Rise of Australia

Chapter 303 The Conference of the Allied Powers and the Conference of the Allied Powers (ask for a monthly ticket!)

After the cabinet government election in Australasia, the country regained its calm and entered the previous development and construction environment.

But Europe at this time is not peaceful. The Italian-Turkish war is in full swing, and the powder kegs in the Balkans seem to be about to explode, adding a few dark clouds to the originally clear sky in Europe, as if a heavy storm is coming.

On October 1911, 10, Arthur had just held a cabinet meeting with the new cabinet government, and he received an invitation from the United Kingdom to attend a large gathering in London.

Britain invited more than a dozen countries to this gathering, most of which are countries that have good relations with Britain, and there are also countries such as France and Russia that have directly signed treaties with Britain.

Of course, this also means that countries that are opposed to the United Kingdom like Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire are not invited.Therefore, this meeting can also be regarded as a large gathering within the Allied Powers and countries that favor the Allied Powers.

In fact, this also means that Australasia is favored by the United Kingdom, France, and Russia. After all, Australasia is far away in Oceania, and being able to participate in such a meeting of the Allied Powers means that Australasia's strength has been recognized by the Allied Powers.

But such an invitation gave Arthur a headache.If you participate directly, you will inevitably be regarded as joining the camp of the Allied Powers.

This is very different from Arthur's idea of ​​selling arms neutrally in the early stage and joining the party with advantages in the later stage.

But after all, it is the request of the British big brother. If you don't go, you will inevitably lose face and hurt the relationship with the British government and the British people.

After careful consideration, Arthur chose to let Prime Minister Kent go.Prime Minister Kent is Arthur's confidant and can represent Arthur to a certain extent.In addition, Kent is the new Prime Minister of Australasia and can also represent the current Australasian government.

Therefore, Prime Minister Kent is also a more suitable candidate besides Arthur.

Before Kent set off, Arthur specifically asked Kent to watch more, ask less, and participate less in the meeting.

It is still necessary to understand the current support of European countries for the Allies, but it is not necessary to directly join the Allies.

After all, World War I consumed a huge amount on the Allied Powers. Joining the war one day earlier means consuming Australasia's heritage one day earlier.

If this meeting is a dilemma for Arthur, then for the Allied powers represented by William II, this is an open and aboveboard target.

Unfortunately, although the time and participants of this meeting were made public, the content of the meeting was extremely confidential.

Even if the German intelligence organization spent a lot of effort on this, they only knew that this meeting was aimed at the Allies. As for what was discussed at the meeting and what purpose was achieved, Germany had no idea.

However, this does not mean that Germany has no means of opposition.

Not long after Kent’s butler arrived in London, on the second day after the Allied Conference was held, that is, on November 1911, 11, Germany also said tit-for-tat that it would hold a conference in Berlin, and the participating countries of the conference were also members of the Allied Powers and favored the Allied Powers. European countries.

What caused Arthur a headache was that even though Germany knew that Arthur had sent Kent to the Allied Conference, the German government still openly invited Australasia to participate in the Allied Conference.

Although Australasia does have a good relationship with both sides, such an aboveboard behavior before the war will not only damage Australasia's face, but will also not please both parties.

Therefore, on December 1911, 12, Arthur publicly declared on behalf of the Australasian government that Australasia was a peaceful and friendly country and was not willing to join the dispute in Europe for the time being.

But for the sake of world peace and human beings all over the world, Australasia is willing to provide due medical and material support to Europe at any time to ensure that European people will not be affected by European disputes.

At the same time, Arthur also emphasized that Australasia will not directly join the Allies or Allies for the time being, unless the interests of the country and its citizens suffer.

In view of the good relationship between the United Kingdom and Germany and Australasia, as well as the blood relationship between the two parties, Arthur sincerely advised that the two sides can maintain reason and resolve disputes at the negotiating table.

In any case, let's put up the neutral archway first.Otherwise, there are still many dilemmas like this, and a little carelessness will give Australasia a reputation of being a wall.

In order to express that he really wanted to be neutral, starting from December, Arthur asked the government to keep a low profile internationally and avoid paying more attention to Australasia.

In mid-December 1911, the Allied Conference was officially held in Berlin, with the participation of members of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Kingdom of Italy, as well as several small European countries that had friendly relations with Germany.

Although the content of the meeting between the two parties is kept strictly confidential, Europeans can tell that the smell of gunpowder in Europe is extremely strong, and it seems that it will explode at any point.

In January 1912, as Kent returned to Australasia, Arthur finally understood what the Allied Conference had discussed.

In fact, Kent just heard some rumors.Only Britain, France, and Russia participated in the real core conference of the Allied Powers.

And other small countries can only hear some rumors, and what they can hear is only what the British want to be heard.

After this conference, the Triple Entente could be expected to become even closer.

The previous Triple Entente was established on the basis of the French-Russian Entente, adding the Anglo-French Entente and the Anglo-Russian Entente.

But the main agreement of such an agreement is that France and Russia will fight against Germany, and Britain will assist France and Russia.

But with this meeting, such a situation no longer exists, and the United Kingdom also has to bear military responsibilities.

In fact, there is no way to do this. If Britain does not assume military responsibility, the attitude of the Russians towards the treaty will be somewhat uncertain.

You can't rely on the French to resist Germany. Such a result has already been seen decades ago. The Germans stepped on the French to reach the top of the continent.

If the British do not assume certain military responsibilities, the Anglo-French, Anglo-Russian treaty that may lead to the establishment of the Allied Powers can be directly voided.

After the Allied Powers ceased to exist, there was really no force that could stop the rise of the German Empire.

According to news from Kent, Britain, France, and Russia re-signed a Triple Entente. This agreement replaced the previous loose agreement between Britain and France, Britain and Russia, and France and Russia, and truly united the three countries that signed the agreement.

Although it is not clear what changes this new agreement brought to the Allied Powers, it is obvious that the attitudes of the French and Russians towards the Entente have changed a lot, and their attitudes toward resisting Germany have also become firmer.

In addition to this new agreement, the three countries also signed a new naval treaty.This naval treaty is also open to the small countries participating in the meeting, but they are also required not to make it public.

According to this naval treaty, the British would protect French interests and areas along the Atlantic coast, and the French would protect British interests in the Mediterranean colonies.

At the same time, if war breaks out, Russia's Black Sea Fleet and France's Mediterranean Fleet will immediately block the Strait of Otranto to prevent the confluence of the Allied navies.

The Strait of Otranto, located between Italy and Albania, was the only access to the sea for the Austro-Hungarian navy.

After the Strait of Otranto was blocked, the Austro-Hungarian navy lost its role and could only be trapped in the offshore.

Looking carefully at the three countries of the Allied Powers, the German High Seas Fleet, the Italian Navy and the Austro-Hungarian Navy all have a common feature, that is, the navies of these three countries are all restricted to a certain ocean, and the exit poles that enter the Atlantic Ocean Easily blocked.

Needless to say, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Otranto Strait is enough to make the Austro-Hungarian navy a soft-shelled turtle.

Although the Italian navy is located in the huge ocean of the Mediterranean Sea, it has the Strait of Gibraltar on the west and the Suez Canal on the east, both of which are occupied by the British.

This also means that if the Italian fleet cannot defeat the British fleet, their navy can only swim proudly in the Mediterranean Sea, and cannot go out to the Atlantic Ocean or Indian Ocean at all.

Finally, there is the German navy.Before the construction of the Kiel Canal, Germany's east-west sea voyages had to bypass Denmark, which not only increased a lot of trips, but also handed over the main sea voyages to Denmark.

After the Germans built the Kiel Canal, they successfully connected the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, which not only greatly shortened the distance between east and west sea voyages, but also put the transportation arteries connecting the North Sea and the Baltic Sea in their own hands.

But that doesn't mean the problem goes away.Needless to say about the Baltic Sea, apart from passing through Denmark, only the Kiel Canal can connect the Baltic Sea to the outside world.

But the problem is that there is the North Sea beyond the Baltic Sea. The two ways for the North Sea to reach the Atlantic Ocean are through the English Channel at the junction of the United Kingdom and France and the northern part of the North Sea at the junction of the United Kingdom and Norway.

These two areas are also under the control of the British Empire Navy, which also means that if the navies of the three Allied countries want to join together, they must break through the navies of France and Britain.

But therein lies the problem.The British Empire is currently the world's most well-deserved naval power, and it is impossible for the navies of a single country of the Allies to compete with the British Empire's navy.

If the navies of the three countries of the Allies do not converge, the naval threat to the United Kingdom will not be so great.

But if there is no challenge to the strength of the British navy, it is basically impossible for the navies of the three allied countries to join together.

This seems to have fallen into an endless loop. Even though the three countries of the Allied Powers have been vigorously developing their navies, they still have not caught up with the trend of the British Empire Navy.

More importantly, the British Empire has a wide range of colonies and a large population, and its background is stronger than that of Germany.

The more disadvantaged in the naval competition is actually Germany, which also greatly reduces the possibility of the Allied Navy surpassing the Allied Navy.

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(End of this chapter)