The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1327 - 962 _2

Chapter 1327: Chapter 962: _2

Chapter 1327 -962: _2

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Because those Colonies of the British Empire that had taken shape, the public opinion within was gradually leaning towards independence.

This is but a common sentiment. If they continued to be Colonies, all resources and supplies would be prioritarily allocated to the Native Land, which was very unfair to the local Population in the Colonies.

The cause of Colony independence was often not the Colonial Governments but the large numbers of immigrants who went to the Colonies.

Arthur understood this, and that’s why he decided to localize all the Colonies instead of tightening control.

But by then, the United Kingdom and France no longer had the option of localizing their Colonies. Their Colonies were too far from the British mainland, and the time and effort needed for localization were several times more than that of Australasia.

The time it takes to fully localize a Colony is measured in decades, if not longer. For a country like the United Kingdom, with Colonies thousands or even tens of thousands of kilometers away, localization would take at least several decades.

But history shows that a Colonial system may not last that long.

Just dealing with an India continually striving for independence was enough to give the British headaches, not to mention other important Colonies like South Africa and Canada. For the British, their task was no longer to achieve Colony localization but to maintain the British Empire’s Colonial system for a longer time.

As long as the Colonial system existed for another day, the British Empire would remain one of Europe’s strongest countries.

But once the Colonial system collapsed, especially after losing a key region like India, Britain’s power would plummet dramatically, and even the powerful Royal Fleet would become unaffordable.

Future generations would only hear about the invincible Aircraft carrier strike groups of the United States; who would remember the British Empire’s Royal Fleet?

After the loss of the Colonial transfusions, for the British mainland with such a small scale, maintaining an upper-middle Power status was already quite good.

Where were the attentions of the British people at that time?

They were naturally focused on the Spanish theater of war, which was progressing rapidly.

At that time, Spain finally experienced what the Germans felt, and enveloped by attacks from the north and south, Spain seemed to see the end of days.

Massive French Army forces broke through the Pyrenees from both sides and advanced to Spain’s East and West Coasts.

Barcelona and the Basque region were successively occupied by the French, and the flames of war also spread to the Southern Region of Aragon and Navarre.

The British and Australasian offense originated from Gibraltar, where the Britons, experiencing their first backdoor entry, encountered no resistance and successively captured Malaga, Granada, and Almeria, securing southern Spain’s Granada region in their hands.

The Australasia Army’s primary attack was directed at Cadiz and Seville to the west, pushing the front line to the borders of Spain and Portugal.

Portugal was able to endure, even though their neighbor was shattered at the hands of the Britain-France-Australia Three Nations, Portugal did not show any intention of joining the war.

This was somewhat similar to Portugal’s historical stance, watching the developments in Europe alongside their neighbor Spain and successfully avoiding the outbreak of war in Portugal.

However, Portugal’s participation in the war was no longer important. For the Britain-France-Australia Three Nations, they didn’t need Portugal to join in at that point.

Faced with the three-nation Allied Forces’ attacks, the pace at which the Spanish Military retreated was astoundingly fast, far more decisive than the Spanish Civil War a few years earlier.

Spain was also a multicultural country. Although its unification was more stable, it didn’t lack domestic problems.

The reason Spain could maintain a stable reign over the country was largely because the dominant Spanish people were located in the center of the country, able to radiate out to all regions of Spain at any time.

If one were to loosely view Spain as a square, they would be surprised to find that the Capital City, Madrid, lies in the very center of the country.

Most of the areas near Madrid were Spanish, and thanks to such a distribution of ethnic groups, Spain’s unity had been maintained for so long.

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Similarly, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, another multi-ethnic empire, was different. As the name suggests, the core nationalities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were Austrian and Hungarian.

However, in reality, the only truly core nationality capable of acting as the linchpin were the Austrians, who could also be known as South Germans.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the South German population resided in the Austrian region, which was located in the northwest part of the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire.

This resulted in the Austrian region having difficulty exerting influence over Hungary, giving Hungary too much say in the Empire, ultimately leading to the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Now, after Britain-France-Australia launched an offensive against Spain, the internal governance of Spain became less stable.

The Barcelona area, occupied by France, was already discussing independence, and numerous organizations in the northern Basque and Navarre regions were seeking independence for their areas, to ensure a higher degree of say and power.

This was actually also related to the history of Spain. The establishment of Spain was very brief. Before this, there were multiple Catholic countries on Spanish land, such as Navarre, Aragon, Barcelona, Galicia, Asturias, and Leon.

Castile, the predecessor of Spain, annexed these countries in the course of historical development, finally uniting as the Spain we know today.

However, due to the relatively short history of Spain’s establishment, many nationalities did not recognize themselves as Spaniards, and did not identify strongly with the Spanish government in Madrid.

That Spain has not revived as a strong country on the European Continent in later generations lies in this reason. Without the emergence of a strong ruler, capable of earning the trust of all Spaniards, the fragmentation of Spain would never be consolidated.

Perhaps it will be many decades or even a hundred years later before the people of Spain will recognize themselves as proud Spaniards. But that’s in the distant future, and for the current Spanish government, it’s something unattainable.

Spain’s population was not large, and thus the military force they could arm was naturally limited.

To support Germany and Italy’s previous offensive against France’s North African Colonies, Spain deployed as many as 300,000 troops in North Africa, which was nearly half of Spain’s military at that time.

Although more troops have been mobilized since then, the total Spanish military forces on the Iberian Peninsula still only slightly exceed 500,000.

Clearly, such a military size is insignificant to Britain-France-Australia, and vastly inferior to that of a true Power like the already-surrendered Italy.

This half a million troops still had to be dispersed across the vast Spanish territories for defense, with each location’s defending Spanish forces being pathetically small.

This was why the British-French-Australian Forces could advance rapidly, capturing Spanish Urban Cities with ease.

In the Spanish Capital City area, the core territory, the Spanish government had deployed over 250,000 troops around Madrid, which accounted for half of Spain’s forces in the Iberian region.

Unfortunately, 250,000 troops were not even enough to match the number of a single French Army Group, and France sent two Army Groups to attack Spain.

Adding in the troop numbers from Britain and Australasia, the Allied Forces and the Allies in the Iberian Peninsula already had an overwhelming fourfold numerical advantage.

The Spanish Military were not exactly known for their exceptional combat prowess. Faced with an enemy four times their size, their most frequent actions were retreating and surrendering.

In July 1938, after the Australasian Army marched north and captured Badajoz, Cordoba, and Reyal City, they advanced the front line to Toledo, south of Madrid.

The British, not wanting to be outdone, took control of the entire Granada region, and part of the British forces continued moving northeastward, attacking the regions of Murcia and Valencia.

Another part of the British military opted to march north to join the Australasian forces and attack Madrid, the Spanish Capital.

The French Army, being the most numerous, also had the more ambitious offensive plan.

After occupying the Aragon region, the French forces there decided to move south towards Guadalajara, which was west of the Madrid region.

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Meanwhile, the French forces in the Basque and Navarre regions chose to head for Burgos and Asturias.