Chapter 782 Sharpening the knife to France

Compared with the conditions offered by the French, the conditions offered by the British are undoubtedly more generous.

This actually means that Australasia will most likely cooperate with the British, and the French are destined to fight against the British and Australasia alone in the competition in South America.

Although France is clearly the second largest power in the world, this does not mean that everyone will think so.

If we only look at the mainland, Australasia has already surpassed France in terms of industry and military. In terms of economy, due to the continuous depreciation of the franc, Australasia's economy is also better than that of France.

If France's vast colonies hadn't made France's overall data so much better, and Arthur deliberately pushed the French into the world's second-largest power in order to avoid direct conflict with the British, I'm afraid the current world's second-largest power would be Belongs to Australasia.

For Arthur, no matter where he is ranked in the world, it is just a name.

If the British become hostile to themselves because of this name, and even use all their forces to prevent their rise, then the gains outweigh the losses.

Although there seems to be a huge gap in strength between the world's second-largest country and the world's third-largest country, only Arthur understands that the current Australasia can crush France militarily, and it can be said that it has a 100% chance of defeating France.

This is not Arthur's complacency, but a conclusion drawn from a horizontal comparison between the Australasian army and the French army.

Not only the French army, but many countries that participated in World War I have begun to fear war.

World War I brought them huge human casualties and property losses, making most Europeans unwilling to see such a large-scale war again.

But Australasia is just the opposite. Although Australasia also suffered casualties in World War I, the casualties were very low compared to other powers.

More importantly, during World War I, Australasia annexed a large amount of land and took advantage of the export of large quantities of materials and arms trade to bring its domestic infrastructure and economic development to the level of the European powers.

It can be said that it was precisely because of that world war that Australasia was completely equipped with the strength of the great powers, and most of its shortcomings with the European powers were also eliminated.

Coupled with the popular personal worship of Arthur in Australasia, the Australasian army is full of combat effectiveness and has reached the point where it is truly fearless of death.

In terms of the morale and fighting spirit of the army alone, the Australasian army is definitely the best and can easily crush the French army, which is currently afraid of war.

More importantly, because of the pension policy formulated by Arthur at all costs, the soldiers of the Australasian Army can be said to have no worries.

This is not the same as the blind fanaticism of the island country. Although the army of the island country can also erupt with fighting spirit and fanaticism comparable to that of the Australasian army, the fighting spirit of the soldiers is ultimately blind.

When their fighting spirit is affected, the morale of the army and the combat effectiveness it unleashes will also be greatly reduced.

But the Australasian Army is different. Because their worries have been completely resolved by Arthur, they can safely fight for Arthur, the royal family and the entire country.

Even if they die in the war, their families will receive preferential treatment from the government, as well as large pensions from the royal family and the government, which can ensure that they can still have enough food and clothing without going hungry despite the lack of the backbone of the family. abdomen.

If the navy had not lagged far behind the British, relying on Australasia's terrifying military performance, it would not have been a problem to compete with the British for the throne of world hegemony.

Of course, the current dominance of the Pacific is enough for Arthur. Being a world overlord is not that easy. At least for now, Arthur is not willing to become a world overlord.

Only after World War II is completely over and the world order stabilizes will Arthur become interested in the new throne of world hegemony.

Of course, before deciding to launch an attack on the throne of world hegemony, Arthur must ensure that the strength of Australasia's navy, land and air forces are among the best in the world.

At present, the three armed forces of the sea, land and air actually have certain shortcomings. The first is scale. The navy, army and air force can only be regarded as world-class, but the number of navy and army is not the first in the world.

Population has a great influence on this, and continuing to expand the population is what Arthur will do next.

In Arthur's expectation, the population could reach 50 million, and the total size of all armies would exceed 1 million, only then would they be qualified to compete for the throne of world hegemony.

Of course, in order to completely secure the throne of world hegemony, the population must find ways to exceed 100 million people.

Under the intervention of the British, this so-called mediation meeting was actually a negotiation to buy Paraguay time.

The French certainly understand this. Throughout the negotiations, Bolivia's and Paraguay's conditions were exaggerated and clearly unacceptable to either party.

While proposing quite outrageous conditions, both Bolivia and Paraguay are purchasing corresponding weapons and equipment in large quantities.

However, when it comes to purchasing weapons and equipment, the two countries have different purchasing directions based on their different concepts.

Bolivia still adheres to the principle of being generous. Because of the loans from France and Mobil Oil Company, the weapons and equipment purchased by Bolivia are all tanks and aircraft, as well as some large-caliber artillery and other heavy weapons.

But Paraguay is different. Paraguay originally had a serious shortage of light weapons. Their focus in purchasing weapons was light weapons including rifles, machine guns and small-caliber artillery.

It is worth mentioning that Paraguay and Bolivia have also hired army instructors from Australasia and France to become commanders of their armies.

This situation is still very common in this era. Small countries do not have a perfect grasp of army tactics, and they do not have much talent reserves in the military.

When a war breaks out, most small countries will hire some army instructors as army commanders from the big countries that support them.

Before World War I, the most popular commanders in the Army were all Germans. After all, the reputation of Germany's world's largest army at that time was resounding all over the world, and the German Military Academy was also one of the most popular military academies at that time.

As for now, no one has claimed the Army's title of No. 1 in the world. Some people think that it was the French who defeated Germany with their army, some think that it was the Australasians who showed strong army combat capabilities in World War I, and some even think that the island countries and Russia are also qualified to compete for the throne of the world's number one army.

After all, the number and combat effectiveness of the armies of these countries are quite good. Apart from these countries, the number of armies of other countries, including the United Kingdom, has lagged far behind.

Paraguay imports large amounts of light weapons rather than heavy weapons, which is also a suggestion made by the Australasian Military Command to the Paraguayan government.

After all, in the grasslands and jungles of the Northern Chaco region, heavy weapons are really difficult to use. Although the aircraft can indeed play an adequate role, Bolivia and Paraguay do not have many aircraft to begin with, and whether they can make full use of their powerful aircraft is a question.

This is like giving a batch of hot weapons to a country in the cold weapon era. Although hot weapons can also play a certain role, without corresponding tactical applications, the combat effectiveness they exert will definitely not be comparable to the armies of this era, even if the weapons of both sides The equipment is at the same level.

The price of airplanes is too expensive and is not suitable for Paraguay, a small country with a small population. Purchasing a large amount of light weapons to make up for Paraguay's shortage of weapons and equipment is what the Australasian Military Command believes Paraguay should do most at the moment.

In addition to the massive purchase of weapons and equipment, Paraguay also carried out a nationwide mobilization at the suggestion of the British.

Although the country has a small population, the number of troops quickly expanded from 3,000 to 60,000 due to nationwide mobilization.

Paraguay's opponent, Bolivia, had maintained several times its numerical advantage before, causing Bolivia to relax its vigilance.

Although Bolivia has also carried out some mobilization in this regard, it is not a nationwide mobilization that affects production, but a mobilization close to the border in the Northern Chaco region.

Although this also allowed Bolivia's army to exceed 30,000 people, compared with Paraguay's desperate 60,000 people, it was at a disadvantage in terms of numbers.

On May 22, 1931, because the differences between Paraguay and Bolivia were too huge, the mediation meeting organized by the British officially failed, and the war between Paraguay and Bolivia continued.

The Bolivian army thought they could continue to defeat Paraguay with overwhelming force. Unexpectedly, their offensive was quickly blocked by Paraguay, and the front line was at a disadvantage and began to switch from offense to defense.

Under the command of Australasian officers, the Paraguayan army launched a raid on several important military fortresses on the front line. Without the Bolivians' preparation, they quickly captured several military fortresses occupied by the Bolivians.

This is not over yet, because of the strong support of the British, a large number of weapons and equipment were urgently transferred to Paraguay and successfully armed to the Paraguayan army.

With the newly arrived weapons, Paraguay quickly took advantage of the front line and defeated the Bolivian army steadily.

At this time, the Bolivians and the French behind them felt that something was not good, and realized that Paraguay had probably launched a nationwide mobilization.

In order to maintain its advantage in military strength, Bolivia also decided to launch a nationwide mobilization to expand the number of its army to about 150,000 people.

Compared with Paraguay, which is a small country, Bolivia's national mobilization area is larger and will require more time.

Moreover, because Bolivia is close to Chile and Argentina, if Bolivia wants to carry out comprehensive mobilization, there is a high probability that it will not be able to hide it from other countries.

Soon, the British got the news that Bolivia was also conducting national mobilization. In order to ensure that Paraguay's advantage continued, the British decided to find something for the French to do.

How to create trouble for the French?

After much thought, the British still set their sights on the original American land.

As mentioned before, the French acquired the better parts of the southern United States, including Texas, which was rich in minerals and a large population, and the entire south coast of the United States.

Although these areas have re-established republics with the support of the United States, these countries are not very interested in French rule because of the poor relations between the American states.

Take Texas, which has become the Lone Star Republic. The founding history of the Lone Star Republic can be traced back to 1836, which is nearly 100 years ago.

The history of the establishment of the Lone Star Republic was based on dissatisfaction with Mexican rule and seeking independence as a sovereign country.

Even after being forced to join the United States after independence, the Lone Star Republic maintained considerable power, including the unique independence rights of the United States Federation.

Although the Lone Star Republic is currently under the control of the French due to the defeat and partition of the United States, this does not mean that the Lone Star Republic will respect the rule of the French.

Especially after the transformation of Texas into the Lone Star Republic, many emerging parties within the republic have eagerly hoped that the country would regain its independence.

Texas today is not the barren region it once was. With a population of more than 5 million in the Republic, coupled with a large amount of mineral resources and crop production, the Lone Star Republic can definitely become a pearl in the Americas.

In addition to the internal problems of the Lone Star Republic, Mexico is also very greedy for this land that was once its own.

Although France, the world's second largest power, currently controls the Lone Star Republic, this still cannot prevent Mexico from taking a step back.

After all, compared to distant France, Mexico is a neighbor of the Lone Star Republic. It is closer in distance and has a natural location advantage.

For Mexico, as long as it could convince the Lone Star Republic to break away from the French and join Mexico, it could regain Texas without war.

The reason why the British set their sights on American soil was because they saw the various problems in the Lone Star Republic.

It can be said that the Lone Star Republic is a bomb that can explode at any time for France.

Even the bomb of the Lone Star Republic will affect the Federal Republic of the South Coast and the Confederate Republic of Florida in the east, which may directly disintegrate the French rule on the south coast of the United States.

This is what the British want to see. Not only will it create a big trouble for the French, it may even directly cause heavy losses to the French.

You know, French capital has always loved external economic exports. Although it has only been in charge of these three republics for a short period of time, French capital has already exported a lot of money to these three republics, and the funds and assets invested are countless.

If the French lose their right to rule these three republics, not only will the French government suffer heavy losses, but French private capital will also be devastated.

For the British, this is very likely to solve one of their biggest competitors and leave them completely free of trouble in Europe.

4000 words update sent, wishing everyone a happy new year.