The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 409: Chapter 341: The Four Major Powers of the Allies_2

Given its location in Oceania, it is impossible for Australasia not to want these lands.

These islands and archipelagos are all part of the Pacific Ocean and serve as important defense lines for Australasia.

If they can obtain these islands, Australasia can build complete island defense chains in the Southwest Pacific region.

With numerous coastal defense guns, powerful warships, and air forces, they can block any enemy coming from the Pacific Ocean, preventing them from ever getting close to the Australasian mainland.

More importantly, these islands encompass the core parts of Australasia (Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea), making them a solid barrier for the defense of the native land.

If Australasia wants to confront the United States, it must seize these islands. This will ensure that they have the confidence and bargaining power to compete with America before catching up in industry and economy.

With these islands as defense, Australasia's native land will be safe at all times.

However, it remains to be seen whether Britain and France will be willing to give up these Pacific islands to tie Australasia to the war chariot.

Minister Grey and the British government foresaw Australasia's demands early on.

For Australasia, these Oceania islands are like fat meat next to the pillow, which must be eaten if one has ambition.

Considering the many expansions of Australasia in the Southeast Asian region, Arthur's ambition is not small, and his demands for the islands in Oceania are expected.

After the Australasian region seceded from the British Empire, the British control over the Pacific islands had weakened significantly.

This is normal, as the British Empire has vast colonies, and the scattered islands in the Pacific are not that important to the British.

However, these islands also involve French territory. Even if the Anglo-French Agreement links Britain and France closely together, Britain cannot directly decide for France.

Nevertheless, in principle, Minister Grey agreed to Australasia's demands. If war breaks out, Britain would directly transfer all the archipelagos mentioned above to Australasia in exchange for their direct participation in the war.

At the same time, since Australasia will be at war with Germany once it joins the war, German New Guinea becomes the spoils of war for Australasia.

As long as Australasia has the capability, it could even take over this land the day the war breaks out.

As for the French islands in Oceania, Minister Grey also promised to do his best to lobby for Australasia, striving to have France agree to transfer these archipelagos directly.

However, it seems unlikely that the French would refuse. After all, for France, these Oceania islands are not that important.

France's core colonial regions are still in Africa. As long as the African colonies are not lost, a few islands and archipelagos in the Pacific in exchange for hundreds of thousands of supportive troops from Australasia to reduce French casualties is not a bad deal.

Moreover, if the war is won, the French can certainly obtain some land from Germany. Aren't European lands more important than Oceania's islands?

In order to express his and the British government's sincerity, Minister Grey sent a telegram to the British government on the same day that Australasia proposed the conditions and requested that the British government negotiate with France to reach a consensus on these islands as soon as possible.

Grey received a reply from the British government several days later, on March 19.

As expected, neither Britain nor France placed much importance on these islands in Oceania.

Both parties agreed to transfer these islands in Oceania to Australasia in exchange for Australasia joining the Allies after the outbreak of the war.

The French were very interested in Australasia's plan to join and send 250,000 combat troops and even wanted to invite Australasia to participate in the Entente Powers Conference in 1913.

Since the last Entente Powers Conference and Central Powers Conference, these have become traditional events for the two major military blocs.

Unless there are special circumstances, they are basically held once a year.

The purpose and content of the conferences are to discuss responses to war based on the latest situation after the outbreak of war.

At this point, major European countries are well aware that avoiding this European War is impossible.

So far, the major European powers have invested countless funds in the competition between each other.

Many countries' finances have already faced problems, and even if the arms race were to be stopped now, it would cause irreversible damage to the development of the nation.

The only way to solve such a situation is to use a resounding victory to enhance national unity and support while using the spoils of war and war compensations to save the government's finances.

"Only war can end the current situation." This phrase has been uttered by many high-ranking military officials of European powers.

No matter how well the governments of each country have prepared for the war, their armed forces are eager to try anyway.

Since it has been decided to join the Allies, it is necessary to participate in the upcoming Entente Powers Conference in order to gain more benefits for Australasia in World War I.