Chapter 739 Portuguese Civil War

William's engagement ceremony added a bit of color to the world, but the heat quickly faded.

People marvel at the luxury and size of the royal engagement, but days have to pass, and no one thinks that the royal family should not enjoy all this.

In November 1929, the world situation became turbulent again.

The incident that broke out this time took place in Portugal, and the cause was the brutal dictatorship in Portugal.

Speaking of which, Arthur's participation and influence are indispensable. William's engagement ceremony not only demonstrated the dignity of the Australasian royal family to the outside world, but also demonstrated the size and splendor of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family.

The royal families of both Britain and Australia come from this family, which also makes the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family known as the greatest family in the early 20th century.

Such a name naturally affects Portugal and the relatively neutral forces in Portugal.

On one side is the family known as the greatest in recent years, and on the other side is the autocratic ruler who has become widely dissatisfied with the people. This has also divided Portugal into two distinct factions.

One group is the dictatorial ruler with vested interests, and the other group is other candidates who want to overthrow the dictatorship.

Among this second faction, the royalists who want to re-establish the monarchy and restore the Portuguese royal power are undoubtedly the most powerful party.

When it comes to his own power, Antonio Carmona will naturally not back down easily.

After discovering that the domestic Democratic Party was in frequent contact with Manuel II's forces, Antonio Carmona was furious and directly launched the most brutal suppression of the Democratic Party.

As the second largest party in Portugal, the Democratic Party still has a large number of people. The brutal suppression caused the Democratic Party to lose more than one-third of its members and directly ignited the war in Portugal.

Realizing that this was the best time, Manuel II immediately ordered the royalists in Portugal to start a war, starting the Portuguese Civil War.

With the strong support from Australasia and the support of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family, Manuel II was more confident. He even felt that he could win the war before Christmas.

In fact, the situation was not much different from what Manuel II expected. Of course, this is not the strength of the Portuguese Royalists, but the anger and dissatisfaction of the Portuguese people towards the dictatorship of Antonio Carmona.

If they had to choose one of the two bottles of poison, the Portuguese people would naturally choose the less poisonous Manuel II.

Yes, in the eyes of the current Portuguese, Manuel II and Antonio Carmona are two bottles of poison, and neither is Portugal's best choice.

Speaking of Portugal's geographical location, it is located in the westernmost part of the European continent, and the only neighboring European country is Spain.

But after entering the maritime age, Portugal's position is still relatively important. First of all, Portugal can serve as a hub for exchanges with Africa and is also one of the important transit points on British routes.

Secondly, Portugal's geographical location can pose a great threat to France.

The British already controlled the Strait of Gibraltar, the gateway from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic.

Coupled with the Suez Canal, it is equivalent to the British being able to blockade the entire Mediterranean, making the French Mediterranean fleet a weakling.

But the French are not limited to the Mediterranean Sea. They are close to the English Channel to the north and the vast Atlantic Ocean to the west.

If Portugal could be used to block the French's path to the Atlantic Ocean, the impact on France would undoubtedly be huge.

This was also the reason why the British government finally decided to support Portugal. George V tried his best to persuade the government to support Manuel II in the civil war.

Of course, George V also gave up many benefits for this, which was equivalent to making a deal with the government.

With the support of the two great powers of Britain and Australasia, Manuel II quickly ascended to the throne of Portugal.

On December 21, 1929, after more than ten years, Manuel II announced the restoration, re-established the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha dynasty in Portugal, and immediately announced the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Portugal, the United Kingdom and Australasia. Establish diplomatic relations.

In exchange for benefits, the Royal Government of Portugal announced a 20-year lease of Sao Tome and Principe to Australasia.

Smart people know that this is an exchange of interests between the two countries, but no country can say anything about such an exchange of interests.

After all, this is a normal thing in the world. Everyone has their own needs, and the final result is what the two countries want to see.

The matter in Portugal was finally resolved, and Arthur was relieved for the time being.

The increasing number of monarchy countries will also be helpful to the stability of the monarchy in Australasia in the future.

Although Arthur's reputation and status in Australasia were unprecedentedly high, the former Queen Victoria also had a high status and prestige in Britain.

After the throne was passed down for several generations, didn't George V's rights also get weakened a lot? If George V had not decisively abandoned the surname Saxe-Coburg-Gotha during World War I, I am afraid that whether the British royal family could remain stable would have been a problem.

This also represents a simple truth. The throne can be passed down, but prestige and reputation cannot.

If you want the monarchy of Australasia to be maintained, you must allow the monarchies of other countries to also be maintained. The monarchy of Australasia cannot be allowed to become an exception worldwide.

Turning his attention back to the country of Australasia, Arthur began to inspect projects that had already started construction under the eight-year construction plan.

First of all, what Arthur valued most was definitely the Lake Eyre Canal project related to the ecological environment of Central Australia.

This was a bold decision by Arthur and an unprecedented attempt. If successful, the entire Great Artesian Basin will be reactivated, adding millions of square kilometers of fertile land to Australasia.

But if it fails, such a project that consumes more than 100,000 people and a lot of financial resources will also be a blow to Arthur's reputation.

Although the blow was not that significant, it still had a certain impact on Arthur's subsequent layout.

Ten months have passed since the Lake Eyre Canal project was launched in February this year.

As a canal in the canal plan connecting North and South Lake Eyre, it is less than ten kilometers in length and has been basically completed within these ten months.

However, because the other two sections of the canal are relatively long, the construction is expected to take at least five years, and more manpower and material resources will have to be deployed to build them with all their strength.

Arthur paid close attention to this project and personally checked it. After the construction of the canal between the two lakes was completed, Arthur personally arrived around the canal to inspect and ensure that everything was going according to plan before he felt relieved.

The good news is that there is no shortage of manpower to build the Lake Eyre Canal.

Because it was a project initiated by Arthur, and people all understood that the purpose of this canal was to restore the ecological environment in central Australia, this also led to a large number of people actively participating in the construction of the Lake Eyre Canal. The recruitment site was almost full, every day There are a large number of people who want to join the canal construction plan, even for a small salary.

The original plan to build the Lake Eyre Canal was to employ only 150,000 workers, and almost all of these workers were recruited from the United States.

But unexpectedly, the local people in Australasia were too enthusiastic, which also caused the number of workers to exceed expectations, and is now close to 250,000.

Although the capital cost of canal construction is increased, the more people there are, the less time it will take to build the canal.

Because there are three canals, this also means that the construction of the three canals can be started at the same time, and the total construction time of the canals can be shortened.

In addition to the canal connecting the two Lakes Eyre that has been completed, the canal between South Lake Eyre and Lake Torrens, and the canal between Lake Torrens and Spencer Bay have also been built. one.

If the entire Lake Eyre Canal construction plan can be completed within five years, it would be a good thing for Arthur, even if it requires some additional costs.

In addition to the construction process of the Lake Eyre Canal, there is another major project that has been mostly completed, which is the construction of airports in key areas across the country.

In fact, the current airport is still very different from the market outlook. After all, there is a gap of 100 years, and the airports in the two eras are completely different concepts.

The current airport only needs a flat runway for aircraft to take off and land, and other facilities are very simple.

After all, a plane can only accommodate more than ten passengers, so naturally there is no need for a large waiting area for passengers, and the size and construction difficulty of the airport will not be that great.

The first cities to build airports are naturally key cities such as St. Arthur, Sydney, and Melbourne, as well as state capitals and large cities with a population of more than 500,000.

In order to promote exchanges between Australia and New Zealand, airports have been built in both North and South New Zealand, and there are more than one.

In addition, each colony will also establish airports to facilitate communication between the mainland and the colonies.

In addition to these relatively common civilian airports, simpler military airports are actually found all over Australasia.

The construction requirements for military airports are simpler. They only need to flatten the road surface to ensure that the takeoff and landing of aircraft will not be bumpy.

Compared with the comfort required by civilian passenger aircraft, the biggest requirement for military transport aircraft is transportation efficiency, followed by the speed of the aircraft.

As for safety, it is enough at the qualified level. Because the lifespan of most military aircraft does not last long, war has a huge impact on relatively fragile high-tech products such as aircraft.

Rather than asking for the safety of a military aircraft, it is better to consider whether it can carry more supplies and whether it can escape enemy fire.

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