Chapter 452 The United States’ participation in the war and its influence

When the Italian and Balkan coalition forces advanced by leaps and bounds on the border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the United States on the other side of the ocean was indeed a little panicked. new

The reason why Americans do not participate in this war does not mean that they do not want to divide the benefits.

It's just that the Americans want to participate in this war with a more important role. They want to wait until the Allied Powers and the Central Powers are exhausted, and then they can join the war as a mediator.

Unexpectedly, however, the Allied Powers had already shown signs of fatigue during the Allied Powers' offensive, and even the Allies were now left with only two major powers left to survive.

If Italy and Australasia really joined forces to defeat the Austro-Hungarian Empire, only the German Empire, which was struggling to support itself, would not be able to last long.

The development of the current situation and the imagination of Americans can be said to be two extremes. The Americans were surprised to find that the Allies seemed to be able to win the war without them.

This makes the Americans a little anxious. If they sit back and watch the Allies defeat the Central Powers to divide their interests, and the Americans do not participate, there will be no hope of rising at all.

In order to carve up the benefits from this war, the Americans could not sit still and began to negotiate with the British to request participation in this war.

Because of the participation of Australasia in this world, the Americans have had minimal impact on this war so far.

Even the arms trade, in which the United States has historically earned a lot of profits, has no share of Americans in this world.

Australasia is responsible for almost all the arms trade between Russia and the Balkan countries. Coupled with the assistance from Britain and France, the Allies' demand for arms imports is not that high, and they will naturally not rush to send money to the Americans.

The Americans failed to gain a lot of benefits from the war, and they have not yet reversed their European identity.

At present, the United States is still an indebted country, and a large amount of its capital and economy are still controlled by European countries.

Seeing that the current situation has exceeded his expectations, US President Wilson made a decisive decision to join this war as soon as possible to strive for more benefits for the United States.

At least the United States must reduce Europe's control over the U.S. economy so that the United States can develop better.

But the current status quo is that the Allied Powers don't really need the United States. If the United States wants to forcefully intervene and get a share of the pie, it depends on whether Britain and France agree.

While U.S. President Wilson persuaded Congress to launch a national mobilization, he contacted Britain and France and requested to join the war as an Allied Power.

Although the United States could directly declare war on Germany, the distribution of benefits after the war would be two different things between fighting Germany alone and joining the Allied Powers to fight Germany.

First of all, Germany's overseas territories have been basically divided up by the Allied Powers. It is impossible for the United States to obtain Germany's overseas territories on its own.

Although Germany still has a vast mainland, do the Americans have the courage to send troops to capture Germany's mainland without the permission of Britain and France?

Let’s not talk about whether the Americans have the courage. The current American army cannot be the opponent of the German army. If the Americans want to attack Germany with their own strength, it is tantamount to blocking the car with their arms. new

Britain and France maintained completely opposite attitudes towards the United States' proposal to join the Allied Powers.

The British do not want the Americans to join in and take a share of the pie. After all, the war has been going very smoothly so far, and the status of the five major Allied powers is also very stable, and there is no need for extraneous matters.

Although relying on the power of the Allied Powers alone is bound to lead to more casualties, the current casualties are not unacceptable to Britain, France and the entire Allied Powers.

After all, the two countries with the most casualties among the Allied Powers so far in the war were France and Russia.

Although the British suffered high casualties, the casualties of the regular army were only a few hundred thousand, and more casualties were caused by colonial troops.

Precisely because of the high casualties of the French, the casualties of the regular troops have reached more than 5 million, and the death toll has exceeded 1 million.

The French naturally hope that a great power like the United States will join the Entente, so that they can bear part of the pressure and share some of the casualties.

The differences of opinion between Britain and France allowed the Americans to see the opportunity to join the Allied Powers. Then, the Americans turned their attention to Russia, trying to win over the Allied Powers, the country with the most casualties.

The Russians also support the United States' attitude towards joining the Allied Powers. The United States not only promised to provide Russia with some interest-free loans, but also promised to provide Russia with assistance for up to two years.

For the Russian government, which is currently experiencing civil strife and is in urgent need of supplies and funds, it can be regarded as a timely help.

Therefore, the Americans quickly gained the support of Russia and agreed to join the Allied Powers in the war against Germany.

The only remaining Allied powers were Australasia and Italy. Arthur's attitude is very clear, that is, like the British, he does not agree with the United States joining the Allied Powers to fight Germany.

Although the joining of the Americans will bear some of the material pressure on Australasia, it will also take away a large amount of post-war benefit distribution, which is not a good thing for Australasia.

What's more, the Americans were Australasia's direct competitors after the war, and the country most likely to compete with Australasia for European talents.

For such potential competitors, it is natural to weaken them as much as possible, let alone give them a chance to develop.

Italy's opinions were in line with Italy's position in World War I. It was unwilling to offend Britain and Australasia, and wanted the United States to join in to obtain a large amount of financial and material assistance.

This time the United States wanted to join the Allied Powers, which to a certain extent aggravated the division of the Allied Powers.

Britain and France already have a big rift in the distribution of strategic interests, and after Russia experienced civil strife, it showed an attitude that valued funds and materials more than feelings with other countries.

In other words, whoever can provide more material and financial support to Russia will also receive Russia's support. new

This would indeed serve the national interest well, but it would not be a good thing for the UK and Australasia.

Britain and Russia have many conflicts. If France and the United States get closer, it is very likely that they will get closer to France and the United States.

As a result, the Allied camp became Britain and Australasia against France, the United States and Russia, plus Italy, which was like a grass on the wall, the distribution of interests after the war was destined to not be peaceful.

The government of 1 country met with the Allied Powers again and promised conditions that were almost impossible for all major countries to refuse.

First, the United States is willing to provide an interest-free loan of US$2 billion to each of Britain, France, Russia, Australia, and Italy, and provide at least 1 million combat troops and a main fleet for the war.

If you look at the pre-war exchange rate, 2 billion US dollars is equivalent to about 400 million pounds, which is definitely not a small number.

You must know that the annual military expenditures of Britain and France before the war were not enough to provide for at least three years of military expenditures by Britain and France before the war.

But since the war broke out, the military expenditures of various countries have increased exponentially. 1 alone reached more than 10 billion U.S. dollars, and last year’s military expenditure reached more than 50 billion U.S. dollars.

Compared with the exaggerated military expenditures of Britain and France, this interest-free loan of US$2 billion is nothing.

However, for countries with relatively underdeveloped economies such as Italy and Australasia, this US$2 billion interest-free loan is still very useful.

You know, Italy's military expenditure last year was only a little over 1 billion US dollars. This interest-free loan is enough to support the Italians for another two years.

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Compared with other countries, Australasia should benefit the most. The total military expenditure of 1 is only 120 million Australian dollars, which is almost equivalent to 300 million US dollars.

This is the military expenditure when Australasia has close to 1 million combat troops and the navy is fully mobilized.

The reason why military expenditures are so low is because in the treaty with the British, the British have to bear half of the military expenditures of Australasia's fighting troops in Europe, which is a huge amount.

This also means that the US$2 billion interest-free loan provided by the Americans can almost sustain Australasia for seven years during the war.

With this interest-free loan, France and Russia became more supportive of Americans joining the Allied Powers.

Even Italy was persuaded by the Americans, and finally agreed with a 3 to 2 advantage that the Americans would join the Allied Powers in the war against Germany.

However, the UK and Australasia are not without countermeasures.

First of all, all German overseas territories currently occupied by the Allied Powers are divided according to the existing occupied areas, and the Americans do not participate in the distribution of these areas.

The Americans can obtain the distribution of benefits from the occupied German land, but it must also be based on a premise, which is the previous agreement by the Allies to distribute benefits based on each country's contribution in the war.

Because the Americans joined the war relatively late, even if they would get a share of the pie, their contribution to the war would never be too great.

In this way, even if the Americans join the war, they will be at the same level as Italy in the distribution of interests at most, and will not pose any threat to the original distribution of interests among the four major Allied powers.

1 After obtaining the consent of the Allied Powers, the Americans couldn't wait to declare war on Germany and immediately dispatched a transport fleet to transport an army division and the American Expeditionary Force Headquarters to Europe.

The United States has the smallest army among the major powers. Even if President Wilson had persuaded Congress in advance to carry out nationwide mobilization, it would take at least more than a month to achieve results.

This also means that, at least before August, there will not be too many American troops on the European battlefield, and the impact of the American military on the war will be minimal.

This is actually an opportunity for Australasia. After learning that the United States had joined the Allied war against Germany, he immediately contacted the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, General Thomas, by telegram, and issued an order requiring the expeditionary force to capture Klagenfurt as soon as possible, encircle Vienna with the Italian army, and force the Austro-Hungarian Empire to withdraw. this war.

As long as the Americans made no contribution to defeating the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Americans had no excuse or qualification to carve up the interests of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

As a result, only Germany was left behind by the Allies to resist. If the Americans wanted to obtain more distribution of benefits, they could only send out troops to fight the Germans with real swords and guns.

You must know that the interest-free loans provided by the Americans to the five major Allied powers alone amounted to US$10 billion. Including the Americans' war expenses, etc., the Americans spent at least US$20 billion on this war.

If only Germany's post-war benefits were distributed, it would be difficult for Americans to obtain more than 20 billion US dollars in compensation.

After all, Germany's interest distribution includes the five major Allied powers and the United States. Six countries divide Germany, and the benefits allocated to each country are very few.

In fact, in addition to the United States, there is another country that also wants to join the Allied Powers and declare war on Germany, and that is the island country.

But the island country is different from the United States. The island country neither has an economic system as developed as the United States, nor does it have a navy that is worthy of the attention of Britain and France.

Even the island country is very short of mineral materials, and joining the Allies will require assistance from Britain and France.

Therefore, Britain and France directly rejected the island country's request to join the Allied Powers, and the island country's attempt to use the opportunity of this war to occupy German colonies in East Asia was directly shattered.

If they did not join the Allies, the island nation would have to declare war on Germany alone. However, the distribution of interests among the Allied Powers involves all of Germany's overseas territories. If the island countries openly invade and occupy Germany's East Asian colonies, it will be equivalent to harming the interests of the Allied Powers.

If the island country really dares to do this, even if the United States is an ally of the island country, it will never be able to save the island country.

Although Britain and France suffered heavy losses after the war, it was still easy to clean up an island country.

You know, the military expenditure of the island countries last year was only 220 million US dollars, which was not even the military expenditure of Australasia. How could the island countries have the courage to challenge the status of Britain and France?

Judging from the current strength shown by Australasia, if Australasia and the island country fight, the island country may not have a chance of winning.

Although Australasia is at a disadvantage in terms of army numbers, the Australasian navy has implemented a complete blockade of the island country. At the same time, the air force is constantly bombing major cities in the island country. Soon the island country will face a shortage of supplies.

For an island country like an island country that is extremely short of supplies, if its navy is not strong, there will never be a chance to rise.

As long as there is a blockade, the island country will face more serious difficulties than Germany. The lack of various supplies is enough to cause the country to collapse internally.

The biggest change brought about by the United States' participation in the war was the public opinion attitude of European countries.

From the beginning of the war, newspapers in various European countries generally spoke ill of Germany, and many media even directly claimed that Germany's defeat was a matter of time, and people in the Allied Powers would soon be able to cheer for victory.

After the United States joined the Entente, the number of the Allied powers came to six, while the Central Powers only had two.

Even on paper, the Entente still maintained a huge advantage over the Central Powers. Such advantages lie not only in population, economy and industry, but also in the land area, mineral resources and various material reserves of the Allied Powers.

Compared to nothing else, even if it was just compared to the consumption of manpower and materials, the Allies could never be the opponents of the Entente.

Even some media in the Allies, Germany and Austria-Hungary began to question the government's performance in the war.

The Germans were unwilling to believe that the powerful German Empire was the disadvantaged party in this war and was very likely to lose the war.

Fortunately, Germany is currently under the rule of a military government, and the government's rule has not been shaken by the doubts of some newspapers.

The military government has such advantages. The rear government understands the frontline commanders very well. The German government and the Junker nobles are still staunch militants and have not been affected.

However, although Germany was spared the crisis, Austria-Hungary was not so lucky.

There are many forces in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In addition, Karl I has just ascended the throne and does not have such high prestige. The media in the Austro-Hungarian Empire can speak freely.

Major newspapers initially questioned the government's decision-making during the war, and eventually even began to question the government and Charles I.

Under the influence of these newspapers, people also have some crisis of confidence in the government.

Strikes and demonstrations broke out in major factories and streets in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, demanding that the government stop the war and restore the pre-war order.

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