The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1138 - 856: The Great European Expansion of the Armed Forces

The Persian Gulf Territory is an extremely important region for Australasia, home to the majority of Australasia's petroleum reserves and the absolute energy center for the country's development in the coming hundred years.

The garrison in the Persian Gulf Territory has evolved from the original two divisions to an entire army.

Currently, after rotation, the Eighth Army is now stationed in the Persian Gulf Territory, led by Brigadier General Eric, who is a young-party officer with military talent, a graduate from the Australasia Royal Academy.

Among all the general-level senior officers in Australasia, Eric is considered one of the generals with the most promising future.

Right now, Brigadier General Eric is only 37 years old. Even if just counting his seniority, he could easily reach the rank of Lieutenant General.

Once war breaks out, the accumulation of significant military achievements will give these military guys a chance for rapid promotion.

Perhaps after the war, Australasia might have several more Lieutenant Generals, and even the addition of more Generals and Field Marshals is not impossible.

It should be known that in the 36 years since the establishment of the Australasia Army, the number of Generals and Field Marshals could be counted on one hand.

The Minister of Defence, as the highest-ranking member of the Australasia Military, currently holds the rank of General. The current Minister of Defence, Thomas, had been promoted to General four years ago based on his seniority.

The ranks of the General Staff, the navy, army, and air force headquarters under the Ministry of Defence are all unified at the rank of Lieutenant General.

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The Chief of Staff, the Commanders of the navy, army, and air force, and their staff are all at the rank of Lieutenant General.

Going further down, the ranks for each army commander and staff are standardized at Brigadier. However, there are a few promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General due to military achievements.

Yet Lieutenant Generals as commanders are always in the minority. In the Australasia Army, besides the Guards commanders, very few achieve the rank of Lieutenant General.

The standard rank for each division's Brigadier General and staff is Brigadier General, with some Colonels exceptionally promoted to Brigadier General or staff positions.

But in the 36-year history of Australasia, there has only been one Field Marshal, which is Arthur, holding the post of Commander-in-Chief for all forces.

In fact, Arthur has not restricted the promotion of these high-level military officials, but apart from war, which provides a fast track for rank promotion, it is very difficult to reach the rank of Field Marshal by accumulating seniority over time.

Especially since the national military was not large before, and the Minister of Defence was only at the rank of Lieutenant General, it was even less likely for military higher-ups to be promoted to Field Marshal.

To date, in active service, there is only one person who holds the rank of General, and that is Minister Thomas.

There are seven Lieutenant Generals, namely Chief of Staff Patrick, Army Commander-in-Chief Brady Ellison, Army Chief of Staff Charlie Tuck, Navy Commander-in-Chief Andrew, Navy Chief of Staff David Scoff, Air Force Commander-in-Chief Yana Collette, and Air Force Chief of Staff Michael Beach.

Besides these active high-level military officials, the current Prime Minister Raul Prange once held the rank of General during his term as Minister of Defence due to his military achievements.

However, after becoming Prime Minister, his military status came to an end, and naturally, he cannot be counted as on active duty.

The same applies to the prior Prime Minister Kent who, while serving as Minister of Defence, had received the rank of Lieutenant General.

But once he became Prime Minister of the Cabinet, his former military rank was effectively retired and automatically nullified.

After all, the reasons why high-ranking military titles above Lieutenant General are so scarce are not only because the country has not experienced too many wars to date but also because Australasia has only had a 36-year history since its establishment.

The brief history as a nation has directly led to those who rely on seniority for promotion not having yet reached too high a level up to this point.

However, this situation is expected to improve a lot after the war. There are plenty of opportunities to earn military distinctions in either the war against the Island Nation or possible future involvement in European conflicts.

By then, Australasia will not only have several more high-ranking officials above the rank of Lieutenant General, but also many more nobles above the rank of Baron.

The so-called granting of noble titles for military merit is just that. Using military achievements to motivate the troops, then having these new nobles who rose due to their military achievements serve the royal family, thus creating a beneficial cycle.

By the time Arthur returned to Australasia, it was already mid-March.

In addition to positioning as much as possible in Britain to transform the British Government into a Faction of War Advocates, some changes to France are also necessary.

The French government at the moment is a staunch Dove, with a very important reason being France's weak President Albert.

As long as the presidential system is not abolished and President Albert remains in office, it would be difficult for the French government to shift from a Dove stance to a Faction of War Advocates.

This is very bad for the situation in Europe. France's geographical location determines that it is the first defense line against a German attack.

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Once France gave up resisting Germany, the Germans would no longer be able to withstand and could easily sweep through Western and Central Europe.

By that time, the casualties and costs of defeating Germany through war would not at all be comparable to what they are now.

However, changing the attitude of the French government was much more difficult than changing the attitude of the British government.

What Arthur could do was only to encourage the Australasian Government to remind France that the Germans' goal was definitely not limited to a small Poland.

If the French remained deluded, the divided and engulfed Poland would be their ultimate fate.

After all, Australasia was on the other side of the Earth, and no matter how intense the fighting in Europe, it posed no danger to Australasia. It might even allow Australasia to profit immensely.

Looking at it now, France's poor performance in World War II was not at all surprising.

Whether it was the government's weakness before the war or the shockingly quick surrender of the French once the war broke out, it was enough to astonish anyone.

On the eve of the real World War II, it truly was a race to the bottom. The United Kingdom, France, and the United States were all pursuing appeasement policies, eventually nurturing a behemoth that made the world tremble.

Perhaps some of these reasons contributed to France's rapid surrender. After all, with both the United Kingdom and the United States engaged in appeasement policies, was it reasonable to fantasize about France standing alone against Germany?

After all, the outcome of World War I proved that if France were to stand alone against Germany, it would only benefit countries like the United Kingdom and the United States that were far from the battlefield.

No matter whether they won or lost, it would cause grave damage to the country, so why not choose the option with less harm?

To change the attitude of the French government, one had to change the attitude of the French people first.

After all, for a country like France, the attitude of the people superseded everything. Even if President Albert didn't want to start a war, with the pressure of public opinion in France, he would have no choice but to become a firm advocate of war.

Otherwise, the angry French public would stand up and continually oppose the government, and President Albert's reign would not be stable.

At worst, they could launch a media campaign to plunge President Albert's rule into crisis and then take the opportunity to support a war-advocate French President.

After all, there were forces opposed to President Albert, and there was a significant pro-war faction within France. The situation had not yet reached an irreparable stage.

On March 27, 1936, Germany disbanded the over one million strong Polish army, retaining only a select few experienced infantry and artillery units.

However, Germany had no intention of cutting back its own military size. This resulted in the German Army scaling up to a force of 1.4 million, making it the largest army in the world.

Facing such an immense army, the French finally felt the pressure.

Arthur launched a massive media campaign to hype the German threat. The evidence was Germany's ongoing retention of a military force of more than 1 million, which was not only not being cut back but was also undergoing extensive training.

And Germany's military factories were continuously producing weapons and equipment. Everything Germany was doing proved one fact: they were planning a war on a much larger scale than the German-Polish war.

On March 28, 1936, the Austrian Empire announced a military expansion, increasing the size of its army to 850,000.

At the same time, Austria's many military factories were continuously manufacturing weapons and equipment and accumulating supplies on the front lines.

The expansion of the Austrian Empire exactly matched Italy's wishes. On the following day, Mussolini made a public speech, in which he announced that Italy would expand its army by 500,000, bringing the size to approximately 1.1 million.

At this point, it became impossible for France not to expand its army.

Pressed by the Germans and Italians, France also announced an expansion in early April, raising the size of its army to 1.2 million.

Subsequently, the Island Nation unveiled its conscription plan, declaring it would raise its army size to 1.4 million and was extensively building the weapons and equipment needed by the army.

In Europe, Spain, having received military support from Germany and Italy, downsized the 400,000-strong Republican Government's army to 200,000 and, together with its own forces, assembled an army of over 550,000.

This series of army arms races heightened tensions in Europe to an all-time high. The British Government, too, could not help but start planning, engaging in lengthy debates about whether or not to intervene in the situation in Europe.

On April 17, 1936, King Edward VIII once again proposed his plans to marry Mrs. Simpson to the government.

Due to the opposition of Prime Minister Baldwin, Edward VIII had compromised, suggesting an apparently win-win solution: Mrs. Simpson would not have the title of Queen after marriage, and any children of Edward VIII and Mrs. Simpson would automatically renounce their right to the British throne.

For Edward VIII, such a concession was as far as he could go. Giving up Mrs. Simpson's title as Queen and the inheritance rights of their future descendants to the throne was the greatest compromise Edward VIII could make.

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