The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1058 - 789: German-Italian Agreement

As with the previous Cromwell Tank Factory, the production line for the T-series tanks was separated from the Royal Military Factory to establish Australasia's first Tank Factory.

The newly independent First Tank Factory, being an extremely important part of the tank military industry, naturally had to be controlled by the royal family and the government.

After negotiations with the government, the First Tank Factory would transition from being solely owned by the royal family to a joint venture with the government.

Of course, the government was very sincere. The Royal financial group used the data and the production lines of various tank series to take shares, holding 75% of the total shares of the First Tank Factory.

While the government invested 25 million Australian dollars and provided the site for the Tank Factory, including the complete improvement of the Tank Factory, holding a 25% stake.

Arthur was encouraging towards the government's investment. After all, if the Royal financial group controlled too many enterprises alone, it would inevitably lead to dissatisfaction from future governments.

Even if Arthur could stabilize the government during his reign, including the reign of the next monarch, William, who could guarantee that the monarch after them could also stabilize the government?

Arthur intended to appropriately involve the government in participation while still retaining the Royal financial group's control over these enterprises.

A perfected monarchy system should have both the monarch and the government operating on mutual benefits, with both the royal family and the government's finances making money together, achieving a win-win situation.

If the government is rich and the monarch poor, all actions of the monarch would be controlled by the government. After all, money is almighty, including expanding the military among others, all depend on the wealth in hand.

Conversely, a rich monarch and a poor government could also cause many problems. The saying that a large forest has all kinds of birds is quite true; if the royal family is too rich and the government too poor, it would be unavoidable for some extremists within the government to envy or even be jealous of the royal family, leading to a mindset of opposition to the royal family.

Certainly, the separation of the First Tank Factory from the Royal Military Factory could not be completed in a short time.

At least until the Factory was fully completed and the tank production line was entirely laid out, tank production would still be carried out at the Royal Military Factory.

After all, the relocation of the First Tank Factory was significant, but the Ministry of Defense's need for tanks was even more crucial.

Nothing is more critical than the enhancement of a country's military strength, particularly in an era where survival of the fittest prevails.

But then again, no matter the era, the order among nations was always survival of the fittest.

Though several powerful nations may come together to establish rules, if any one of them becomes strong enough to confront the others, the established rules would be easily trampled upon.

Just as the Royal Military Factory's tank production was gradually beginning, Arthur suddenly received bad news from Europe—that two like-minded countries, Germany and Italy, were gradually drawing closer.

Honestly, this news was somewhat beyond Arthur's expectations. In the original history, although these two countries eventually formed an alliance, their relationship was not as smooth as imagined for several years before that.

But on further reflection, this world had significant differences from the one in history. First, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had not been broken up into many countries.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire merely split into the Austrian Empire and the Hungarian Republic, with the Austrian Empire remaining a lower-tier power.

This meant that for both Italy and Germany, the idea of individually annexing the territories of the Austrian Empire undoubtedly presented numerous difficulties.

Germany's military population was less than half of Austria's (national army), and the Italian Army with its poor combat effectiveness was unlikely to be a match for the Austrian Empire.

In such circumstances, it became possible for two countries that had previously clashed over the Austrian issue to come together due to a common enemy.

This is similar to Britain and France; their mutual animosities need not be overly stated. Yet in the face of a unified enemy like Germany, Britain and France could still forge an alliance and join forces to defeat their strong foe.

However, the rapprochement between Germany and Italy also signalled bad news that the situation in Europe could become even more chaotic due to these two nations' movements.

Looking at the neighbors of these two countries, their union could potentially be directed not only against the Austrian Empire but also against France.

France is likewise a neighbor to both countries, and currently, the relations between France, Germany, and Italy are not very good.

One can foresee that once these two countries form an alliance, not only will the Austrian Empire worry, but even the Frenchmen will be wary of what troubles their two neighbors might stir up.

After all, one of these countries is Germany, which has a history of enmity with France, and the other is Italy, now almost proudly flaunting expansionist ambitions; it is absolutely impossible for the French to not be vigilant.

Especially regarding Germany—as France's greatest enemy at the beginning of the 20th century, the French would definitely remain resolute in their vigilance, even going so far as to regard Germany as France's biggest competitor, despite Germany currently still facing military restrictions.

Nevertheless, given the French's current fear of war, the most likely scenario for the French would be to seek an alliance to confront Germany and Italy together, with the highest probability being the likewise endangered Austrian Empire.

After all, France and the Austrian Empire had already become closer after World War I, although mostly through economic exchanges.

Faithful to its principles, French capital provided large loans to Austria after the latter's defeat in the war, effectively turning their erstwhile enemy into a friendly nation.

Of course, France's intention in courting Austria through loans was purposeful. Previously, they aimed to distract Russia's attention through Austria, achieving their ambition to become the European hegemon.

Now, their objective was to ally with Austria against the alliance of Germany and Italy, avoiding the possibility of war with Germany and Italy.

In fact, this was a mainstream thought among most European nations of the era. Having witnessed the brutality of World War I, especially battles like Verdun, which involved casualties in the millions and could be described as meat grinders, no country wished to face such a war again.

It was this mindset that led to the infamous policy of appeasement in history.

In a world with Arthur and Australasia, such a severe policy of appeasement as historically known was basically impossible.

Moreover, with the Austrian Empire still in existence, neither Germany nor Italy, even if united, could completely swallow the entire Austrian Empire.

Britain and France, despite their reluctance to see another battlefield, were inevitably not going to stand by and watch Germany and Italy directly annex the entire Austrian Empire.

This would have meant consolidating three great powers into two, with one such power being Germany, a former superpower with the potential to become the world's second largest.

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Let alone Germany swallowing the whole Austrian Empire, even Italy annexing it was something Britain and France were unwilling to see.

Not to mention, the potential of Italy plus the Austrian Empire could barely qualify as a superpower.

The prerequisite is that Italy can dominate the nation's discourse, integrate Austria's industrial strength, and extend its reach throughout the Balkan Peninsula.

In that case, a Mediterranean hegemon, a superpower of Southern Europe, would be born. But such a power, situated in the Mediterranean and close to Constantinople, would not emerge easily.

In theory, the Balkan Region is unlikely to give birth to a superpower. Apart from the extremely problematic issue of Constantinople, the powers surrounding the Balkan Peninsula would not allow a new power to emerge in the region.

Before the outbreak of World War I, the Balkan Region was mainly an area of competition between Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After the outbreak, the Balkans became more chaotic, with more powers involved and exerting influence over the region.

Under such circumstances, it was virtually impossible for any nation to grow stronger and rise without solving the covetous gaze of the great powers.

This was akin to snatching food from the bowls of several powers, a feat hard to achieve without being stronger than them.

What Arthur did not expect was the rapid pace of negotiations between Germany and Italy, so rapid that it exceeded his expectations.

The news that Germany and Italy were drawing closer came in mid-November and by the eve of Christmas, or mid to late December, news had broken that Germany and Italy had already signed relevant agreements.

Although Arthur was not clear about the specific contents of the agreements between Germany and Italy, the union of the two countries at this time was bad news for all nations.

It was shortly after news of the agreements between Germany and Italy broke that Arthur urgently convened a Cabinet Meeting to discuss countermeasures concerning the closer ties between Germany and Italy.

Although Australasia was far away in Oceania, it closely monitored the situation in Europe. As one of the Powers, European affairs were very important to Australasia and also determined the possibility of it advancing further.

"Do we have any specific information about the agreements signed between Germany and Italy?" Arthur asked, frowning, and turned to look at the Minister of Defence, Thomas.

The intelligence system of Australasia had undergone updates over the past 30-plus years, and the original three major intelligence agencies had now become three major intelligence systems.

Moreover, the current three major intelligence systems were more complex, with two of them being controlled by Arthur.

The three major intelligence systems were:

The Royal Security Intelligence Agency, which is solely loyal to the royal family and handles private affairs for the royalty;

The National Security Bureau, loyal to the royal family and the government, responsible for collecting domestic intelligence for the nation;

The Military Intelligence Bureau, loyal to the royal family and the nation, in charge of gathering military intelligence from abroad and conducting counterespionage operations.

Simply put, the National Security Bureau monitors domestic officers and collects internal intelligence.

The Military Intelligence Bureau is in charge of foreign intelligence reconnaissance and preventing espionage infiltration by other Powers.

And the Royal Security Intelligence Agency, exclusive to the royal family, is a comprehensive intelligence organization that only serves the royalty and is more enigmatic.

The reason Arthur asked Defence Minister Thomas was precisely to see if Thomas had any firsthand intelligence from the Military Intelligence Bureau.

Although all intelligence agencies are loyal to the royal family, aside from the Royal Security Intelligence Agency, the other two intelligence organizations prioritize reporting their findings to the government before the royal family.

After all, there must be a sequence in handling the various tasks between the royal family and the government. For the sake of future rulers, the sentiments of the government must also be given priority.