The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1010 - 758: A Single Stone Raises a Thousand Ripples

Chapter 1010: Chapter 758: A Single Stone Raises a Thousand Ripples

Restoring relations with the British was certainly something Arthur was eager to see. Not to mention anything else, the British immigration of several hundred thousand immigrants each year was still very attractive to Arthur.

Without these hundreds of thousands of immigrants, the annual reduction in immigration for Australasia would nearly reach a million.

But even so, it was virtually impossible for Australasia to return to the previous intimate diplomatic front with the British.

Australasia sought to vie for Pacific hegemony, while the British wanted to support another competitor in the Pacific, signaling that the interests of the two countries had diverged.

Under such circumstances, the best outcome for the two countries was to become strangers, while the worst would be to become adversaries.

The conversations with the British ended in feigned indifference, but some cooperation was still achieved.

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Whether it was the import of grain and meat or maintaining the stability of the Indian Ocean, the British could not do without Australasia’s help for the time being.

Arthur also took the opportunity to re-sign the immigration agreement with the British, so there was no need to worry about British immigration for the next few years.

Once Australasia’s population surpassed 40 million, population growth could rely on the birthrate of the native population.

By then, the demand for immigrants would not be so high, and controlling it at around 500,000 per year would already be considered a very good ratio.

Given the current rate of population growth, reaching a population level of 40 million would take about three years.

It was hoped that in these three years, no large-scale wars would break out, and the maintenance of basic global peace would be advantageous to Australasia.

That said, there were still many local wars in the world at the time. Whether it was the war between Italy and the Abyssinian Empire, the British dealing with the crisis in their Indian Colony, or that war in Eastern Europe, all attracted much attention from the public.

For the British, this was a good thing, as the turmoil in India was much more serious than they had anticipated.

If it weren’t for the many wars that drew the attention of many countries, perhaps the British Empire would not be having as easy a time as it currently was.

Compared to the British’s indifference, there were nations that noticed the impact on the world situation caused by such aggressive countries like Italy.

So the question arises, what changes did Mussolini bring to Italy after taking office?

Mussolini’s reforms in Italy were not insignificant, encompassing the economy, industry, and military, among other areas.

Besides strengthening control of industry and vigorously developing state-monopolized capitalism, Mussolini also amended Italy’s conscription law, making it mandatory for adult males aged 18 to 55 to serve in the military, significantly expanding Italy’s reserve troops.

The biggest change brought about was that before World War I, Italy’s regular army was just over 200,000 strong, which had now expanded to nearly 450,000.

The substantial expansion of the military was the true basis of Mussolini’s confidence in daring to deploy 100,000 troops in this war.

For Mussolini and the Italian Government, this war was to be fought either not at all or to wash away the shame that the war more than 30 years ago had brought to Italy.

The Commander-in-Chief recently appointed by Mussolini to direct this war was General De Bono, who was also one of Mussolini’s trusted men in the Italian Military.

To win this war, Mussolini could be said to have mobilized the entire country’s efforts.

To gain air superiority, Mussolini built several airports around the Abyssinian Empire and relocated most of Italy’s airplanes to the East African Front.

The opposing Abyssinian Empire did not have even one airplane, which could not really be described as air superiority anymore since the enemy had no means to take to the skies at all.

However, soon after the war started, Mussolini quickly noticed something was amiss.

The combat effectiveness of the Italian Army was not much different from that before World War I, even though their government had already undergone significant changes.

To win this war and avoid repeating the same mistakes of the Kingdom of Italy, Mussolini declared the mobilization of another 100,000 troops, increasing the forces on the East African front to 200,000.

It is worth mentioning that the opposing Abyssinian Empire had about 150,000 troops, so the Italian Army had the advantage in numbers.

With the numerical advantage, the Italian Army seemed somewhat more confident when launching attacks.

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The reorganized Italian Army chose to divide into three groups, setting out from the east, south, and north, attempting to conquer the entire territory of the Abyssinian Empire at the fastest speed possible.

However, the Italian Army faced Abyssinians united in hatred against the common enemy and rising in resistance to defend their motherland.

Just like the war more than 30 years ago, the Abyssinians picked up all sorts of weapons, including kitchen knives and sticks picked up from the roadside.

Despite being completely outdated in terms of weapons and equipment, these Abyssinians were more familiar with the unique mountainous terrain of Ethiopia, using it to ambush Italian forces several times, even penetrating deep into the Italian rearguard.

If it weren’t for the overwhelming air superiority of the Italian Air Force, Italy probably would not have made any progress so far.

Of course, what made Italy the most brazen was the tacit consent of Britain and France to Italy’s expansion in East Africa.

Because of their own ulterior motives, Britain and France allowed Italy to wage this war without any hindrance, not even diplomatic obstruction.

Although some European Nations condemned such aggressive actions by Italy, who would care if it wasn’t one of the Powerful Nations?

Even the countries that expressed condemnation were mostly from the Balkans. This was because the Balkan nations, being too close to Italy, feared that after the Italian occupation of the Abyssinian Empire, Italy would once again turn its attention to the invasion of the Balkan Peninsula.

Speaking of the Balkans, it is an area marred by tragedy. The eyes of the major Powers converged upon the peninsula, turning it into a veritable powder keg.

The former competition between Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and now the rivalry between Italy and the Austrian Empire, reflected the smoky backdrop of the Balkan conflicts.

Furthermore, the strategic importance of the Strait of Constantinople meant that the Balkan region was unlikely to witness lasting peace unless there was a significant breakthrough in the world situation.

Indeed, the war between Italy and the Abyssinian Empire had been ongoing for a month and a half.

When Mussolini had launched the war, he had boasted that it would end within two months.

But now, more than half the time had passed, and the progress of the war had advanced only slightly, which infuriated Mussolini. He was determined to teach the Abyssinians a lesson.

The most direct method, of course, involved a large-scale massacre of Abyssinians in the occupied areas.

Being Indigenous Africans, the Italians wouldn’t care about the Abyssinians’ fate, and naturally, European Nations wouldn’t either.

As for the dissatisfaction of the African nations, European countries wouldn’t mind, and certainly, Italy wouldn’t either.

On July 5, 1930, Italy carried out a massacre in a border town of Ethiopia.

This massacre did not spare Abyssinian women and children and could be considered impartial in its cruelty.

According to some war correspondents’ estimates, within just three days, the Italian Army slaughtered at least twenty thousand Abyssinian civilians, including pregnant women and defenseless elderly.

Of course, aside from venting their fury through slaughter, the Italian Army had other means as well.

Some of the lucky Abyssinian men who weren’t massacred were forcibly made into slaves, becoming the Italian Army’s free labor force.

Their daily jobs involved heavy physical work, and their food consisted of only a slice of moldy dark bread and clear broth mixed with bran and sand.

The Italian Army’s brutal acts, exposed by war correspondents, sparked much discontent among European citizens.

This exemplified the fundamental difference between governments and the people. The Upper Echelons of European governments did not care about these people’s lives, and they didn’t care much about the lives of their own citizens either.

But it was different for the common people of Europe. First, human emotion is complex and certainly includes compassion.

Besides, most people are kind-hearted; they oppose government-led massacres and at least find them repellent.

The indiscriminate slaughter by the Italian Army aroused their discontent and even triggered large-scale Protests in various countries.

Many British and French citizens angrily demanded their governments and the World Alliance, which consisted of various nations’ governments, to stop Italy’s cruel actions because Europe represented civilization.

These public Protests caused a great headache for governments. In reality, astute individuals understood this to be nothing more than an exchange of interests.

The issue was that such deals could not be openly discussed, nor could they be explained to the People.

After all, sacrificing lives of civilians from other nations for one’s own country’s benefits would certainly provoke further outrage among the sanctimonious.

With domestic opinion being what it was, Britain and France could only pretend to take action by requesting a World Alliance meeting to address Italy’s massacre.

However, any clever person knew that if Britain and France truly wished to sanction a country, they would not wait for the World Alliance to respond.

Ultimately, the World Alliance was under British and French control. If Britain and France reached a consensus on a matter, the World Alliance would not arrive at an opposite conclusion.

By tossing the issue to the World Alliance, Britain and France showed they didn’t want to deal with it themselves.

As expected.

The Italian slaughter began on July 5, and the protests in Europe started on July 10.

By the time the World Alliance announced a meeting, it was already a week later, on July 17.

The meeting itself was scheduled for July 22, a good half a month since the massacre began.

Still, Britain and France had achieved their goal.

Seeing their governments pushing the World Alliance to hold a meeting and propose solutions, the simple-minded public thought their governments were also dissatisfied with Italy’s actions but, constrained by the World Alliance’s influence, could only pass the issue to them for a fair resolution.

After all, compared to the unilateral statements of Britain and France, the World Alliance, with dozens of countries from around the World involved, symbolized global Justice.

Britain and France would not actively publicize the powerful positions of the four Allies within the World Alliance. At that time, the People naively thought that Powers like Britain and France were just slightly more powerful ordinary member countries within the Alliance.

But only at special times would People realize that the one-vote veto power held by Britain-France-Russia-Australia symbolized the ultimate authority over the World Alliance.