power and status.

Through the statistics of the casualties of soldiers by the Ministry of Defense in recent days, Arthur finally got the number and specific list of the total casualties in Australasia in the war.

Through the rotation system of the army, almost all Australasian regular soldiers went to the battlefield, which effectively exercised the combat effectiveness of the army and made the soldiers see their blood.

Of course, doing so will not avoid casualties, not to mention the premise that each division must persist for at least half a year.

Australasia has two guard divisions and four regular divisions with a main force of more than 2.5, with a total casualty of more than 0.8 and a death toll of more than [-]. The casualties are acceptable.

The real casualties were more than 100 million indigenous troops.Australasia transported more than 80 colonial divisions, nearly 160 million native troops, to Europe.

The casualties of these indigenous troops were as high as 90, and the death toll exceeded 40, making Australasia one of the countries with the heaviest casualties, and the total casualties even surpassed that of Italy.

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(End of this chapter)