Chapter 341 Anglo-Australia Agreement

After several days of negotiations, 1, which is also the last day of this month, the Australasian government and the British delegation have reached a certain consensus on British assistance to Australasia. new

Because both sides have a strong willingness to cooperate, Australasia wants to receive more aid, plus acquire more land and interests in World War I to accelerate the country's rise.

The British Empire also needs a country like Australasia that already has great power in all aspects and can provide the British Empire with various mineral resources and logistic resources such as food, beef and mutton, and medical supplies.

The Australasian navy can also jointly patrol with the British navy in the Indian Ocean and other areas to protect the African and Indian colonies of the British Empire.

So, Britain, France, Mediterranean, Suez Canal, Indian Ocean, Oceania, South Pacific, Chile, Atlantic Ocean. Such a complete transportation line can be formed.

This line covered almost all the colonies of the British Empire, Australasia, and important mineral resource providers such as Chile. It also blocked Germany's access to external resources.

At the same time, if the Australasian navy can share the pressure with the British Empire's navy in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific, the British Empire can dispatch more of its main fleet to the Atlantic and European mainland to block Germany's transportation lines.

If such a plan succeeds, no matter how powerful Germany is, it will be overwhelmed by the Allied Powers' use of human sea tactics because of the lack of logistical resources.

In order to completely pull the country of Australasia onto his own chariot, Minister Gray obtained instructions from the British Cabinet and acted very generously in this negotiation.

In the aid plan that the two parties have initially reached consensus on, Minister Gray nodded and agreed to provide Australasia with approximately 30 million pounds in financial support.

Of course, this 30 million pounds will be paid in seven years. In the first three years, 5 million pounds will be provided to Australasia each year, and in the next four years, 3.75 million pounds will be provided to Australasia.

Although this financial assistance may not seem like much, the good thing is that it is completely free and Australasia does not need to repay it.

In fact, the total amount of 30 million pounds alone seems to be quite a lot. Even compared to the current most advanced super-dreadnoughts, at least a dozen can be built.

Even if the payment is divided into seven years, the funds paid by the British government to Australasia every year can at least build one super dreadnought and one dreadnought. This is free, and Arthur has no reason not to want it.

In terms of financial assistance, both the British government and the Australasian government are very satisfied.

For the British government, although this financial assistance lasts for seven years, the maximum cost in the first three years is only 5 million pounds per year.

For the British Empire, whose annual fiscal revenue is close to 400 million pounds, this cost of 5 million pounds is really nothing.

For Australasia, whether it is A$10 million in the first three years or A$7.5 million in the next four years, it is not a small number.

After all, Australasia's total fiscal revenue last year did not reach the level of 100 million Australian dollars. The amount of British aid allowed the Australasian government to have more financial reserves. new

Whether this money is spent on the people or the military, it can bring many benefits to Australasia.

Both parties were satisfied with the amount of financial assistance, so it was quickly finalized and became the first item in the Agreement between Britain and Australasia.

Of course, financial aid is only an appetizer compared to other aids.

Both sides know that this 30 million pounds will not allow Australasia to have a higher level of military strength and industrial strength. It can only be regarded as a small icing on the cake.

In order for Australasia to willingly join future European wars, the British would have to provide more support and even more land area.

As time enters March, negotiations between the two parties are still in full swing.

The next step in the negotiation is also the focus of this negotiation, that is, the scope and extent of the British Empire's support for Australasia in terms of technology and personnel.

For a country, advanced technology, equipment and talents are an indispensable part of national development.

Advanced technology and equipment are the country's present, and abundant and outstanding talents are the country's future.

Now that there is a big dog like the UK, Arthur will definitely not miss the opportunity to take advantage of the British.

The current proportion of talent in the world, Europe accounts for at least 80% of the top talents. 10% for the United States and 10% for other regions.

Although with the dark clouds of war gathering in Europe, there has been a massive loss of European talent.

But it still cannot be denied that Europe is still the brightest pearl in the world. It still has the most developed technology, the largest industry, the most prosperous economy and the most advanced system in the world.

As the most powerful country in Europe and the most powerful country in the world, it goes without saying that the British Empire has a huge talent pool.

At least when it comes to the navy, the British Empire's talent pool is definitely the richest in the world, and no one else.

Australasia's naval technology has received assistance from Germany and the United Kingdom, and has now developed into a world-class technology.

But there is still a huge gap between this and the British Empire. Arthur also covets the talents and technology of the British Empire.

Under Arthur's instruction, the Australasian government specifically discussed the second negotiation and decided to set the aid in this range as high as possible.

In terms of technology, talent, industrial equipment, etc., the more assistance, the better. The more aid Australasia receives, the more it will improve its current capabilities and future potential.

Because of Arthur's support, government officials really dared to speak. Any cabinet department not only puts forward a large number of technology and equipment needs, but also hopes that the UK can support hundreds of talents.

Adding together several departments, the British government needs to provide thousands of talents every year. Even the British government cannot afford such a huge consumption.

No matter how wealthy the British were, Minister Gray would not dare to agree to such a high request for assistance.

If we look at the requirements put forward by the Australasians, I am afraid that after the aid, Australasia will be at least among the top five powers. New 𝗑.𝖼𝗈𝗆

This obviously conflicts with the current purpose of the British.

What the British need is an Australasia with certain strength that can provide them with logistical assistance in future European wars and help them protect their rear.

At most, it should be coupled with the purpose of jointly guarding against the expansion of the United States on the other side of the Atlantic after the war ends in the future.

If we look at the current aid requirements, I am afraid that after the aid, Australasia will have the ability to compete with the United States on its own.

Although a stronger Australasia can perfectly contain the United States, if Australasia continues to expand northward, the British are worried that it will exceed their control.

After another ten days of wrangling, 1, the second article of the agreement between the two parties was also confirmed.

The agreement stipulates that the United Kingdom will provide Australasia with a large amount of industrial machinery and equipment, mainstream and modern technology, and outstanding reserve talents in all aspects from 1 to 17 years.

Assistance is provided in accordance with the needs of Australasia in terms of industrial machinery and equipment and technology.

Australasia will purchase these industrial equipment and technologies at a price slightly lower than the market price, and the UK will be responsible for imparting them to Australasia.

In other words, after acquiring British technology, Australasia can skip the long period of mastering technology and directly let British experts teach them this scientific and technological knowledge.

This will greatly increase the speed at which Australasia can control British technology, allowing Australasia's technological level to quickly catch up with Britain's.

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Although it costs money to purchase industrial equipment and technology, for the Australasian government, which has a fiscal surplus every year, money is the most indispensable thing.

Apart from anything else, it is perfectly fine for the government to spend 20 million Australian dollars every year to purchase British industrial equipment and technology.

This 20 million Australian dollars may not seem like much, but in this era, the purchasing power is already quite good.

What's more, Minister Gray has personally promised that the industrial equipment and technology sold to Australasia will be below market prices and sold to allies at the best prices.

Yes, after these two conditions were basically met, Australasia and the British Empire had actually become de facto allies.

Except for military matters that have not yet been discussed, cooperation in diplomacy, economics and other aspects has become a well-deserved ally.

As for the talent assistance for the second item, after many "bargainings", Minister Gray reluctantly nodded and agreed to Australasia's offer of at least 300 talents per year for a total of seven years. need.

These 300 talents will cover various industries and fields. The specific talents needed will be determined according to the specific needs of Australasia.

Even in Arthur's plan, talents in education, medical and other fields will be within the scope of these 300 people.

In short, Australasia lacks what talents the British Empire demands.

In addition to these two assistance matters, Arthur also made an additional request to Minister Gray, that is, an annual friendly exchange between the shipyards of Australasia and the British Empire.

In addition, the three major shipyards in Australasia will send some students to the shipyards of the British Empire to study, and some shipyards of the British Empire will also send some experts to Australasia for guidance.

The British Empire had an excellent shipbuilding industry, and it was impossible for Arthur not to take advantage of it. With the two-pronged approach of sending students and inviting experts, Arthur did not believe that Australasian shipyards could not learn more.

The British were so advanced in warships that Arthur was eager to send shipyard cadets to British shipyards every year.

The British have definitely helped a lot with the dreadnought and super-dreadnought technology that Australasia currently possesses.

After the two main aids of the Entente were basically negotiated, the focus of this negotiation also came to another major point besides aid, which was military cooperation between Australasia and the British Empire.

As the saying goes, if there are gains, there are losses, and if there are losses, there are gains. The reason why the British Empire aided Australasia was definitely not without any purpose.

This kind of assistance is different from previous sponsorship assistance. The scale of assistance signed in this agreement is enough to take Australasia one step further.

This also means that Australasia must pay certain rewards in terms of military cooperation to satisfy the British.

As the saying goes, sincerity is exchanged for sincerity. If such an agreement is to be fulfilled by both parties, in addition to the conditions of reciprocity, the motivation for both parties to fulfill the agreement is also very important.

Starting from March 12, the negotiations between the British Empire and Australasia turned into Minister Gray setting the conditions, and Prime Minister Kent and the cabinet "bargaining".

The first condition put forward by Minister Gray is that Australasia dispatch at least three main battleships to help Britain maintain the situation in the Indian Ocean region after the outbreak of the European War.

Along the coast of the Indian Ocean are the Indian regions that were very important to the British Empire, as well as the African colonies of the British Empire, as well as important strategic areas such as the Strait of Malacca.

Therefore, patrolling this area has become very important. At least during war, there must be enough warships to protect the security of this area.

If the Australasian navy can join the patrol system in the Indian Ocean, it will allow the British Navy to save several main warships and devote them to possible naval battles in Europe.

This will also further expand the advantages of the Royal Fleet and the High Seas Fleet, and the possibility of the fleets between the Allies getting together will also decrease.

Prime Minister Kent immediately agreed to Minister Gray's first request without even thinking about it.

The conditions for sending three main battleships to help the British patrol the Indian Ocean after the outbreak of the European War are not harsh and are completely acceptable to Australasia.

Minister Gray's second request is that if a war breaks out in Europe, Australasia will send at least 200,000 troops to participate in the war, and at least a quarter of the troops must be regular troops.

In order to repay the military contributions of the Australasians, Minister Gray also promised to be responsible for the logistics of the Australasian army in Europe and to bear half of the military expenditures of the Australasian army in Europe.

In fact, this is not the case only in Australasia. The British Empire also put forward such conditions to its other two allies, France and Russia.

If war breaks out in Europe, the British Empire will bear part of the military expenditures of France and Russia to relieve the financial pressure on the two countries.

In particular, Russia is under financial pressure. Because the domestic situation is already turbulent, and its industry and economy are relatively backward, it needs more support from the British Empire.

What's more, Russia already owes France a large amount of loans, and its financial situation is already very dangerous.

It still maintains the largest military scale in Europe. If the British Empire does not provide certain financial support, I am afraid that before the war begins, Russia will fall into high debts and even risk bankruptcy due to huge military expenditures.

With Minister Gray's request, Prime Minister Kent cannot make decisions on his own.

After consulting Arthur, Prime Minister Kent agreed, but also made certain modifications to Minister Gray's request.

Regarding the issue of sending troops, Australasia can send at least 250,000 combat troops to Europe after the European war breaks out.

Although the number of troops increased, Minister Kent also imposed restrictions on the time during which regular troops could be dispatched.

That is to say, the Australasian Ministry of Defense will dispatch a total of more than 50,000 main troops to Europe throughout the war.

But the requirement is that the final command of all combat forces dispatched by Australasia lies with the Australasian Ministry of Defense. Britain, France and Russia can request the cooperation of the Australasian military, but cannot impose mandatory orders.

Arthur's idea is also very simple. Although I am confident in the combat capabilities of the army, the combat capabilities of an army that has not experienced a major war will not be at its peak after all.

If we can rely on this European war to allow Australasia's main army to participate in this unprecedented war in a rotational manner, it will not only satisfy the British, but also train the Australasian regular army. combat ability.

But training is training, and Arthur has no intention of letting his army become cannon fodder for Britain, France, and Russia, and work hard for Britain, France, and Russia.

Whether it is a non-main force or a main force heading to Europe for rotation, its final command must be in Australasia's own hands.

The few main forces are the foundation of the Australasian Army. Although Arthur had already prepared for a lot of casualties when he planned to send them to Europe.

But Arthur could not accept the large-scale casualties. If Britain, France and Russia were allowed to command the Australasian troops, it was very likely that after the outbreak of World War I, these troops would be dispatched to cruel meat grinder battlefields like Verdun.

You know, World War I broke out several large-scale battles like Verdun. Each battle involved more than millions of troops, and the number of casualties was as high as millions.

Even if Australasia can dispatch 250,000 combat troops, they will only be exhausted in such a large-scale battle, and it is Arthur and Australasia who will suffer in the end.

Therefore, Arthur would rather send an additional 50,000 combat troops to firmly control the command of the army in Australasia's own hands.

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