The Rise of Australasia

Churchill's words were akin to a wake-up call, prompting all members of the British Cabinet to thoroughly contemplate the issue.

What was the purpose of supporting the island nation? Was it not to divert the atttion of the Russians and also as a strategy to counter the United States' massive expansion in the Pacific?

However, Russia is currtly an ally against Germany, and due to the agreemt with Russia, the British Governmt is not planning to assist the island nation in the short term.

After all, the help of the island nation is nowhere near as valuable as Germany right now, and the British governmt still needs Russia to tie up some of Germany's forces.

Although the British Governmt can no longer support the island nation, it doesn't mean they can't support other countries.

Churchill's words made perfect sse. Britain and Australasia share the same ancestry; the majority of the population in Australasia is made up of British immigrants.

This represts something extremely important to the British Governmt – an Australasia filled with British immigrants would never willingly oppose the British Governmt.

Ev if Britons chose to become immigrants, they still held deep affection for Britain in the short term.

If the Australasian governmt decided to oply oppose the British Empire, I fear the wrath of their native British immigrants would force them to think twice.

Australasia also shares the same ancestry with the British royal family, with such favourable relations, why wouldn't they support Australasia?

Moreover, in the minds of Caucasians in this era, there is always some hint of supremacy.

Instead of supporting an island nation with differt ethnicities and cultures, it is better to support Australasia that shares the same ancestry and will most likely never become an emy.

Although Australasia's population is a significant hindrance, wasn't the island nation still an ignorant and backward country decades ago?

If the British Empire was capable of supporting the island nation to become a major power on par militarily with the world in just decades, it was also possible for them to increase Australasia's naval capacity to a major power level and give rise to a new major power in Oceania.

What's more, Australasia's shipbuilding industry already has a considerable scale and is indeed reaching a major power level in terms of dreadnoughts.

As long as they slightly compsate for the population defect and provide more support, Australasia could become a major maritime power at any time soon.

Although the rise of Australasia would inevitably lead to the sufferings of the Dutch East Indies in the north.

However, it's a Dutch colony after all, and the British governmt can give it up decisively wh it's time to do so.

Most importantly, in the eyes of the British, the threat posed by the Americans to Britain is far greater than an Australasia that owns the tire Dutch East Indies.

If Australasia could acquire the Dutch East Indies, perhaps it could also offset some of the population issues and grow into a major power that truly has the capability to confront the United States.

Although significant effort is needed, it's still better than sitting idly by and watching the rise of the United States after the turmoil in Europe, isn't it?

The members of the British Cabinet exchanged glances, each seeing approval and sudd comprehsion in the others' eyes.

Prime Minister Asquith was the first to nod, saying, "Let's put aside the concept of expanding the navy momtarily. Supporting Australasia is indeed a good choice. Apart from European conflicts, we do need to beware of threats from across the ocean.

In order to prevt the expansion of the American navy from posing a threat to the British Empire, I believe it is necessary to support Australasia, to nurture a country in the Southwest Pacific region that has the strgth to confront the United States."

"That's correct, Australasia is situated in Oceania, it would be arduous and unrewarding to expand westward across the tire Indian ocean. To the east are our islands and those of France, and if Australasia is wise, they should not be interested in these areas in the short term.

To the south is the vast Antarctica, an extraordinarily cold region that Australasia probably lacks the ability to explore. Therefore, their only direction for expansion is probably up north.

After taking control of the Dutch East Indies, if they want to avoid conflict with us, it seems their only options for expansion would be in the direction of the Philippines, which would naturally conflict with American interests." The Minister of Home Affairs, McKna, agreed wholeheartedly.

After supporting the aid for Australasia, the Dutch East Indies, in the eyes of these British politicians, have become a region that can be completely abandoned. There's no need to ruin the relationship with Australasia for the sake of the Dutch.

After all, the interest of other countries cannot measure up to the strategic planning of our own.

Moreover, the ownership of Dutch colonies truly hangs on the whim of the British Empire.

Were it not for the British Empire's profession of the Dutch occupation of this land, forbidding other great powers from meddling, the Dutch colonies would have long be occupied by other nations. This is, after all, a time of survival of the fittest!

"If we could foster Australasia, tying it to the Allies' war chariot, it would be beficial for us as well," another cabinet member chimed in.

"Gtlem, Australasia has become an important trade partner of the British Empire—they possess abundant supplies of grain, meat, and mineral resources. Such a country is a natural ally to us and a natural emy to the United States. I support fostering Australasia, ev to the point of advocating for swift governmt action to tether Australasia to the Allies' war chariot promptly.

This would be beficial in the wake of European conflicts—we would have an additional wartime supply base to alleviate the pressure on our domestic supply chain."

It was only th that Churchill said leisurely, "Don't forget, gtlem, Australasia is currtly a naval power equipped with three battleships and two battlecruisers. Their scale may not be significant, but they can shoulder some of the defse duties in the Indian Ocean region for us and relieve the naval pressure in the colonies.

Furthermore, it is rumored that they are constructing a Super Dreadnought, named 'Hope-class battleship' for Chile. If they indeed master the technology to build such dreadnoughts, their importance will significantly increase."

The importance of the Super Dreadnought is on par with the Dreadnought of a few years ago. As the most pott battleship design currtly in the world, the Super Dreadnought is inevitably the backbone of naval warfare and one of the most crucial projects in the ongoing British-German naval race.

If Australasia can master the construction technology of the Super Dreadnought, it would mean that Australasia's naval shipbuilding capabilities have reached the top four in the world, trailing only Britain, Germany, and the United States.

If the British Empire could provide some financial support to allow Australasia to rampantly expand their naval fleet, could they birth a top five navy?

It is hard to say, but the hope is undoubtedly significant. A Dreadnought's combat capabilities are equivalt to two to three old-fashioned battleships, while the combat capabilities of a Super Dreadnought are theoretically comparable to two Dreadnoughts.

This means that Australasia's currt naval combat capabilities have theoretically surpassed the Island Nation, which possesses sev battleships, and has truly achieved the level of a great power.

If they add another Super Dreadnought, a Dreadnought, and a battlecruiser, th Australasia's naval capabilities will surpass the Austro-Hungarian Empire and give Italy a run for its money.

Supporting Australasia in the discussions among the Cabinet Ministers of the British Empire has evolved into a fail-safe investmt.

The more people spoke, the more excited they became, ev proposing immediate plans to foster Australasia.

"Alright, gtlem, while understanding the importance and necessity of supporting Australasia according to our currt conversation, it's still about the necessity of naval expansion, isn't it? The plan to support Australasia can be discussed in the next meeting. Let's first resolve the issue of naval size.

This is where the governmt's financial worries lie." In the d, it was Prime Minister Asquith who reluctantly brought the conversation to a halt to avoid straying off-topic in the Cabinet Governmt's agda.

Seeing that Prime Minister Asquith remained unaffected by his remarks and continued to advocate for reducing the naval expansion plan, Navy Secretary Churchill shook his head resignedly but stubbornly retorted, "Your Excellcy, the Prime Minister, I persist in believing that reducing the scale of naval expansion is not a good idea.

If the governmt is truly short of funds, in addition to issuing bonds, large revues can be gerated in the colonies, can they not?"

Before Prime Minister Asquith could respond, Foreign Minister Edward stood up. Abandoning his previous silce, he directly rebutted, "I must say that it is a foolish idea, Minister Churchill.

Forgetting how we could extract more taxes without provoking the colonial natives, the Germans would likely propagate rumors of our oppression of colonial populations as soon as we act severe miscellaneous taxes in the colonies. If they interfere, a colonial crisis could erupt at any momt.

Once the colonies counter problems, not only would we have to deploy the army and navy for suppression, the burd on our finances would be ev more severe."

Although previously, the European Countries tacitly oppressed the colonies while pretding to the outside world to be civilized gtlem.

But at the time, everyone was in on it. With all the great powers united in doing so, which country would speak against it?

But the situation is differt now. If only the British Empire acted in such a manner, the Germans' tactics would surely be dless.

If the Germans were adamant about inciting rebellions in the colonies, the British Empire may be caught off guard.

Of course, the main reason is that Germany doesn't have many colonies.

If Germany also had a large number of colonies, such propaganda would harm both others and itself as its colonies may also be besieged by the threat of rebellion.

"Moreover, Minister Churchill. Our proposal is to reduce the scale of naval expansion, not to halt it tirely. The financial departmt is powerless against having twice the number of battleships as Germany, so why not change the ratio to :.5?" After speaking, Foreign Minister Edward turned his gaze to Churchill, offering a more moderate proposition.

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