The Rise of Australia - Chapter 967

c949 Unlimited submarine warfare

In order to effectively respond to the possible material replenishment of Germany by various countries in the world, Britain, France and Australia, after continuous discussions, finally decided to promulgate a rather overbearing policy, that is, the unlimited submarine warfare policy.

The so-called unlimited submarine warfare policy, its main purpose is to effectively prevent the export of resources to Germany by submarine attacks.

The scope of unlimited submarine warfare covers the entire Atlantic and Mediterranean. It can be said that the British are determined to prevent all countries from transporting resources to Germany.

Of course, doing so will inevitably lead to accidental injuries.

Therefore, when this policy was promulgated, Britain, France and Australia jointly issued a statement to the outside world, requiring all civilian ships passing through the Atlantic and Mediterranean to be registered with the exclusive agencies of Britain, France and Australia to avoid being harmed in submarine warfare.

Such a statement is quite overbearing, which also means that all civilian ships of countries along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts must be subject to the joint control of Britain, France and Australia.

But the problem is that within the scope of these two oceans, in addition to Britain, France and Australia, the only countries with strength seem to be the enemies of Britain, France and Australia.

The remaining neutral countries are generally not strong, and even if they have some complaints, they can only succumb to the tyranny of the three-nation alliance.

Of course, if we look at the current world situation, the country most likely to be dissatisfied with such a policy is actually Brazil.

Because other countries do not have much trade with Germany, it is nothing more than registering cargo ships, which basically will not affect the domestic economy.

But Brazil is different. More than one-third of Brazil’s current exports are in cooperation with the Germans. Such a policy will seriously hit the export industry for Brazil and will also seriously affect the domestic economy.

However, Britain, France and Australia at this time are not worried about forcing Brazil to join the German chariot. Even for Australasia, if Brazil takes the initiative to jump onto the German chariot, it will be a good thing, which will give Australasia more reason to take the initiative to declare war on Brazil.

The reason why Australasia agreed to this obviously offensive policy is not only to attract Brazil to directly join the German chariot, but also to force the Germans to launch a more proactive attack through such a restrictive policy.

Only when the Germans are crazy will the battlefield in Europe become more intense. Only when the attack becomes more intense will the casualties of various countries increase further.

Although this may also end the war earlier, I believe that the Germans will never give up any chance to win.

The Germany in history was quite crazy. With a total population of more than 80 million, it armed more than 18 million troops.

According to the current size of the German army, it is far from the peak state of the German army.

Of course, the most exaggerated one is Russia, which has suffered the most casualties. According to the scale of casualties in World War II in history, the Russians are likely to be able to arm more than 30 million troops.

Of course, it is a bit reluctant to do so. Even most of the so-called soldiers are just farmers and workers in other industries. They hurriedly went through a brief training, put on their own uniforms, or even the uniforms of soldiers who had just been stripped off from the battlefield, and rushed to the battlefield with their own weapons.

Since the size of the armies of European countries has not yet reached the maximum, Arthur does not mind adding fuel to the fire for European countries, so that they can arm their armies to the maximum extent as soon as possible.

Soon, the time came to November 1937.

Unlimited submarine warfare has some results, especially for Brazil, where the number of merchant ships heading to Europe has been reduced by almost half, which also means that the amount of materials transported to Germany may also be reduced by half.

Brazil may have suffered the most losses, but for any of Britain, France and Australia, Brazil’s opinion is actually not that important.

For Britain, France and Australia at present, what they care about is actually how long this war will end and the issue of the division of interests after the war.

Yes, even if the war is still in full swing, Britain, France and Australia have already begun to discuss the division of interests after the war.

As we all know, war is just a form of diplomacy. No matter how the situation of the war evolves, there is only one final outcome, that is, one party swallows up the interests of the other party.

For Britain, France and Australia, which currently have an absolute advantage in the navy, the longer this war lasts, the greater the chance of winning.

Especially after the unlimited submarine warfare policy was promulgated, Germany’s domestic materials were destined to not keep up with the consumption of the war. Britain, France and Australia can replenish materials through their vast colonies and trade with countries around the world, but the Germans can only support it through a small amount of resources from their own homeland and allies.

More importantly, Australasia has not yet used such powerful weapons on the European battlefield. Through the personal experience of the island countries, it can be known that this weapon can effectively target the enemy’s large industrial bases and super-large cities, as well as the front lines where the army is stationed densely.

No matter how powerful the German army is, it is absolutely impossible to hold out for long in front of such weapons.

This also led to the fact that in the minds of Britain and France, there was only one outcome of this war, that is, they won the final victory.

It is precisely because of this that the division of interests after the victory of the war is very necessary.

Discussing the interest areas divided by various countries in advance can not only effectively avoid conflicts caused by the division of interests after the war, but also make countries more motivated to participate in this war.

After all, to put it bluntly, the only motivation that attracted Britain, France, Australia and all other participating countries to invest everything in this war was the division of territory after the war.

If this meeting on the division of interests can ensure that all participating countries can get a piece of the pie, it can indeed increase the motivation of each country in the war.

On November 19, 1937, a meeting on the division of interests among the Allies was held in London.

There were countless countries participating in the meeting, including Britain, France, Australia, Greece, Yugoslavia, Turkey from the Balkans, the three Nordic countries, the three Low Countries, etc.

If the exiled governments of those countries that have perished and the autonomous government of the Commonwealth of Nations are counted, the number of national governments participating in this meeting has reached more than 20.

To put it more broadly, this is more like a routine meeting of the disbanded World Alliance. The countries participating in the meeting are all over the world, and the leaders are still the three powerful countries of Britain, France and Australia.

It is worth mentioning that although this meeting was not open to the public, the relevant confidentiality work was not very strict.

To put it bluntly, Britain, France and Australia also want to use such a conference arrangement to hit the morale of the Allied Powers led by Germany as much as possible.

After all, Britain, France and Australia are already discussing how to divide the Allied countries. If Germany has not taken any countermeasures, it means that their only outcome is to be divided.

Do the Germans have countermeasures?

Of course, and they have to have them even if they don’t.

To be honest, regardless of whether there is a need to divide the interests, the German government has to organize a similar conference as a counterattack just to respond to the London conference.

This conference was held in Berlin, the capital of Germany, and many countries participated, led by Germany and Italy, and Romania, Bulgaria and Spain also joined.

If you count some puppet governments established by Germany in Northern Europe, the Allied Powers actually participated in this conference with more than 10 countries.

And because it was a counterattack, the conference organized by the German government was completely open, and even the German Prime Minister did not shy away from saying that this conference was to divide the colonies of Britain and France.

But what’s funny is that because the island countries have been completely defeated and surrendered, the current Allied Powers look more like a two-person show between Germany and Italy.

The so-called division of British and French colonies is actually just Germany and Italy, and at most Spain, three countries discussing the division of Africa.

As for the remaining so-called Romania, Bulgaria and other countries, they are destined to have no chance with African colonies.

First, it’s because of the distance, and second, the country’s strength is not strong enough, and there are not so many colonies in Africa for them to divide.

It is precisely because of this that the meeting hosted by Germany looks a bit like playing house.

There are only a few countries with real sovereignty, and they have to rely on Germany to survive, just like the United Kingdom hosted a British Commonwealth Conference decades ago.

Let’s talk about the Allied Conference in London.

Because dozens of countries participated, London seemed very lively.

In order to prevent the Germans from joining in the fun at this time, Britain, France and Australia gathered more than 2,000 planes and chose a more secret bunker in London as the venue for the meeting.

Combined with the guards around the bunker, the British can proudly announce that unless Germany uses the weapons that Australasia used in the island country, there will be absolutely no danger in the bunker where the meeting is held.

As time came to the morning of November 19, representatives from various countries drove to the bunker and entered the heavily guarded conference room.

The representative of Australasia at the conference was Mark, the ambassador to the UK. For a country like Australasia, the level of diplomatic representatives sent is no longer so important.

At the diplomatic level, the country’s own strength is the most important.

As long as Australasia’s strength remains in the top three in the world, diplomatic representatives of any level sent will be respected and have a certain voice.

In other words, it is the famous weak country without diplomacy.

Although there are many countries participating in the London Conference, in fact, the only countries that really have a say are Britain, France and Australia.

The remaining countries such as Yugoslavia and Greece are not strong enough, and can only hope to share a mouthful of soup with Britain, France and Australia while eating meat.

The good news is that the remaining countries can indeed share a mouthful of soup.

It’s not even just a mouthful of soup, because the proposal discussed by Britain, France and Australia to lure countries to increase their troops will allow most countries to get a bite of meat.

The first area to be divided is the Balkan Peninsula, which is currently the most fiercely fought besides Eastern and Western Europe.

There are currently two places in the Balkan Peninsula that can be divided, namely Bulgaria and Romania.

The countries that can participate in the division are also Balkan countries, such as Turkey, Greece and Yugoslavia.

At this time, the voice of Britain, France and Australia is fully reflected. If the Balkan countries want to eat more meat, they must obtain the consent of Britain, France and Australia.

In fact, Britain still has the most voice in the Balkans.

France has suffered heavy losses in the war, and its army has performed poorly, which can be regarded as completely falling out of the first echelon of the world’s powers.

Although Australasia’s current strength has surpassed France, it is not much different from the British.

But the biggest problem is that Australasia is too far from Europe. Even the distance from the Balkan Peninsula is far greater than the distance from Britain and France to the Balkan Peninsula.

In this way, Australasia’s influence in the Balkan Peninsula will naturally decrease, even less than France.

However, in terms of the statement of the conference, the statement of the Australasia diplomatic representative is still more important.

If Australasia is unwilling to let a certain country gain too much benefit, Britain and France will also be more inclined to Australasia for the sake of their own relationship with Australasia.

This also further confirms the concept that weak countries have no diplomacy. Even if a truly powerful country has no idea about a certain region, other countries will involuntarily consider Australasia’s opinions.

For the division of interests in the Balkan Peninsula, the British still adhere to the policy of regional balance.

If Germany is defeated, a very powerful country will rise in the Balkan Peninsula, that is, Yugoslavia.

This is a loss for the interests of Britain, France and Australia.

Generally speaking, if there is only one powerful country in a region, then this powerful country is bound to have more say in this region.

This also means that if Yugoslavia is not controlled, the situation in the Balkan Peninsula will be decided by Yugoslavia in the future.

You know, the importance of the Balkan region is not weaker than any other region, and there is also the St. Petersburg Strait that is enough to restrict Russia.

Therefore, the British cannot accept losing control of the Balkan Peninsula, especially a country like Yugoslavia that is not strong.

This also means that a country that can fight against Yugoslavia must be supported in the Balkan region in order to maintain the so-called regional balance policy of the British.

It is precisely because of this that it is determined that Yugoslavia will not be able to obtain too much benefit distribution after the war.

Otherwise, there will be no country in the Balkan region that is strong enough to fight against Yugoslavia, and the British regional balance policy will not be established.

Then the question is, which country should be supported to fight against the already obviously powerful Yugoslavia?

You know, Yugoslavia is not an ordinary medium-sized country. Yugoslavia’s current size is already considered the second strongest, and it must be restrained by a country that is also the second strongest.