The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 576: Chapter 447: Advance Arrangement

The war continues to this day, and it is clear to those with keen eyes that the war is coming to an end. However, the problem is, it is not quite certain how the war will end.

If one carefully studies the history of the countries involved in World War I, it can be found that the war is a civil conflict within the European royal families and, more importantly, within the German nobility.

Why is that?

Firstly, all the powerful nations participating in the war, except for the Republic of France and Italy, have royal families originating from the Germania region.

It goes without saying that the British Royal Family and the Australasian Royal Family are members of the German Saxon-Coburg-Gotha family.

The Romanov Dynasty of Russia comes from the Germania region, and the Habsburg Dynasty of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is also from the Germania region, but it was pushed out by the then Kingdom of Prussia and eventually became the Austrian Empire.

Besides the royal families of various countries, there is a considerable number of German nobles in the United Kingdom, and a considerable number of British nobles in Germany.

The complicated marriage ties between the royal families of various countries have formed an inseparable bloodline network.

Therefore, this war can also be regarded as a struggle between European monarchs, which not only significantly weakened the strength of the European royal families but also led to the loss of substantial territories by many European nobles.

Even the British Empire, which appeared to have a stable royal status, would have been at risk of becoming a republic if it were not for the strong royalist factions.

Therefore, the sooner this World War ends, the less the infighting between the European royal families.

A more robust monarchy has no drawbacks for Arthur and could even ensure the stability of his throne.

It is precisely because of this that ending the war as soon as possible has become Arthur's expectation.

However, before ending the war, Australasia also has many issues to resolve.

First and foremost is the rapid development of Australasia's military industry and manufacturing during the war.

Before the outbreak of the war, Australasia's military industry workforce numbered only slightly over 20,000, and this was due to the fact that the war was about to erupt, and the military industry had already undergone significant expansion.

Now, the number of people employed in the military industry is at least 100,000, and the industrial output has expanded fivefold compared to 1913 and three times compared to 1914, an exaggeration of the expansion speed.

The issue of accommodating these workers in the military industry after the war is a problem since it is evident that Australasia does not need such a massive military industry after the war. It must reduce at least to one-fifth of its current scale, or it will face an excess of military industry production capacity.

Besides the military industry, the expansion of Australasia's manufacturing is also an issue. The European War has created a large number of manufacturing orders for Australasia, enabling many of its private workshops to earn sufficient funds and leading to the production capacity of Australasia's manufacturing far exceeding the needs of its native population.

A more exaggerated figure is that Australasia exports nearly 2 million military uniforms to Europe every year, but the needs of the Australasia Army are only slightly less than 500,000.

It should be noted that this is the demand for military uniforms after a large-scale expansion of the army. If it were before the war, the number of military uniforms produced by Australasia each year would be enough for the army's needs for ten years.

The most urgent task at present is to gradually reduce the production figures of the military and manufacturing industries and reduce them to a reasonable range to avoid these enterprises facing a bankruptcy crisis.

In order to more practically hone William's administrative skills, Arthur decided to hand over the development of the Middle East region to William.

Although William is only seven years old, having undergone fairly strict elite aristocratic education, he appears to be a little adult.

Of course, if that was the only reason, Arthur would not have handed over the management of such a vast coastal territory along the Persian Gulf to William.

Another crucial reason is that Arthur does not intend to aggressively exploit the oil along the coast of the Persian Gulf before acquiring more territories there.

This also means that the development of the coastal territories along the Persian Gulf is not intense, and with Arthur-appointed officials assisting, handing it over to William for management can be reassuring.

Not that he wants William to experience some setbacks, but given that the population along the Persian Gulf coast is not large, it is just right to see what the elite aristocratic education William has experienced in these years has taught him.

Anyway, the garrison troops along the Persian Gulf coast are not under William's control, and little William's mischief will not affect Australasia's rule in the region.

As for the life and death of the indigenous people in the coastal areas of the Persian Gulf, Arthur does not care, and neither do other countries.

When Arthur initially decided to hand over the management of the coastal areas of the Persian Gulf to William, he could clearly see the excitement in the young boy's eyes.

Obviously, the lure of managing a vast territory alone is immense for a boy.

Arthur also asked Little William what he would do first when he took over the territory, and the surprising answer turned out to be military management and enslavement of the natives.

Such an answer is undoubtedly hawkish in thought, but Arthur thinks there is nothing wrong.

Due to the influence of this world war, hawkish pro-war ideas are increasing in every country.

Dove-ism domination is a post-war matter. After all, before the end of the war, a large number of ordinary people were influenced by various government intrigues; they only knew about serving the country without realizing the death threats brought by their service.

When the war was over, people were shocked to discover that more than half of their friends and family had died in the war, and the damage of the war was truly reflected in everyone's life.

For Arthur, it's not bad for William to have hawkish ideas, but it also depends on who is targeted.

There is no need to care about the life and death of the indigenous people. Moreover, if there are too many local natives in Australasia's territory, they are easily deceived by future countries like the United States, which may lead to independence within Australasia's territory.

Instead of this, it is better to solve these natives in advance, until the occupied colonies and lands become the legal territory of the Australasians to reside permanently.

In the future, there is a clear example: after World War II, the East Prussian land of Konigsberg was occupied by the Russians.

Konigsberg was once the capital of Prussia, but it was occupied by the Russians after the German surrender in World War II.

In order to better defend this land, they launched a large-scale relocation plan, expelling all Germans from the land to West Germany and resettling a large number of Russians there.

As a result, this land that once belonged to the Germans became a territory mostly inhabited by Russians, and thus became a rightful territory of the Russians.