Rise of Australia

Chapter 965: The Flame of Monarchy
Time quickly came to the end of 1938.

The only theme of the rapidly ending year of 1938 was the continued defeat of the Allies.

The capitals of Italy and Spain were both captured in the middle of the year, and they had no choice but to surrender unconditionally.

But that's not the only bad news.

Ever since Britain, France and Australia decided to attack Northern Europe, the Germans had to send troops to the Nordic battlefield to protect the three Nordic countries.

After the surrender of Spain and Italy, Northern Europe became increasingly important.

Northern Europe can not only provide Germany with very important mineral resources, but also make the number of Germany's apparent allies look less shabby.

More importantly, if the Nordic region was taken, Germany's only theoretical access to the sea might also be cut off.

A Germany that could only defend Central Europe could never out-compete Britain and France, which owned colonies.

Facts have also proved that the Germans were simply unable to allocate a sufficient army to support Northern Europe while fighting on two fronts.

It took the British, French and Australian troops only two and a half months to conquer most of Norway and successfully recapture important Norwegian cities such as Bergen, Stavanger, Kristiansand and Oslo.

If recovering most of Norway was not a serious problem for Germany, then the subsequent actions of the British, French and Australian troops would be enough to give the Germans a headache.

It is obvious that a small Norway is not the entire goal of Britain, France and Australia, and is even only a small part of the entire plan.

After retaking the Norwegian capital of Oslo, the British, French and Australian armies continued to expand eastwards without stopping, because to the east of Norway is Sweden, the most important country in Northern Europe.

The reason why Sweden is so important is entirely because of its extremely rich iron ore resources. At present, Sweden has become a very important iron ore supplier to Germany. The iron ore here is continuously transported to German ports through the Baltic Sea, and then transferred to industrial core areas such as the Ruhr area, smelted into steel, and made into various weapons and other military products.

It is no exaggeration to say that at least a quarter of Germany's iron ore resources currently come from Sweden. This figure has continued to increase with the bombing of Germany by Britain, France and Austria.

The continuous bombing by Britain, France and Australia effectively destroyed Germany's development of local resources. But for a country like Sweden, the distance was too far and the destructive effect was not as good as that of Germany, so the bombing by the Allied forces was very rare.

However, it is obvious that after the Nordic offensive was officially launched, it would no longer be so easy for the Germans to obtain iron ore from Sweden.

Although Germany effectively prevented the British and French fleets from entering the Baltic Sea by laying a large number of mines, freshwater mines posed no threat to the air force.

After Britain, France and Australia gained air superiority over Western and Central Europe, the situation of the German Air Force was no longer so good.

Of course, a considerable part of the credit should be attributed to the efforts of the Italians.

As we all know, except for the poor combat effectiveness of the Italian army, the combat effectiveness of the navy and air force is still worthy of praise.

Italy's naval design level still ranks among the best in Europe, and its air force design is also first-class in Europe.

During the long war period of several years, the Italians built a total of tens of thousands of aircraft, of which more than 7000 were sunk.

After the Italian capital of Rome was captured, the British, French and Australian troops were shocked to discover that there were still more than 1000 newly built aircraft and more than 2000 damaged aircraft in the arms warehouses and airports throughout Italy.

Although more than half of the more than 2000 damaged aircraft were severely damaged and could not be repaired, at least 500 aircraft could still be saved by dismantling them into parts.

This means that the Italian government directly provided more than 1500 aircraft to the United Kingdom, France and Australia.

With these 1500 Italian aircraft, the air superiority achieved by Britain, France and Australia in Central and Western Europe will be even greater.

And this is not the end. Italy surrendered unconditionally, and almost all of its military industrial enterprises were taken over by Britain, France and Australia, and continued to produce the weapons and equipment they needed.

This also means that the military-industrial enterprises that the Italian government worked so hard to build have instead helped Britain, France and Australia. At present, the production capacity of the Italian government is still quite reliable. Although some military factories were bombed by Britain, France and Australia, the minimum output can still provide Britain, France and Australia with at least 3500 aircraft and 1000 tanks each year.

If Italy could learn from the actions of the German Chancellor and Mussolini and continue to squeeze the production capacity of Italian military-industrial enterprises, the output of aircraft and tanks of Italian military-industrial enterprises could at least double, which would exceed France's current production capacity.

But this cannot be blamed on France. After all, the most important areas in northern France were occupied by Germany for several years, and the North African colonies were wantonly destroyed by German and Italian troops, which naturally had a huge impact on the industry.

Compared to Italy, Spain does not have such strong military production capacity. Most of the weapons and equipment captured in Spain are rifles, artillery and machine guns. It is difficult for Spain's own military enterprises to produce advanced aircraft and tanks. Even with the blueprints provided by Germany and Italy, they can only produce three-digit aircraft and tanks each year.

What can three-digit aircraft and tanks do? In the vast European battlefield, three-digit aircraft and tanks are not even enough for a day's battle consumption.

Time quickly came to the end of December 1938.

As the new year approaches, the mood of European governments varies.

The most helpless people at this time should be the Italians and Spanish. The Allies are currently settling accounts for the war responsibilities of Italy and Spain. When the war is completely over, it will be time to hold all the culprits of the war accountable.

Until the final division of responsibilities is determined, the Spanish and Italian governments will remain in a state of anxiety.

Because the final opinion of the Allies will directly determine the fate of the two countries, either they will continue to be unified or they will be divided and occupied.

Compared with the helpless Spanish and Italian governments, the mood of the exiled governments of the three Nordic countries was much better at this time.

With the help of Britain, France and Australia, the Norwegian government in exile has successfully returned to Oslo, the capital of Norway, and abolished all policies formulated by the Germans in Norway.

This is not the end. In order to show his loyalty to Britain, France and Australia, the first thing the King of Norway did when he returned to Norway was to completely liquidate the pro-German government supported by Germany and replace them all with candidates close to the Allies.

Of course, attacking Northern Europe actually involves a lot of knowledge.

Because around the Baltic Sea, in addition to Germany, there are several other countries including Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Denmark.

At present, except for Norway, which has regained its independence, the remaining countries are still in a state of government in exile, and everything in the country is taken over and controlled by the Germans. Although the countries annexed by Germany along the Mediterranean coast are not very powerful, they are at least recognized countries.

More importantly, all of these countries except Poland are monarchies, which is very important for Britain and Australasia.

It is precisely because of this that the question of who these countries should rely on and get close to has become a target of competition between Britain and Australasia.

Judging from the current development of the world, the political systems of countries in the world after the war should be divided into three major types, corresponding to monarchies like Britain and Australasia, democracies like France, and republics like Russia.

With the demise of the democratic United States and the weakening of France, countries with this system have basically lost the right to compete for world hegemony.

The only remaining monarchies and republics eligible to compete for hegemony were Britain, Australasia, and Russia.

Among them, the United Kingdom and Australasia are both monarchies, which naturally attracts the allegiance of these small monarchies.

After all, the rulers of these monarchical countries are not stupid. If they sided with Russia, which has a significantly different political system, their countries might be stable, but their thrones might not necessarily be stable.

The more younger brothers he has who show off their support, the greater his say will be in the established United Nations and the world situation as a whole.

Especially in peacetime, the more countries that support it, the more naturally it will stand on the side of justice.

After all, in most cases the minority must obey the majority.

Of course, minority obeys majority is not an absolute truth.

Because fundamentally, the reason why the minority obeys the majority is because the majority is stronger and the minority has no possibility of opposing the majority.

This principle also applies to the world situation. If the minority is a particularly powerful country, and the majority are just some small and medium-sized countries that are not very powerful, then the minority obeys the majority is just empty talk.

But then again, the support of these monarchies with a long history in Europe still plays a certain role for Britain and Australasia, which are monarchies themselves.

After all, except for Finland, the monarchs of these Mediterranean countries are all titled kings, and they also have considerable influence in the European aristocratic system.

Just imagine, if the future emperor of Australasia could gain the support of more than a dozen European kings, wouldn’t that mean that he would be able to indirectly control the entire European royal family?
With the support of the entire European royal family, it will have enough influence and deterrence when facing a single country.

After all, in the face of the survival of the monarchy, all monarchies will involuntarily unite. And the more monarchies there are, the more stable the status of all existing nobles and monarchs will be.

However, the current European aristocracy is clearly divided into two groups. One group is attached to the traditional monarchical powers such as Britain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Greece.

The other faction attached itself to the emerging power of Australasia, the most obvious representative of which was Grand Duke Dmitri of Finland.

Of course, according to the current layout of Australasia, the future King Gustav VI of Sweden and King Juan of Spain should also join the Australasia faction.

After all, Gustav is Arthur's brother-in-law, and to a certain extent, he will be more reliable. As for his current father, Gustav V, Arthur has never thought about preserving his throne.

After all, what Arthur promised the Swedish royal family was only to preserve the Swedish royal family's status and their throne. As for who would be the king of Sweden, it was not something the Swedish royal family could decide on their own.

The same was true for Prince Juan. After Spain surrendered, Arthur's next plan was to restore the Spanish royal family.

But Arthur's hard work was not only to restore the Spanish royal family, but also to influence Spain and make it join his sphere of influence.

Alfonso XIII was more open-minded on this point. He had agreed long ago to make Prince Juan the heir to the royal family, that is, the next king of Spain.

In addition to Sweden and Spain, Arthur also had some ideas about the three Baltic countries, Denmark, Austria, Czechoslovakia and other regions that were annexed by Germany.

Anyway, these countries need to be rebuilt, and it is entirely possible to achieve the goal of supporting the king by supporting their reconstruction.

Especially the three Mediterranean countries and Austria, the thrones of these countries were not stable to begin with, so they naturally needed the help of external forces.

Especially Austria, which was once ruled by the famous Habsburg family.

If he could get the support of the Habsburgs, it would mean that Arthur's position in the European royal family would be more stable, and he might even become the highest-ranking and most prestigious monarch in the European royal family.

But don’t underestimate this superficial status. The connections between European royal families are still relatively close. Such a status can be connected to the royal families of European countries and those royal families that have lost the throne.

After gaining the support of the entire European royal family, the restoration of the royal family of a certain European monarchy was just a matter of a word from Arthur.

After all, behind Arthur is the entire European royal family, and no country can fight against such a force alone.

Of course, countries like Russia are not included in this scope. Because the political system and ideology of Russia are naturally opposed to the monarchy, the two are enemies, and the Russians naturally cannot care about the opinions of the European royal families.

The European aristocracy system has been passed down for thousands of years and its influence is still very large in Europe. Even though some countries have abolished the monarchy, the abolished royal family can still be treated with courtesy in other countries.

Most countries would not dare to persecute royal family members even if they abolished their royal families. A large part of the reason for this is that the interests of European royal families are intertwined, and most royal families are relatives of each other.

It has to be admitted that the "Joint Declaration of the Royal Houses of Europe" called for by Arthur during World War I still had a great influence among the European royal families.

This is also the reason why Arthur's status was able to quickly grow from a colonial monarch to a highly recognized imperial emperor and representative of European monarchs.

As Australasia grows stronger, the current Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family has become the veritable first family in Europe and even the world.

Although the rule of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in other countries was not as smooth as in Australasia, the members of the entire family were still noble and held important positions in various countries.

Especially after the British took the initiative to give up the surname of Saxe-Coburg-Gedda, Arthur has become the biggest decision-maker of the world's largest family.

(End of this chapter)