The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 626 - 477: The Ownership of the King’s Power

While European countries were still steeped in chaos, the plan for Australasia to relocate its capital officially commenced.

The new capital is to be located where the Mure River and Darling River intersect, west of Sydney, north of Melbourne, right at the heart of the Mure River Basin.

The initial construction plan for the new capital includes the new royal palace, government buildings, courthouses, churches, parliamentary buildings, schools, and hospitals, as well as residences for the first batch of inhabitants of the new capital.

This is no minor project. According to the government’s construction plan, Arthur wouldn’t be able to move into the new capital until at least five years later, and it could potentially even take ten years.

Thanks to rapid development of the royal financial group these past ten or so years, Arthur was not frugal with the construction of the new royal palace. With an estimated investment of 150 Million Australiasian Dollars, a grander, more luxurious, and extravagant palace will be built in line with Arthur’s vision.

With a growing population in Australasia, the design of the new palace will incorporate a multitude of world culture traits, aiming to build a true Palace of Nations.

The palace construction will be open for bids from construction companies worldwide, pooling global resources to create a true palace.

The projected budget of 150 Million Australasian Dollars should be plenty, as this equates to 375 Million US dollars, 1.875 Billion Francs, or 1 Billion Taels of Silver.

This is most likely the last time that Australasia will relocate its capital. As a place for him and his family to reside in the future, Arthur is quite generous with the budget.

In reality, Australasia’s fiscal condition is quite solid. The government has specifically invested 500 Million US dollars in the construction of the new capital and the development of the Mure River Basin.

It’s not to say that the Australasian government is merely being extravagant for the sake of building a capital. The relocation goes hand in hand with plans to develop the entire Mure River Basin, which is a strategic plan even more crucial than the new capital.

In order to attract a population to the new capital, the Australasian government has issued a decree, attracting people from areas surrounding Sydney and Melbourne. Those willing to settle in the new capital will be rewarded by the government with a house, five acres of land, and a compensation of 200 Australasian dollars.

People are somewhat lacking in other parts of Australasia, with the exception of Sydney and Melbourne, whose populations have both exceeded 2 million.

Being able to attract a portion of the population from these two cities to the new capital not only reduces the difficulty of developing the Mure River Basin, but also does not negatively impact the development of other areas in Australasia.

After all, if people are relocated from other areas, it could easily inhibit their development, especially in places like Western Australia where the population is quite sparse.

Arthur’s call to action is still quite potent. From the official announcement of the new capital’s construction plan up until the end of 1918, over a hundred thousand Australasians have signed up, willing to permanently settle in the new capital.

The relocation of these people will commence in the new year. A hundred thousand people is a decent number for a brand-new capital. Furthermore, the existence of the new capital will also attract a number of immigrants. A rapid growth of population to a scale of about 200 to 300 thousand is definitely achievable.

By the time the new capital’s construction is officially completed, Melbourne, Sydney, and the new capital will form a triangular city network in the southeastern part of Australia. This will be the core of Australasia, capable of accommodating more than a hundred million people.

Similarly, taking advantage of the temporary retreat of the flu, the World Alliance began to discuss the disposition of Germany’s royal family.

Naturally, as the Emperor of Germany, William II bears an unshirkable responsibility for the war and thus should bear criminal responsibility for initiating the war.

However, the situation in Germany has clearly shown that near the end of the war the control of the German government had been taken over by the military government led by Hindenburg, and William II had lost real power.

Also, the complicated relationships between the European royal families led to a standstill in the final decision on how to deal with the German royal family.

This has led to a complicated situation in Germany at the moment. William II has fled to the Netherlands, the major nations in southern Germany disregard the government’s management and the threat of decentralization looms once again.

The British certainly do not want to see the Germans become divided, at the mercy of France, so they proposed to keep William II’s Kingship in Prussia and allow the major nations of Germany to elect a new emperor.

British intentions are actually quite simple. Prussia is after all the largest nation in North Germany or even the entire Germany. Gaining support from other nations shouldn’t be too difficult.

For William II, who managed to retain the Kingship in Prussia, becoming the Emperor of Germany once more through election doesn’t seem to be a difficult task.

With someone of prestige like William II in control of Germany, a united Germany can resist the threat of France.

In stark contrast to the British attitude, the French naturally do not want to see Germany having a ruler with relative prestige.

Having the current military government continue ruling Germany is what France wants to see, as the failure of the war has led to a lot of criticism towards the German military government. Many German generals and officers are frustrated with the military government. This is a crack within the Germans, a guarantee for France to keep Germany under their foot permanently.

Regarding the opinions of the other powers, the Russians did not care much about this issue, because there’s conflict within the Russian government. This is an issue that Nicholas II, the Russian government, and even the Workers’ Alliance took very seriously.

How Russia ends up operating as a nation largely depends on the competition among these three forces within Russia.

As for Italy and Australasia, who are left, they’re both real monarchal countries and have jointly signed the European Royal Family Union Declaration.

Naturally, Arthur could not support Germany becoming a republic, and Italy did not intend to violate the European Royal Family Union Declaration either.

It would be impossible for just one Frenchman to prevent the restoration of the monarchy in Germany. Therefore, the French proposed other demands, such as requiring that the appointment of the new German Emperor be ratified by a vote in the World Alliance and that the power of the German government could be guaranteed, in order to avoid the emergence of an authoritarian state, among other things.

In simpler terms, the French, realizing they could not prevent William II from retaining his position as the King of Prussia, decided to limit Germany in a new way—that is, to increase the rights of the German federal states and balance the rights between the sovereign and the monarchy in Germany.

As a result, the powers of the local German states, the central government, and the monarchy were all balanced against each other. It would be almost impossible for Germany to return to the unified state it was in before the war.

The current military government, which betrayed William II during the latter stages of the war, and the southern German states that sought independence, have made it nearly impossible for Germany’s three major forces to reconcile in the future. In game terms, this would be a clear national cohesion penalty of -80%.

Meanwhile, Emperor William II of Germany, who was being aided by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, was not feeling particularly great.

To put it bluntly, William II’s fate was entirely in the hands of the Four Great Powers of the Allies.

Whether he would continue as the Emperor of Germany, or be stripped of his throne, was entirely up to the Four Great Powers of the Allies.

On the one hand, William II was hoping that the Four Great Powers of the Allies would abide by the European Royal Family Union Declaration and preserve his emperorship and kingship.

On the other hand, he felt that his early escape to the Netherlands was shameful, and he wanted to return to his throne in a more honorable way rather than accepting the Allies’ charity.

This would be a typical display of a traditional nobleman’s concern for reputation. For nobles like William II, their dignity and face sometimes mattered more than actual power - especially in the case of William II, who was naturally more extreme and concerned about reputation due to innate reasons.

With the European Royal Family Union Declaration signed earlier, it was nearly impossible for William II to be deposed, at most he would rule over a smaller Prussia after it was broken up.

The European Royal Family Union Declaration not only involved the rights and status of all European royal families, but it was also a manifestation of the interests of the European royal families united.

If someone openly betrayed this declaration, it would be equivalent to betraying all the European royal families, the impact of which was self-evident.

It’s worth mentioning that all the countries that initiated this war in Europe, Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bulgaria, etc., completely maintained their monarchies.

Even though other countries also made contributions, Arthur, who was the key proponent of the European Royal Family Union Declaration, undoubtedly gained the most prestige.

The European Royal Family Union Declaration succeeded in uniting the interests of European royal families, and Arthur, who promoted this declaration, naturally became one of the representatives of European royal families.

It is worth mentioning that all the monarchs of the member nations are Arthur’s contemporaries.

King George V of Britain is Arthur’s cousin, Emperor William II of Germany is Arthur’s cousin, and Nicholas II is Arthur’s cousin-brother.

Including King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy, these monarchs have already lost most of their powers, and the only one left with actual power among the member nations is Arthur.

This also gives Arthur a not inconsequential position among European royal families. Coming from the British royal family, belonging to the German family, and having ties by marriage with the Russian monarchy, Arthur has made connections with the royal families of all the member nations.

Although Australasia is not the strongest country, Arthur’s position in the European royal family is no less than that of a monarch like King George V.

What’s more, as a substantial portion of King George V’s power was taken away by the Cabinet during the war, he also lost some of his prestige in the European royal family.

After all, how could a monarch that relies on ancestral legacy, whose power was stripped away by the government, gain the genuine respect of other royal families?

Moreover, King George V, like in history, succumbed to pressure from the public towards the end of the war, and publicly announced that his family’s surname would be changed to Windsor.

Bear in mind that King George V demanded all members of the British royal family change their surnames to Windsor, with the exception of princesses who were or were to be married.

While Arthur fell within this scope, he would surely never accept King George V’s surname.

Not to mention, the act of choosing a castle name as a new surname, Arthur only felt it cheapened his image.

After King George V announced the change of surname, Arthur publicly declared that he did not recognize King George V’s name change, and that the royal family of Australasia would continue to proudly belong to the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family.

Arthur’s actions won him the affection of many German families, and his prestige and status in European royal circles also increased dramatically.

After all, the name and dignity of the family are the most important things to European royal families. Changing the long-held family name is seen as lowering their standards in the eyes of the European royal families.