Rise of Australia

Chapter 966 United Nations Conference
Christmas 1938 best reflected the losses suffered by countries around the world in the war.

Logically speaking, Christmas, as one of the most important festivals in the West, is equivalent to the Spring Festival in the East.

During such an important festival, Western countries should be full of laughter and joy, with people enjoying rich food and celebrating together to spend this beautiful festival.

But now, in most parts of the warring countries, the laughter and joy of the past are long gone.

Even foods that were common to Europeans became rare on the tables of people in the warring countries.

Britain and France were in a better situation. Although they suffered heavy losses, they had supplies from their colonies, plus the continuous export of food and meat from Australasia. Although the people's living supplies were tight, they were not at the end of their rope.

But apart from Britain and France, the situation in other European countries was not so bright at this time.

Needless to say, countries like Italy and Spain, which had just surrendered, suffered a lot. After the unconditional surrender, a considerable portion of the materials produced in Italy and Spain were transported to the battlefield by Britain, France and Australia, which also greatly reduced the living materials of the Italian and Spanish people, and even forced them to implement a material rationing system.

However, the Spanish and Italians had no choice. As the defeated countries in the war, the future fate of their entire country was in the hands of the victorious countries.

However, Spain and Italy were not the worst countries in the war. The worst countries were those occupied by Germany.

After Spain and Italy surrendered one after another, and the Northern European regions were successively recovered by Britain, France and Australia, the supplies that the German government could collect from abroad were greatly reduced.

But Germany has a population of more than 8000 million, and the material consumption of these people is a huge number. In order to maintain domestic material consumption, the interests of the people in the occupied areas must be sacrificed.

Whether it is Poland, Hungary or the Benelux region, a large amount of materials are continuously transported to Germany every day, then produced and processed, and finally distributed to the front-line troops and the German people at home.

Precisely because of the large amount of supplies from the occupied areas, Germany was still able to hold on at this time, and the domestic situation was not yet to the point where it could not hold on.

On the contrary, in Russia, where most of its territory had been occupied, domestic supplies had reached an emergency red line.

Although Russia has a huge land area, it also has a population of more than 100 million, and its daily food consumption is extremely large.

In addition, after large tracts of land in Eastern Europe, especially major grain-producing areas such as Ukraine, were occupied by Germany, Russia's domestic grain production has dropped significantly.

If the Russians in the occupied areas did not need the Russian government's control, Russia would probably be facing collapse due to the food crisis.

As the saying goes, food is the most important thing for the people. Without food, the most basic means of survival, people’s lives cannot be guaranteed, let alone how important it is to defend the country.

Russia was probably the worst of the four European powers that participated in the war, namely Britain, France, Germany and Russia. People in Britain and France still had meat on their tables, no matter what kind of meat it was, it was still meat.

Most people in Germany were able to have enough food on Christmas Day, and even the army had some meat supplies.

On the Russian side, the army's food supply was very tight, and the supply for the domestic people was strictly rationed.

Even on Christmas Day, the supplies available to each Russian citizen were limited, and it was even difficult to get enough to eat.

Not to mention meat, a piece of rough and hard bread, a cup of rice porridge made of unknown stuff and a rotten apple are basically the Christmas dinner of the Russian people.

In fact, logically speaking, although the situation in Russia is bad, it should not be as serious as it is now.

After all, Britain and Australasia also ostensibly provided Russia with some material aid, of which Australasia provided 500 tons of canned rabbit meat, or millions of cans of rabbit meat.

But what Arthur did not expect was that the Russians did receive the material aid and did transport it to the front line.

But the Russians' poor logistics made matters worse, and because of heavy snow on the front line a few days before Christmas, most of the supplies were not successfully delivered to the front line.

But the good news is that the German logistics on the front line were also terrible.

The cruelty of winter in Russia is notoriously severe. Coupled with the poor logistical conditions in Russia, no matter how powerful the army is, it will suffer in the Russian winter.

The last person to suffer was the famous Napoleon, and now, it is naturally the turn of the equally famous German Prime Minister and the German army.

Fortunately, the war was taking place in Sudalingrad. Although it was also in the heart of Russia, it was already in the southern part of Russia, and the winter was not as harsh as in Moscow.

In addition, the Germans had suffered enough in Moscow in winter, so before winter came, they had already produced a large number of cotton-padded clothes and other cold-resistant supplies in advance and rushed them to the front line.

It can be said that this winter was extremely difficult for both the Russian and German armies. Whoever could hold on longer would win the war.

With the arrival of winter, the offensive of Britain, France and Australia in Northern Europe had long been stopped, and the soldiers in their positions entered a long period of rest and recuperation.

Neither Britain nor Australasia would be willing to launch an attack in the cold winter. Moreover, the location of the attack was in Northern Europe, which made the winter even colder. For the soldiers, the attack was equal to torture.

With two major countries, Britain and Australasia, the treatment of the armies of Britain, France and Australia is relatively good.

Before winter came, Australasia exported large quantities of beef, mutton, food and medical supplies to Britain and France, helping the British and French troops, who had fought hard for a year, to take a short rest and prepare for the next offensive.

The French were anxious to recapture Paris and counterattack the German homeland, but Britain and Australasia were not in a hurry at this time.

The longer the time drags on, the more manpower and materials Germany will consume on Russia. The same goes for Russia, which will consume more manpower and materials on Germany.

This is good news for both Britain and Australasia. After all, compared with the implicit struggle between Britain and Australasia, the relationship between Britain, Australia and Russia is more hostile.

A few days after Christmas, the new year quietly arrived. On the first day of the new year, January 1939, 1, a grand meeting was held in Hawaii.

That’s right, the United Nations that was to be established in 1938 was finally ready, its headquarters was completed, and it officially started operating.

Because of this, in addition to New Year's Day, January 1 is also called World United Nations Day, or UN Day for short, by many people in Europe.

The United Nations is a very special world organization, and every country needs to send an ambassador to the United Nations, even Australasia is no exception.

Of course, the benefits of doing so are obvious, which is that when the United Nations holds a meeting, it can ensure that representatives from most countries have sufficient time to participate.

After all, the headquarters of the United Nations is in Hawaii, which is quite far away from many European countries.

If diplomatic ambassadors were sent from these countries to Hawaii, the journey would be very long, which would add unnecessary time to the UN meetings.

The first meeting of the United Nations was held with great ceremony.

The three permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have all sent important senior officials at the level of foreign ministers, and the remaining member states have also sent senior domestic officials, without any perfunctory attitude.

After all, the three major countries have all sent ministerial-level officials. If these small countries send first-level officials, doesn’t it mean that their status is higher than that of the three major countries?
And this meeting is indeed important. As the first meeting of the United Nations, this meeting will elect the committee that manages the United Nations, as well as important positions such as the chairman of the United Nations and the main members of the United Nations Council.

Although the UN Chairman and member states also need to consider the opinions of Britain, France and Australia, it is undeniable that such a status can indeed bring some convenience to their own countries and effectively enhance their own countries' international influence.

Moreover, it is the first chairman and member of the United Nations since its establishment, so its importance is self-evident.

In order to ensure the safety of the United Nations meeting room, the Australasian Navy will conduct a long cruise around Hawaii, and a large number of aircraft will take off during the meeting to make full preparations.

Although it was impossible for German planes to cross the ocean to the Pacific Ocean, it was still necessary to take necessary precautions.

After an election that lasted half a day, the three diplomatic representatives nominated by Britain, France and Australia and the four representatives elected by the United Nations General Assembly jointly formed the United Nations Committee to manage the affairs of the United Nations for the next four years.

The position of Chairman of the United Nations Committee was taken by Wally Hardinge, the British representative to the United Nations, who will theoretically become the individual with the highest power and status in the United Nations.

The British representative's rise to the top of the UN power was the result of negotiations between Britain and Australasia. In exchange, Finland, recommended by Australasia, also became the first member of the UN Security Council.

As for France, the only one of the three major powers, Britain, France and Australia, which did not gain anything, the opinions of the French are no longer important at this time.

Because the headquarters of the United Nations is in Hawaii, where the French have no influence. Even the British cannot confront Australasia in Hawaii unless the two countries really tear each other apart.

In addition to the election of committees and council members, the conference also established several departments of the United Nations, completing the structure of this world organization.

Under the joint witness of representatives of all countries, the countries signed a document called the "Global Trade Convention", witnessing the birth of the first organization under the United Nations, the United Nations Trade Association.

The purpose of establishing this organization is very simple, which is to control trade between all countries and promote economic exchanges between countries.

In addition, there are many different organizations whose purposes are similar to those of trade associations, which are to promote exchanges between member countries and to ensure nominal fairness and equity as much as possible.

The last item of the meeting was about forming a joint national army to fight against Germany together.

Currently, those who have joined the United Nations are basically the younger brothers of Britain, France and Australia or the European countries that participated in the war. All countries and Germany are enemies.

This also means that the entire United Nations has a common goal, which is to defeat Germany.

Although each of these member states of the United Nations does not seem that powerful individually, even the combined strength of several countries is just average.

But if all member states are added together, even without counting the three powers of Britain, France and Australia, the combined strength of these member states is quite powerful.

The strength of these countries will also help Britain, France and Australia, helping Britain and Australasia to defeat the Germans more effectively and quickly.

However, it takes a long time to form a joint national army. Some countries are still in a state of exile and they obviously cannot provide an army.

This is also easy to do. The amount of contribution of each country in the joint army can also be an important factor in the distribution of benefits after the war, which can ensure that powerful countries can voluntarily contribute more troops.

The more troops sent, the more benefits they would get after the war, while the less troops sent, the less benefits they would get. As for countries like Russia that were not members of the United Nations at all, it was inevitable that they would be targeted by Britain, France and Australia when distributing benefits after the war.

If Russia were allowed to obtain some of Germany's industrial equipment and technology, there would be no limit to Russia's improvement.

Britain and Australasia would naturally not allow Russia to become powerful. Russia could obtain certain compensation and land after the war, but it would not be able to obtain any of the industrial heritage left by the Germans.

Even if the Russians were able to obtain a large amount of compensation, Britain and Australasia could use other means to continuously reduce the proportion of German compensation.

Anyway, compared to Russia, Britain and Australasia did not rely solely on German reparations to rebuild their countries. On the contrary, Russia, a country with a large area of ​​land occupied and domestic industry and agriculture severely destroyed, would have slowed down the reconstruction of various industries and the recovery of the country without German reparations.

After voting by all member states, the United Nations Army was formally formed and joined the war against Germany.

The first half of 1939 would be the time to officially launch a counterattack against Germany. If the war went smoothly, the joint forces of various countries would even have the hope of entering Germany in the second half of the year and taking over the German capital, Berlin, and ending the war as quickly as possible.

(End of this chapter)