The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1092 - 818: Army Arms Race and Chain Reaction

Time passed swiftly, and before long, the year 1934 had arrived.

The first piece of good news worth mentioning is that the nationwide population census ordered by Arthur in Australasia had finally come to a successful conclusion, and the population data and scale of Australasia had been thoroughly updated.

According to the results of the first census, as of January 1, 1934, Australasia had a population of more than 42.379 million, ranking sixth in the world (only counting the native lands of the Powers), having surpassed Italy's 41.57 million.

It is worth mentioning that France is another country whose population has also remained at this level. Although I do not know the exact population of France, based on the population growth data and the situation of new births in France over the past few years, France's population should be between 42.5 and 43 million.

A population of 42.37 million was certainly good news for Arthur. With war approaching, the larger the population, the greater the potential for a country's military capability.

The next goal for Australasia is to surpass France in terms of population data, and it would be best to reach a population of over 45 million before the outbreak of war.

After all, the casualties that war brings to a country are immeasurable, only with a larger population can the major damages brought about by war be avoided.

The good news is, the people are not against having more children. After all, the tuition fees for children from large families are mostly covered by the government, and there are corresponding incentives for large families, which have greatly reduced the expenses for newborns in such families.

More than the size of the population, Arthur was actually more concerned about the proportions and distributions of the various races, which was the real purpose of conducting this population census.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

According to the results of the population census, out of the 42.379 million in Australasia, 56.4%—amounting to more than 23.9 million—were of British descent.

Those of Russian descent accounted for 21.7%, totaling more than 9.2 million. German descent accounted for 7.7%, or more than 3.26 million.

American immigrants made up 4.7%, or more than 1.99 million, and the rest of the European immigrants accounted for 8.1%, approximately 3.43 million.

The remaining 1.4% were all Asian immigrants. These Asian immigrants came from various places in East Asia, including the Philippines under Australasian control.

It must be admitted that at this time, what the world venerates is the very advanced and developed Western civilization.

As the great power closest to Asia, Australasia naturally attracted a lot of curiosity from Asians.

Some wanted to come to Australasia to learn knowledge and serve their country, and naturally, there were also those who wanted to join Australasia.

However, owing to the prevailing sense of racial superiority among Europeans, Arthur did not actually encourage the attraction of Asian immigrants.

First, it would create opposition between races, and second, these Asian immigrants would face even more severe discrimination upon their arrival in Australasia, which seemed unnecessary.

Nevertheless, Arthur naturally would not oppose those Asians who were determined to come to Australasia at all costs.

If they were able to survive in an Australasia rife with racial discrimination, then it was indeed a testament to their abilities.

As time moved into 1934, Arthur had to turn his attention back to the situation in Europe.

To tell the truth, at this moment, Europe seemed just like it did before World War I. The opposition between the Franco-Australian Alliance and the German-Italian Agreement reminded people of the massive war that took place twenty years ago.

For Germany and Italy, two countries with significant ambitions, after sensing the policy of appeasement by Britain and France towards them, they would definitely not be content with short-term gains.

True to expectations, after expanding the army to 250,000, the German Army did not cease its expansion.

In just six months' time, most of the Schutzstaffel were dismantled and reorganized into the German Army.

This allowed the number of the German Army to rapidly expand from the originally anticipated 250,000 to 400,000, once again stepping into the ranks of the great powers in terms of army size.

Have the British and French noticed these maneuvers by Germany?

To say they hadn't noticed was completely impossible. The question was, even if they had noticed these maneuvers, what could the British and French do to respond?

For the British, there wasn't much difference between 250,000 and 400,000 German soldiers. In any case, the French Army also maintained more than 400,000 soldiers, and France possessed an even stronger navy.

Although previous wars had already proven that the German military was indeed stronger than the French military.

But with the advantage of the navy, the military power of France and Germany should remain at the same level, and France might even have a slight lead.

While the Italian army was large in size, the individual combat capability of its soldiers was extremely worrying. Italy and the remnant of the Austrian Empire were also at about the same level, which was a perfect balance of internal attrition.

With this mindset, although the British Government knew about Germany's maneuvers, they did not take aggressive measures to sanction Germany.

After all, most of the light weapons of Germany's 400,000-strong army were purchased from Britain, which, in the eyes of the British, was clearly a show of sincerity from Germany.

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However, when the United Kingdom took such actions, France was clearly displeased. With a German Army of 250,000 facing close to a 500,000-strong French Army, the French were hardly worried.

But if the German military expanded to 400,000, it was really not clear who would have the upper hand. Strictly speaking, it was not that the French feared Germany, but rather they feared another great harm coming to their own country as a result of war with Germany.

But in reality, there was no difference. The German Army had indeed expanded to 400,000, and if war were to break out, even if they could defeat Germany, it would undoubtedly be a war of attrition.

Ultimately, the French conceded, but they also made their own demands, which were to allow the Austrian Empire to abolish the previous army restrictions.

As a defeated nation, the size of the Austrian Empire's army had also been limited to 100,000 men. Following the massive expansion of the German Army, the French provided a large amount of loans and military equipment to Austria and successfully allowed the Austrian Army to legally reach the threshold of 300,000 men.

If the previous arms race was just an act between Britain, France, and Australasia, then the current arms race had become a major play involving all the Powers.

After Germany and the Austrian Empire each expanded their armies, would other countries not expand their own militaries?

Clearly that was impossible.

In February 1934, France enacted a new conscription law, stating that within the next six months, the French Army would expand from 500,000 to 650,000 men, and these additional 150,000 soldiers would all be deployed on the border with Germany, namely on the famous and formidable fortress, the Maginot Line.

When France acted in such a way, Italy was not pleased.

After all, Italy was an ally of Germany and a potential enemy of France. French conscription efforts were clearly aimed at Germany, with Italy not at all in consideration.

To Mussolini, who was very conceited in his heart, this was clearly a sign of disrespect towards himself and his Italy.

Enraged, Mussolini ordered over 150,000 soldiers from the First Army Group to assume the task of the northern garrison and to be deployed along the border with France.

Before France even had a chance to react to Italy's actions, they had already caused dissatisfaction in Serbia, which was located to the east of Italy.

At this time, Serbia had become the behemoth of the Balkans, with a territory that included Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Montenegro.

Of course, it also had a new, imposing name - the Federal Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

This Yugoslavia was somewhat different from that in history. The original Austrian Empire had not lost Croatia and Slovenia.

But amidst the economic crisis, the Austrian Empire had not managed to hold on to its territories well, which gave Serbia, which had already annexed Bosnia, an opportunity.

At that time, the Balkan Peninsula was in great turmoil. Russia Country, which had originally controlled the Balkan Peninsula, had lost its grip on the region due to its own reasons.

Meanwhile, Italy saw the rise of Mussolini to power, and Mussolini's ambition towards the Balkan Region was widely known.

In order to ensure its independence, under the leadership of Serbia, the Kingdom of Serbia and Montenegro established the Serbo-Montenegrin United Kingdom.

Afterward, Croatia and Slovenia declared independence and quickly joined the United Kingdom.

The Austrian Empire obviously could not handle the combined Balkan States, especially with its army strictly limited to 100,000 men.

Moreover, the economy was indeed in severe crisis, and the Austrian Empire had no capability to launch a foreign war.

Thus, a regional superpower, vastly surpassing other Balkan nations and occupying half of the Balkan Peninsula, was born.

As of today, the population of Yugoslavia has exceeded 14.5 million, and saying it is the most powerful country in the Balkan Region is not an overstatement at all. (Romania is not as strong as it was historically)

As Italy's neighbor, Yugoslavia's wariness of Italy can be said to be the highest, second only to the Austrian Empire.

More importantly, Mussolini's First Army Group was the main force in the invasion of the Abyssinian Empire.

Such an army being deployed on Italy's northern border may seem targeted at France, but for Italy's other neighbors on the northern border, the Austrian Empire, and the Federal Kingdom of Yugoslavia, it also posed a significant threat.

Although the territories of Yugoslavia and Italy were not much different, and both were European nations,

the difference in population between the two was quite substantial, and their economies and industries were on entirely different levels.

Weak as Italy might be, it was still recognized by other countries as a great power. Faced with such a relatively strong power, Yugoslavia, feeling threatened, immediately took action, and that was to seek help from France.

Why seek help from France? First of all, France and Italy were potential enemies and competitors.

Secondly, compared to the United Kingdom, which stood aside from the two major military blocs, Yugoslavia saw France as the country that could truly offer assistance.

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