Chapter 617 Franco-Austrian Alliance

To say that the most anxious country in the world recently is probably the French, who have always regarded the British as their opponents.

Take a closer look at Britain's deeds in the past two years, taking control of Central America, gaining Persia, and fully controlling the Middle East.

Coupled with the help of Australasia, the UK has absolute say in Europe and the World Alliance. As the truly strongest country on the European continent, the French have far less say in Europe than the UK.

The Naval Limitation Treaty made it impossible for the French to catch up with the British in terms of naval power. The isolation and helplessness in diplomacy also made the French feel crisis.

After all kinds of thinking, the French felt the need to find an ally for themselves, a reliable ally at the level of a great power to relieve their pressure.

Looking carefully at all the countries in Europe, the only ones that can be called great powers are Russia and Italy.

These two countries are obviously unreliable. A complete Russia may have the strength to help France, but now it is an incomplete Russia that has been damaged by the civil war, and the Russians have no intention of participating in things outside of Russia. Nicholas II Shi's attention is entirely focused on recovery and development.

Of course, Italy goes without saying much. After Mussolini established a dictatorship, Italy's presence in international affairs has been significantly reduced.

Moreover, Italy's performance in World War I was indeed not very good. Such allies would even become a burden to the French, and they were also the first to exclude them.

In addition, there are not many countries in Europe that can provide help to France. After careful thinking and choices, the French still set their sights on the Austrian Empire, which has been greatly weakened.

Speaking of the Austrian Empire, it should be the luckiest country among the Allies in World War I. Although part of the territory including Galicia, Bosnia, Hungary and northern Italy was lost, the core of the country, Austria and Bohemia, still remained.

However, due to the loss of the Kingdom of Hungary, the current Austro-Hungarian Empire has been renamed the Austrian Empire and restored its original empire name.

However, even with Austria and Bohemia, the current Austrian Empire still has the strength of a great power, but it is just a relatively bottom power.

Precisely because of the loss of most of the territory and the heavy casualties in World War I, the Allies' restrictions on the Austrian Empire were not that high, and the current recovery of industrial strength is still relatively good.

It was impossible for the French to form an alliance with Germany, so they naturally focused on the Austrian Empire.

Although the Austrian Empire does not seem to be the best choice, it cannot choose countries like Poland and Turkey.

Poland's overall strength is not necessarily stronger than the Austrian Empire, but the Poles' ambitions have offended Russia.

The French have no intention of offending Russia for Poland, because in the eyes of the French, Tsarist Russia will still be their more important ally in Europe after regaining its strength.

Perhaps stimulated by the British's control of the entire Persia, the French quickly contacted the Austrian Empire, and under the very excited eyes of officials from the Austrian Empire and Karl I, they signed an alliance between the two countries.

The reason for excitement is that the current status of King Karl I is already very dangerous.

Although he retained his throne due to the joint declaration of the European royal families and the operation of Karl I, he was still a defeated country after all, and the Austrian Empire was still burdened with a large amount of compensation.

Although industry and the economy have recovered somewhat, the imperial government's finances and the economic situation of the Austrians are not optimistic because a large amount of money must be spent every year for compensation.

Although Karl I was already trying his best to maintain his reputation, he donated some royal funds from time to time to relieve the Austrians.

But there will still be many voices wanting to abolish the royal family. After all, the culprit who made the Austrian Empire a defeated country was actually Emperor Franz who signed the declaration of war at that time.

The old emperor's prestige in the Austro-Hungarian Empire was indeed very high during his lifetime, but this did not prevent him from causing disaster to the Austro-Hungarian Empire after he made the Austro-Hungarian Empire a defeated country in World War I.

As long as the Austro-Hungarian Empire was not a defeated country, Karl I would not have been deposed within a few years of taking the throne.

The reason why the alliance was signed with the Austrian Empire was not only because of the remaining strength of the Austrian Empire, but also because the Austrian Empire was relatively close to Russia and could achieve the Paris-Vienna-St. Petersburg system.

The important reason why the Russians remain silent in international diplomacy is actually Russia's poor industry and economy, as well as Soviet Russia, which poses a threat to Tsarist Russia.

As long as France and the Austrian Empire can provide Russia with a lot of support, Russia's unification and return to its peak are inevitable.

By that time, the three countries of France, Austria and Russia combined will be able to compete with Britain and Australia, and will completely suppress Britain and Australia in terms of army strength. This is also the hope that the French see in defeating the British.

Although it is necessary to continue to support the Austrian Empire and Russia for this, and even pay a lot of money and materials for this.

But there is no way to make allies without sacrifice. The British assisted their ally Australasia with a large amount of supplies and equipment, and this was how they gained the support of a powerful Australasia.

The French also decided to follow the British example and cultivate their allies into two powerful countries.

The assistance from the French is an emergency for the current Austrian Empire, and it is also a timely help.

In particular, some of the food and medical supplies provided by the French can very well stabilize the prices of goods in the Austrian Empire and allow Austrians to have enough to eat. This is the most important thing at the moment.

After all, only when the people have enough to eat will they stop making trouble. If the people don't make trouble, the government's rule will be stable, and only then will the status of Karl I be stable.

In order to express their sincerity, the French even exempted most of the Austrian Empire from paying reparations to France, which greatly reduced the pressure on Austria-Hungary to pay reparations.

After all, the main reparations countries for the defeated countries were the four Allied powers, Britain, France, Russia, and Australia. Especially since the flu incident, the proportion of compensation received by the United States has been completely offset, which also means that the proportion of compensation received by the French is actually larger.

The French gave up the Austrian Empire's reparations, which also gave Austria-Hungary a big sigh of relief, at least it was not so nervous in terms of reparations.

It is precisely under this so-called mutual benefit that France and the Austrian Empire are getting closer and closer, and there are repeated reports of France and the Austrian Empire signing an alliance.

The British are not surprised by this. After all, the French are not wooden stakes and will definitely take their own actions.

To be honest, in the previous Central American and current Persian wars, the British were surprised that the French did not stumble. Looking for allies in Europe is actually a normal thing.

For Britain, even if France and the Austrian Empire really formed an alliance, the threat to Britain would not actually be that great.

After all, the Austrian Empire was still a defeated country and still suffered from considerable restrictions.

What's more, the Balkan countries that once fought against the Austrian Empire have expanded their strength compared to before World War I.

Especially Serbia, which has a hatred of the Austrian Empire, is still a major threat to Austria.

Austria has Germany in the north, Hungary in the east, Italy in the south, and Serbia and other Balkan countries in the southeast.

The westernmost part is also bordered by the neutral country Switzerland, which makes the Austrian Empire be attacked from several sides and its development space has been greatly reduced.

If you want the Austrian Empire to pose a threat, you must regain control of Hungary and then control the Balkans.

But neither Hungary nor the Balkan countries could be controlled by the Austrian Empire so easily.

It is no exaggeration to say that judging from the current limited strength of the Austrian Empire, it may not be able to defeat the Balkan countries.

As for Hungary, there was a lot of commotion over Hungary's independence at that time, and it was naturally impossible for the Hungarians to take the initiative to join Austria.

Judging from the current situation alone, the alliance between the French and the Austrian Empire is a good thing for the British.

Because after the French gave up reparations, the Austrians had more funds to compensate Britain and Australasia.

Combined with France's aid to the Austrian Empire, isn't this equivalent to France compensating Britain and Australasia in disguise?

Gaining an ally is certainly a good thing, but it's not necessarily a good thing when you have to pay a lot of money for it and support the enemy.

Perhaps the French did feel pressure on the British. In short, the alliance between France and the Austrian Empire was signed quickly, and the Franco-Austrian alliance speculated by the media became a reality.

Arthur was surprised by the alliance between France and Austria, because it meant that the world situation was completely different from history and was already developing in another direction.

But this is not necessarily a bad thing for Australasia. The Austro-Hungarian Empire became the Austrian Empire plus Hungary, and it still had a certain weight and strength.

This also means that even if Germany becomes the Third Reich in the future, it will not be easy to annex Austria.

It may even directly trigger a world war. The future World War II will also become complicated and confusing, and no one knows what the situation will be.

It's not even clear whether Mustache can successfully take over Arthur, and whether the situation in World War II will be the same as it was in history. This is a mystery.

But no matter how the world situation develops, Australasia still does not need to worry too much due to its geographical advantage.

Coupled with Australasia's leadership in tanks and aircraft, as well as the development of rockets, missiles, and nuclear weapons that Arthur attached great importance to, no matter how World War II develops, it will not escape Arthur's control.

Compared to the alliance between France and the Austrian Empire, Arthur paid more attention to one of Australasia's current development policies, which is the cliché colonial localization policy.

As the first region to truly realize the localization of the colony, the development of the Timor State in the past four years can be said to be a matter of course.

Five years ago, Timor had a population of only 110,000. Now, Timor's population has exceeded 250,000. Its infrastructure and city size are no less than those of Tasmania, and it is completely Australasia. of native land.

After the successful localization of Timor, the government set its sights directly on most of the colonies, including the huge colony of New Guinea.

If Timor is a pilot area for colonial localization, then the first batch of areas to officially enter the localization of colonies are New Guinea, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Fiji and other regions.

Of course, neither Arthur nor the government intended to localize all these colonies at once.

After all, localization is not just a name, as long as all aspects of the colony are built like the mainland.

This not only requires a population that matches the local population, but also a considerable degree of industrial and agricultural construction, a large amount of materials and energy, etc.

In the past four years, the government has attached most importance to and vigorously carried out localization construction, and naturally it is the colony of New Guinea.

In terms of land size, the land size of the New Guinea colony is not inferior to that of any state, and even being a state is a bit luxurious.

However, because the current population of New Guinea has just exceeded 800,000, it cannot support too many administrative divisions.

There are currently three major cities in the New Guinea colony, which were actually their respective capitals during the three-part rule.

As the first area under Australasia's control, Port Moresby, once the capital of the Australian New Guinea colony, is currently the largest city in the New Guinea colony and the only city with a population of more than 250,000.

In addition, there are two cities with a population of over 100,000: Herbertschoe and Modovi.

Then there are many small coastal cities, with populations ranging from thousands to tens of thousands, such as Balimo, Kerima, Okaba, Waan, Jayapura, Lae, etc.

The so-called localization of colonies actually means building these colonial cities into local cities, and then affecting smaller villages and towns.

Arthur still attaches great importance to New Guinea's localization policy. In order to review the progress of New Guinea, he decided to personally go to New Guinea to inspect and review the localization progress of many cities.

The first stop must be Port Moresby, the capital of New Guinea.

1. Arthur, escorted by a fleet and a group of guards, arrived in Port Moresby with some government officials. He was warmly welcomed by the Governor of New Guinea and local officials, as well as a large number of New Guinea immigrants.

It’s not like Arthur has never been to Port Moresby before, but compared to the last time he came to Port Moresby, the current Port Moresby feels to Arthur to be larger and more advanced.

This is actually normal. After all, the population of Port Moresby has increased several times, and it is impossible for the port not to expand.

The current island of New Guinea has almost zero indigenous people. If you don't think of it as a colonial city, there is actually not much difference between the current Port Moresby and the ports in Australasia.

All residents of this port city are Australasian, and all architectural styles, various systems, etc., are all Australasian.

Accompanied by John Price, the governor of the New Guinea colony, Arthur inspected Port Moresby's hospitals, schools, streets and infrastructure, and was quite satisfied with the localization process of Port Moresby.

In the next few days, Arthur visited Kerima, Palermo, Lae, Okaba, Waan and other areas, and even went to Herbertshoe in New Britain and Carvey in New Ireland. Well, the inspection situation is basically not much different from Port Moresby. The localization construction of these cities is relatively successful.

This also represents the fact that after the last time Timor became a direct state, the time when the colony of New Guinea became a direct state of New Guinea will not be far away.

Compared to immigrants from the colonies, these permanent residents of New Guinea definitely prefer to become the population of native cities, that is, the direct states.

Because the welfare policies of local cities are definitely better than those of colonies, the infrastructure they can enjoy, including various transportation conveniences, is something that colonial cities cannot experience.

After confirming what Governor John had done in New Guinea, Arthur embarked on his journey back to Sydney.

Since the localization work of New Guinea has been done well, the progress of renaming the colony of New Guinea to the direct state of New Guinea can also be accelerated.

After all, if a war breaks out, there will certainly not be much time to continue the localization work of the colonies.

This also means that if the work of localizing the colonies cannot be completed before the war, if you want to continue to localize the colonies after the war, you will inevitably encounter obstacles from countries including the United States.

Besides, after the colonies are localized, the economic development of these cities will also accelerate. If the Great Depression breaks out again, this will also help Australasia better survive the economic crisis and reduce the damage caused to the country by the economic crisis.

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