The Rise of Australasia

At the current British Cabinet meeting, France has become a frequent topic of discussion among British officials, often causing frowns.

Although the French suffered heavy losses during the war, after Russia plunged into civil war, the French remained the hegemon of the European continent and now had no rivals.

Looking at all the powerful nations on the European continent, the United Kingdom, being detached from the European continent, is unlikely to actively participate in the disputes on the European mainland.

After all, the British Empire is more skilled in continental balance policy. Instead of actively confronting the hegemon on the European continent, supporting one or more competitors is what the British would prefer to see.

Apart from the British Empire, Russia was originally an excellent pawn, but because it was caught in a civil war, it could not restrain the French at all.

Another victorious nation is Italy, which is far less powerful in terms of the army and navy and national comprehensive strength than France, and the British have ruled it out without any hesitation.

At present, on the European continent, even after the British went through all European countries, they can only set their sights on the German Empire as the only power that could truly confront France.

Of course, to be precise, the current name of Germany is the German Federal Empire, and the country’s system has undergone significant changes under the requirements of the Allies.

William II won the German emperor’s election by an overwhelming margin, securing his throne as Emperor of Germany.

This is very different from historical events; historically, Germany had entered the Weimar Republic period by now, but the current Germany still maintains a monarchical system, although the internal situation is quite chaotic.

At present, the German states have a significant share of power, especially the Kingdom of Bavaria, which has a number of troops comparable to the Imperial government. How William II handles the relationship between the Imperial government and the various states will determine his position in the new Germany.

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Please note that, due to French interference, it is not clear who holds real power in Germany at the moment.

William II has a good reputation and is followed by a portion of the military and nobility.

At the same time, the military government and its Junker nobility backers still hold a large portion of governmental power, although their strength has been greatly reduced after some high-ranking officials who started the war were purged.

Moreover, due to French support, the German states have been granted considerable power, making the internal situation in Germany quite chaotic.

But, there is no alternative; the only hope to contain French expansion is Germany, which the British Empire had defeated with all its might during World War I.

Although Germany was an enemy of the British Empire during World War I, today the main competitors of the British Empire are France and the United States, and Germany has become the target of British solicitations.

Although it may seem complicated, it is actually quite normal for the interests of various countries to intersect.

National foreign policy follows one truth: there are no eternal friends between nations, only eternal interests.

No matter what the relationship between two countries is now, it will not affect or determine the relationship between them in the future.

When a common interest exists, two countries can become good allies and friends. When common interests disappear or both sides have conflicts of interest, even the best allies can turn against each other in an instant.

Although French interference has caused the political situation in Germany to become chaotic, the British are not without countermeasures.

With the support of the British, Germany has preserved part of its industry, albeit only small-scale civilian industries and basic industrial products, but the overall scale of the industry is nevertheless significant.

Furthermore, due to the industrial losses suffered by European countries during the war, these German industrial goods quickly flowed into the victorious countries.

German industries have always been known for their high quality and low prices. These relatively cheap industrial products currently occupy a considerable part of the market, and this is also the reason why the Germans are able to fulfill their compensation payments every year.

However, compared to Germany’s current financial situation, the hefty 20 billion pounds of reparations are the main reason why the German economy has been unable to recover.

In order to give Germany the capital to contain France, the British government has decided to propose a reduction in German reparations at the upcoming regular meeting of the World Alliance.

In fact, it would not be difficult to implement the proposal to reduce German reparations; it only needs the consent of the four great powers among the Allies.

From the distribution ratio of the reparations, more than 85% of the reparations are occupied by the four great powers of the Allies, while the remaining 15% is shared by other victorious countries.

As long as the four great powers of the Allies agree to reduce Germany’s reparations, other countries would not be able to say anything, after all, the four great powers would be reducing more.

Moreover, with Russia in dire need of supplies from Britain and France due to the civil war, it is impossible for them to reject the British and French proposals at the World Alliance meetings.

All that is needed now is to get the French to agree, along with the support of Australasia, and the proposal to reduce German reparations is basically a done deal.

But the problem is, how can they convince the French to agree to reduce the proportion of German reparations?

It is important to know that the proportion of reparations occupied by France is not low, and the converted amount is as much as 5.1 billion pounds, which is not a small figure.

Even if it is reduced by only 10%, there are as much as 510 million pounds, enough to build a powerful fleet. The French are definitely not willing to give up this fund for nothing.

A suitable reason is needed for proposing to reduce Germany’s reparations, and a reason that the French cannot refuse, or an excuse that can convince the French, must be found.

However, this is a matter for the diplomatic department to worry about. Fortunately, the British Empire’s diplomatic department is quite professional, and Minister Grey’s diplomatic ability has been recognized by people at home and abroad.

In October 1919, the British representative proposed for the first time to reduce the proportion of Germany’s reparations from the original 20 billion pounds to about 15 billion pounds in order to alleviate Germany’s domestic financial problems and prevent Germany from going bankrupt due to high reparations.

The British representative’s proposal surprised the whole audience, and unlike before, this time the British representative’s proposal did not attract unanimous praise from everyone. Most people fell into contemplation and some of them clearly opposed it, such as the French representative.

The representative of Australasia didn’t care about it because Arthur had already said during the cabinet meeting that Germany’s finances could not bear 20 billion pounds in reparations, and that reducing reparations was an inevitable issue sooner or later.

The Russian representative was somewhat hesitant. At present, the Russian representative can get tens of millions of pounds in reparations from Germany every year, which is of great help to the Russian civil war.

Similarly, the support of the British people is also very important to Russia, which puts the Russian government in a dilemma, not knowing whether to insist on maintaining the reparations amount for Russia or to agree with the British proposal.

"Representative John, I do not agree with your country’s views. Germany’s economic situation may be very bad, but the economic situation of all our victorious countries is not good either.

Is Germany’s financial situation worth taking care of, and our financial situation is not worth taking care of?

At present, many countries rely on Germany’s reparations to restore their domestic economy. If we rashly reduce the share of reparations, it may save Germany’s economy, but it will damage the economy of all the victorious countries.

If we let all the countries that have suffered from war suffer losses in order to save the devil who initiated the war, I don’t think this is merciful, this is cruel to the victorious countries." The French representative stood up directly and clearly opposed the British proposal.

For the French, they do not want to give up a single penny of the 5.1 billion pound of reparations.

France’s economy and industry suffered a great deal of damage during the war. This compensation can help the French better recover their domestic economy.

What is more important is that the huge reparations owed by the Germans will bring their economy close to collapse, and Germany will naturally lose its strength to compete against the French.

If Germany’s reparations are reduced and Germany is given a chance to survive, it is actually helping Germany, an enemy to France.

France still has some small allies. After the French representative came forward and clearly opposed the British representative, the French allies also came forward and started to support the French.

"What we need to do is not to completely cancel Germany’s reparations, but to make a certain proportion of reductions. You present here can still get reparations from Germany, and it will remain at a good figure.

Gentlemen, we are not trying to give up punishing the Germans, but to let all the countries present here, all of you present here, get reparations from Germany smoothly.

Please think about it, if this reparations really crush the Germans’ economy, and let the German government declare bankruptcy, can you still get your reparations smoothly?

Reducing the share of Germany’s reparations is not only to ease the pressure on Germany’s economy but also to ensure that all the countries present here can smoothly receive reparations from Germany.

This proposal is not for the interests of a particular country but for all weak countries to smoothly receive reparations.

I hope you will carefully consider my proposal and not be blinded by the immediate interests." The British representative did not care about the French representative’s opposition but looked at the other small and medium-sized countries and sincerely advised them.

The British representative’s argument is not completely unreasonable, as everyone also understands the principle of not overfishing.

To put it bluntly, some people are just unwilling to give up immediate interests, as they can receive a large amount of reparations from Germany every year, but reducing the share also represents their own losses.

The role of the diplomatic department is like this, turning a proposal generated for one’s own interests into a forced proposal for the interests of everyone and binding the small and medium-sized countries to the line of Britain’s battle.

France and other countries may not worry about Germany not being able to afford reparations, but these smaller countries will always be worried.

After all, if Germany really declares bankruptcy, these small and medium-sized countries will not have the confidence to claim debts from the German government.

Although Germany has failed, its industrial scale and economic conditions are still at the level of the major powers and are not something that small and medium-sized European countries can touch.

Even if it were not for the various terms and restrictions imposed on Germany by the Allies, Germany’s overall strength would still surpass that of France and would still be a superpower second only to the UK and the US.

This, too, is the foundation of a country and the reason why Germany, once the second major power, is so strong.

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