The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1318 - 958 London Conference Ends_2
Chapter 1318: Chapter 958: London Conference Ends_2
Chapter 1318 -958: London Conference Ends_2
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Under such motivation, the soldiers were not averse to the battlefield, they even hoped to establish certain merits there, in order to create a better life for themselves and their families.
Bufford would still order the execution of flanking maneuvers, even if they faced not just 150,000 Italian troops but 1.5 million, because 1.5 million Italian troops would mean even more merit.
Moreover, as early as the African battlefield, General Bufford had a clear understanding of the actual combat effectiveness of the Italian military. If it had been 150,000 German troops, maybe he would have had reservations, but even with 1.5 million Italian troops, they would still surrender when it was time to do so.
On February 11, 1938, backed by Australasia and Britain, a military conflict also erupted in South America.
Following the implementation of unrestricted submarine warfare, Brazil indeed became a bit more restrained, but neither Australasia nor Britain were willing to let go of the largest country in South America by land area.
Especially with Europe embroiled in chaotic warfare, Brazil had the potential to grow into the sole great power of South America, or even all of the Americas.
This was not good news for Britain and Australasia, as, with only one power in America, both South and North America would become the proverbial backyard of this power.
This scenario had already occurred once with the United States; neither Arthur nor Britain wished to see it repeated in Brazil.
In comparison to the other two South American strong countries, Argentina and Chile, Brazil had almost no significant drawbacks, with a territory larger than the combined area of both.
This clearly did not fit in with the policy of regional balance as pursued by the British, nor did it align with the interests of Britain and Australasia in South America.
Consequently, an armed conflict in South America was inevitable.
Before this conflict, Australasia and Argentina had signed an agreement regarding the development of the Black Land. Argentina promised to lease part of the Black Land to Australasia for long-term agricultural cultivation, and both parties established close trade relations.
This was also Arthur’s preparation for the future. As a country along the Pacific coast, it was crucial for Australasia to closely align with other Pacific coast nations.
Arthur included both North and South America in his plans, intending for a new Pacific Alliance to be formed in the future with even closer relations than the current one.
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Arthur even planned to provide some less critical weapons to the allies of the Pacific Alliance at a lower cost. This would not only enhance the military strength of the entire Pacific Alliance but also effectively expand the armaments market for Australasia.
For small and medium-sized countries, such arms trading was without a doubt a godsend. These countries simply could not afford the development of military technology, which required not only a significant talent pool and long-term accumulation but also considerable funds.
Even after developing advanced military technologies, they would still need to invest human, material, and financial resources to build military factories and produce the technology.
Rather than doing this, it was much more convenient for them to use Australasia’s advanced weapons at prices below market value than to develop their own.
Additionally, this approach had the benefit of weakening the weapon development and military industrial capabilities of Australasia’s allies, causing them to rally more closely around Australasia.
The United States in later generations did just this. Europe during World War II was tremendously splendid, with a myriad of weapons emerging from Britain-France-Germany and a very strong military industry.
But European nations in later history had greatly weakened in terms of military industry, with only France having a complete military industrial capability. Most European nations were highly reliant on arms trade with the United States to maintain their military power, which also gave the US some control over the voice of these European nations.
Currently, Arthur was planning to do the same, unifying most of the Pacific coastal nations around himself.
And, if European nations were weakened enough, he could even propose a Marshall Plan-like initiative, using Europe to counter post-World War II Russia.
On February 22, 1938, months of talks in London finally concluded.
The talks delineated the scope of interests for various nations and divided up the interests of the Allied nations such as Germany, Italy, and Spain.
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First was the Italian Colony.
As previously discussed with the British and French Australian representatives, the entire Abyssinian Empire and Italian Somaliland were divided between the United Kingdom and France.
The other participating nations lacked the strength to take a bite of Italy’s colonies and could only watch as the British and French gleefully took possession of Italy’s colonial possessions.
Libya was the same. The entire Libyan Region was split in two by Britain and France, with the region closer to the west falling under French Colonial rule, and the region closer to the east falling under British Colonial rule.
Spain’s remaining colonies were all taken over by Britain and France. However, the British gained fewer colonies—only a small amount of land such as Ceuta and Tetouan in the north of Morocco.
France seized larger areas such as Melilla and Sahara.
However, in terms of significance, the areas acquired by the British were definitely of higher importance. Ceuta and Gibraltar faced each other across the sea, which would allow the British to more conveniently control the western exit of the Mediterranean Sea.
But Equatorial Guinea, located in the Central African region, also fell under French rule, which compensated France in terms of Spanish North African colonies.
Australasia did not participate in the division of Spanish colonies. As compensation for Australasia, Puerto Rico, which originally belonged to the United States but was now controlled by the British, was to come under Australasian rule.
Puerto Rico is located in the Caribbean Sea, at the junction of North America and South America. Its geographic position is quite important; with the advent of more powerful missile technology in the future, the weapons deployed here would be able to threaten both continents, which would be more conducive to Australasia’s strategy of world domination.
Originally, Australasia could have had Jamaica or the Bahamas, but the British were unwilling to budge, so that matter was dropped.
After all, acquiring Puerto Rico was already beyond Arthur’s expectations. Australasia would not overdevelop Puerto Rico. For the next few decades, its primary purpose would be to serve as Australasia’s naval and missile base in the Caribbean Sea.
Finally, there was the matter of the division and handling of several countries such as Germany, Italy, Spain, Romania, and Bulgaria.
It was impossible for these countries not to pay some price after winning the war.
Especially in terms of territory, they had to pay a sufficient price to make them understand that launching a war recklessly was immoral.
Regarding the division of Romania and Bulgaria, there was not much dispute among the Britain-France-Australia Three Nations.
If things went as expected, Romania would have to give up Transylvania, which it had annexed from Hungary. Even the Banat Region, close to South Slavia, was basically going to belong to South Slavia after the war.
The same logic applied to Bulgaria. As an accomplice of Germany, Bulgaria had to cede areas like Vïdin, Burgas, and Haskovo to satisfy the appetites of the surrounding enemy nations.
The real issue was with the handling of Germany, Italy, and Spain.
However, there were bigger disputes among the Britain-France-Australia Three Nations regarding these three countries.
Firstly, none of the three countries wanted to see any single nation annex too much land, as it would damage the balance in Europe and not align with their own interests.
But if these defeated nations retained too much power, it could lead to a situation similar to the period following World War I and the outbreak of World War II.
This was the point of contention among the three nations, and even many other national representatives joined in, which was the real reason why the London meeting dragged on for months.
Spain and Italy were still manageable, but the real trouble was with Germany. If Germany remained too strong, they would seek revenge sooner or later. If Germany was too weak, the balance in Europe would be upset, and another more powerful nation might arise.
