The Rise of Australasia

Chapter 822 -614: The Smart Choice

Today’s world trend and this historical period are completely different. Due to Arthur’s interference, monarchies still exist in strong countries like Germany, Russia, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Although there are representatives of republics such as France and the United States, both of these countries are weakening.

Compared to France and the United States, those evidently more promising are the United Kingdom and Australasia, both being genuine monarchies.

Besides France and the United States, it seems that there are hardly any republics that can compete on the world stage, with even fewer being considered strong nations.

Monarchies are different, leaving aside the two powers of Britain and Australasia for the moment; well-known established monarchies in Europe include the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, and so on.

Oh, right. Italy, which has been out of the limelight, currently has a kingdom and is also a bona fide monarchical country.

All these monarchies, it seems, are really not weaker than Greece. This made Kronos Alan Hubchen doubt whether his advocacy was wrong, and whether a republican system was truly suitable for the country of Greece?

The Kingdom of Greece may have been defeated in the war with Turkey, but the Turkish army had also defeated the forces of powerful countries; the Greek defeat was to be expected.

At least the current Second Hellenic Republic wouldn’t dare say it could defeat Turkey. Could what they are doing really be better than the erstwhile Kingdom of Greece?

The greatest drawback of the republican system, which was Kronos’s most troublesome concern, was the inefficiency of governance.

Especially in Greece, where no political party has a dominating advantage; a trivial issue could result in a lengthy dispute and the parties would not yield to each other, even threatening to overthrow the government at any sign of conflict.

The same policy, already implemented by other countries, is still up for debate in the Greek Congress, with no real action taken.

In such circumstances, it would be odd if Greece’s development didn’t lag behind – after all, a country that’s always a step behind can’t possibly rise opportunely and progress smoothly.

Faced with this tough choice, Kronos, unable to decide, turned his eyes to his only confidant in the government, Petros Baschen, one of the two giants of the Democratic Party.

Upon receiving Kronos’s summoning, Petros Baschen hurried anxiously to the Presidential Office and was bombarded with questions by Kronos as soon as he opened the door.

"Petros, do you think we should welcome His Majesty the King back?”

Petros did not answer directly, but after carefully considering for a while, he said, “Mr. President, do you think our rule or Greece is more important?”

This is a very important question for any ruler, and the answer is also crucial for the development of the Democratic Party and Greece.

Kronos was stunned. Although his rhetoric was all about the development of Greece, wasn’t it also for the sake of securing his own presidential seat?

If he had to choose one, he hadn’t truly contemplated which one to opt for.

Seeing that Kronos was silent, Petros continued, “The current situation in the Republic has proven that, at least for Greece now, republicanism is actually a burden.

We don’t have a dominant political party, and the internal chaos of the government is even worse than during the Kingdom’s era.

Clearly, the development of the country needs a unified voice, which we utterly lack right now.

His Majesty the King has clearly gained the support of Britain and Australasia. In other words, the restoration of the King is unstoppable by us.

Mr. President, my suggestion is that we should look for a way out. Either we comply with the rule of His Majesty the King, or we will have to leave Greek politics.”

If King George II were alone, the Republican faction within Greece could easily suppress the Monarchists.

After all, the King had been expelled, and the forces loyal to the King had been purged during this period, with not much impact remaining on the government.

But if King George II had Britain and Australasia standing behind him, this would not be something a small Greek government could resist.

Unless Greece also had two Powers of the same caliber behind it, but who could achieve that given the present situation?

You surely can’t expect France and the United States to both support the current Greek Republic at the same time! Even though they are republics, these two countries don’t have that much goodwill.

Monarchies in Europe might become friends, but there is not much good relationship between republics themselves.

"Are you suggesting that we should directly comply with the rule of His Majesty the King?” Kronos inquired.

"Yes and no, President Sir,” Petros Baschen explained, “If we cannot prevent His Majesty the King’s restoration, then submitting to his rule is inevitable.

However, we should not stand by and watch Greece revert to the royal era as it was, at least the monarch should not hold too much power.

We should follow the example of Britain, and under the premise of monarchy, establish an alternative republic.”

Monarchy and constitutional monarchy are not the same thing. The previous King of Greece wielded too much power, and this was not a good thing for the development of Greece.

If we could limit the powers of the King of Greece, handing over more administrative power back to the government and the parliament, this would also be a good thing for the current Greek political parties.

"Will the British and Australasians agree? They restored His Majesty the King to the throne, but they didn’t intend for him to be a constitutional monarch, did they?” Kronos continued to inquire.

"Such a monarchy is what the Greeks can accept, President Sir. I believe Britain and Australasia will also care about the will of the Greek people; they would prefer to see a stable monarchy,” Petros Baschen said with a smile: “If His Majesty the King can cooperate with Britain and Australasia, why can’t we?

I believe they would also like to see forces more loyal to them in Greece, and for the sake of the Democratic Party and all of Greece, we can certainly cooperate with Britain and the Australasians.”

The reality was indeed such; although Britain and Australasia were willing to restore George II to the throne, neither Arthur nor King George V attached great importance to the authority of George II.

Both men’s primary goal was to gain prestige through the European Royal Family Union Declaration; they preferred to see a stable monarchy rather than an extreme, autocratic monarchy.

The proposal put forth by Kronos quickly received a response from Britain and Australasia, as a peaceful method of restoring George II to the throne was much better than a warlike one.

However, before the restoration of George II, Kronos, with the consent of Britain and Australasia, took the lead in amending the Greek constitution, limiting the powers of the monarchy to a certain extent.

More power was given to the Parliament and the government; the King of Greece had completely lost military powers and retained only some administrative and legislative powers.

But the legislative power also came under parliamentary supervision; laws established by the King had to be approved by the Parliament before they could be implemented, which was also to avoid the future Greek monarch from modifying the constitution once in power again.

After the constitutional amendment, Kronos, acutely aware of his position, quickly convened the Congress, and the issue of whether to restore the monarchy was discussed at length.

Britain and Australasia, while uniting with domestic monarchist and democratic parties within Greece, swiftly achieved a support rate of over 60%, leading the Greek Congress to declare the restoration of the constitutional monarchy.

At the same time, the Greek Congress was renamed the Greek Parliament, the Greek Republic government was renamed the Greek Cabinet Government, and the National Flag from the era of the Kingdom of Greece was restored.

The change in the Greek regime once again drew the world’s attention to this country.

This was not good news for the republics around the world, as it signified that the power of monarchies had grown stronger.

Many media outlets began to speculate frequently about the political changes behind the scenes in Greece, and even published various exaggerated news stories.

However, the European royal families were very pleased to see the restoration of the Greek Royal House. Due to the push from Britain and Australasia, other royal families trusted the European Royal Family Union Declaration more, as it could indeed help them regain power should they lose their thrones.

This was good news for both Arthur and King George V. King George V managed to slightly mend the relationship with the German nobility, which helped his prestige within the European royal circle.

Naturally, Arthur was the biggest beneficiary. As the initiator of the European Royal Family Union Declaration, and also having defended the German and Russian Royal Houses, among others, and with the restoration of George II to the throne, Arthur’s prestige and status in the European royal families had risen high, and many royal families frequently inquired about marrying their young members.

Clearly, to most European monarchical royal families, an alliance with contemporary Australasia was considered a very profitable deal.

Australasia was a real power monarch state and also a very powerful world power.

An alliance with Australasia not only improved their international influence and secured them a powerful ally to help them in times of weakness.

In addition, the vast wealth of the Australasian Royal Family was also a reason for attracting these royal families.

Although at present, the royal assets were made up only of the Royal Consortium Bank, the military industry, and so on.

But just the profits from the bank and military industry each year amounted to tens of millions of Australian dollars, with the total assets of the Royal Consortium even reaching hundreds of millions of Australian dollars.

Based solely on the gold price index, the total value of the Royal Consortium’s assets was as high as 1.5 trillion yuan, and the actual conversion ratio could only be higher.

After all, the current Australian Dollar had not been devalued, and the difference might be dozens or even hundreds of times greater.

With the assets of the Royal Consortium alone, the Australasian Royal Family was already in contention for the title of the world’s wealthiest royal family.

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