The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1034 - 776: Naval Arms Race_2

Excessive investment could also drain the potential of the United Kingdom and France, ensuring that they would exhaust each other in a war against Germany.

The Island Nation's secret construction of super-large battleships had been exposed, immediately attracting the attention of countries around the world.

Unexpectedly, it was not the second-ranking France but the fourth-ranking Island Nation that first broke the treaty.

But it no longer mattered who broke the Naval Limitation Treaty first. Once the Island Nation's super dreadnought project leaked, the Frenchmen immediately announced changes to their 1932 shipbuilding plan, incorporating two super dreadnoughts.

The British, of course, would not accept the actions of the Island Nation and France. To maintain their naval superiority, Britain also made various modifications to their own shipbuilding plans.

Add to this the opportunistic Italians, and the waters had indeed been muddied by Arthur.

Seeing that their actions could no longer be concealed, the Islanders stopped pretending. On March 27, 1931, the Island Nation publicly announced its shipbuilding plan starting from 1932.

This round of shipbuilding plans was quite substantial. The Island Nation intended to build three super dreadnoughts, two aircraft carriers, and four battlecruisers as their main warships over five years, along with dozens of large and small warships combined, significantly expanding the size of the Island Royal Navy.

In fact, from the Island Nation's shipbuilding plan, it was clear that their hypothetical enemy had become Australasia.

If the Islanders could complete their shipbuilding plan, their naval size would slightly surpass Australasia and become the most powerful country along the Pacific Ocean coastline.

This would greatly aid the Island Nation in dominating the Pacific Ocean, with their ambition being to defeat Australasia and become the new Pacific superpower.

To fulfill this ambition, the Island Nation's investment in the navy was not insignificant. For this country with a narrow land area and poor mineral resources, such a hefty investment was a heavy burden on the nation.

The Islanders' shipbuilding plan caused quite a stir, prompting the European powers to amend their own shipbuilding plans in response.

Unexpectedly, the biggest reaction came not from the British but from the Frenchmen.

The Frenchmen stood firm on maintaining their world's second-ranking status, insisting that in terms of naval tonnage, they could not allow the Island Nation to surpass them.

For the sake of their pride, the Frenchmen also announced their five-year shipbuilding plan starting from 1932.

In it, France anticipated the construction of two super dreadnoughts, one aircraft carrier, three battlecruisers, and 24 submarines.

This naval construction plan would allow France's main battleships to remain firmly in second place worldwide, both in terms of power and prestige, in line with French expectations.

Although the British had no initial intention of joining the naval arms race, the fervent attitude of the Island Nation and France towards navy construction still made the British feel a crisis looming.

Even though the British navy had a significant advantage at the time, this advantage would eventually be caught up by the Island Nation and France.

Maintaining the strength of the Royal Navy required continuous investment in the navy.

After thorough consideration, the British also announced their own shipbuilding plan starting from 1932.

Compared to the trivial skirmishing of France and the Island Nation, the British shipbuilding plan was even more ambitious.

The British aimed to build five super-large dreadnoughts, two aircraft carriers, four battlecruisers, 12 submarines, and dozens of medium and small warships within five years.

In terms of the number of main battleships to be built, the British planned almost double the total of the Island Nation and France combined, proving their firm intention to maintain naval superiority.

In this regard, the British were quite confident. After all, they controlled the most premium area of the United States, that is, the United States East Coast.

Funded by the annual income from the Eastern Coast, the investment in the navy was merely a drop in the bucket for the British.

As the Powers joined the naval arms race one after another, the situation in Europe became increasingly chaotic.

As mentioned before, a naval arms race often also signifies an army arms race.

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As was to be expected, after various nations entered into a naval arms race, Italy was the first to announce an expansion of its army.

In fact, since Mussolini's rule began, the Italian army had been expanded several times already.

Currently, the size of the Italian army had surpassed 500,000, making it the largest in the European Continent, second only to Russia and France.

Yet, clearly, an army of 500,000 was not enough to satisfy Mussolini's ambitions. Especially after the stimulation of the naval arms race, Mussolini directly declared his intention to expand the Italian Military to 700,000 people and also presented a naval construction plan.

Having just annexed the Abyssinian Empire, Italy now had a fair amount of confidence in its military investments.

After all, a vast new Colony was like a treasure basin capable of generating income for Italy.

It is worth mentioning that after the start of the arms race, there was one country that was envious of other nations' military spending.

This country was Germany.

Compared to those countries that could decide their military expenditures independently, Germany was in a slightly uncomfortable position.

The size of the German Army was strictly limited to 150,000 people, and in the navy, it was not allowed to have large warships, which meant that there was no way for the German Military budget to advance a step further.

But this was not a problem for the clever Hitler.

Since the official German Military couldn't expand overtly, the best strategy was to enlarge his own private army, which had already been renamed the Schutzstaffel, previously known as the Stormtrooper.

Currently, the official military force of Germany stood at 150,000, of which the German Empire's army numbered less than 70,000.

In contrast, Hitler's Schutzstaffel had expanded to 200,000, and every one of them was loyal to Hitler's private army.

It's no exaggeration to say that if Hitler wished, his private Military could take control of the entire country at any time.

Even the 80,000 troops controlled by the individual Federal states stood no chance against Hitler's private army.

After all, there was a significant disparity in numbers, and with strict limits on weapons and equipment, it was clear that the combat power of the current German Military was limited.

If there was a way to expand the land forces through increasing the Schutzstaffel, then in the navy, Hitler for the time being had no such option.

The British and French restrictions on the German Navy were still quite strict. No matter how Hitler tried, he couldn't build a navy without the British and French finding out.

Moreover, the financial situation in Germany wasn't strong enough to support Hitler in his build-up of the navy.

If it were not for various asset seizures ("排油行动" is not a typo) that had acquired a great deal of Assets and currency for the government, the German government might as well have declared bankruptcy.

If a country struggling to recover from the economic crisis had to be named, it would be Germany, which was still in a state of economic collapse.

The good news is that the German economy did begin to improve after Hitler took office.

Although the economic collapse of Germany wasn't entirely the fault of Jews, they definitely bore some responsibility.

The mass issuance of usurious loans by Jews had been eradicated, and the funds confiscated were partly returned to the victimized Germans and partly diverted into the government's Finance, alleviating financial pressure on the German government.

This serves to highlight the Jews' wealth. Although the German People had been struggling since World War I and most didn't even have the Power to eat their fill,

that didn't mean the German Jews weren't wealthy. Although the asset seizures had only been underway for six months at this point, the financial revenue generated for the German government was comparable to some major projects.

That Hitler's private military was able to expand to 200,000, was not only due to the German People's trust in him, but also significantly due to the wealth confiscated from Jews.

It's worth mentioning that Hitler used assets seized from Jews to greatly expand his military forces and then used those forces to brutally slaughter and exploit the Jews. One might say this was a case of retribution; the Jews were not as innocent as imagined.