Chapter 341 Anglo-Australian Treaty

After several days of negotiations, on February 28, 1913, the last day of this month, the Australasian government and the British delegation reached a certain consensus on British assistance to Australasia.

Because both sides have a strong willingness to cooperate, Australasia wants to receive more aid, plus acquire more land and interests in World War I to accelerate the country's rise.

The British Empire also needs a country like Australasia that already has great power in all aspects and can provide the British Empire with various mineral resources and logistic resources such as food, beef and mutton, and medical supplies.

The Australasian navy can also jointly patrol with the British navy in the Indian Ocean and other areas to protect the British Empire's African and Indian colonies.

So, Britain, France, Mediterranean, Suez Canal, Indian Ocean, Oceania, South Pacific, Chile, Atlantic. Such a complete transportation line can be formed.

This line covered almost all the colonies of the British Empire, including Australasia and important mineral resource providers such as Chile, and also blocked Germany's access to external resources.

At the same time, if the Australasian navy can share the pressure of the British Empire's navy in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific, the British Empire can dispatch more main fleets to the Atlantic and European mainland to block Germany's transportation lines.

If such a plan succeeds, no matter how powerful Germany is, it will be overwhelmed by the Allied Powers' use of human sea tactics because of the lack of logistical resources.

In order to completely pull the country of Australasia onto his own chariot, Minister Gray obtained instructions from the British Cabinet and acted very generously in this negotiation.

In the aid plan that the two parties have initially reached consensus on, Minister Gray nodded and agreed to provide Australasia with approximately 30 million pounds in financial support.

Of course, this 30 million pounds will be paid in seven years, with 5 million pounds of assistance to Australasia each year for the first three years, and 3.75 million pounds of assistance to Australasia each year for the next four years.

Although this financial assistance may not seem like much, the good thing is that it is completely free and Australasia does not need to repay it.

In fact, the total amount of 30 million pounds alone seems to be quite a lot. Even compared to the current most advanced super-dreadnoughts, at least a dozen can be built.

Even if the payment is divided into seven years, the funds paid by the British government to Australasia every year can at least build one super dreadnought and one dreadnought. This is free, and Arthur has no reason not to want it.

In terms of financial assistance, both the British government and the Australasian government are very satisfied.

For the British government, although this financial assistance lasts for seven years, the maximum cost in the first three years is only 5 million pounds per year.

For the British Empire, whose annual fiscal revenue is close to 400 million pounds, this cost of 5 million pounds is really nothing.

For Australasia, whether it is A$10 million in the first three years or A$7.5 million in the next four years, it is not a small number.

After all, Australasia's total fiscal revenue last year did not reach the level of 100 million Australian dollars. The amount of British aid allowed the Australasian government to have more financial reserves.

Whether this money is spent on the people or the military, it can bring many benefits to Australasia.

Both parties were satisfied with the amount of financial assistance, so it was quickly finalized and became the first item in the Agreement between Britain and Australasia.

Of course, financial aid is only an appetizer compared to other aids.

Both parties know that this 30 million pounds will not allow Australasia to have a higher level of military strength and industrial strength. It can only be regarded as a small icing on the cake.

In order for Australasia to willingly join future European wars, the British would have to provide more support and even more land area.

As time enters March, negotiations between the two parties are still in full swing.

The next step in the negotiation is also the focus of this negotiation, that is, the scope and extent of the British Empire's support for Australasia in terms of technology and personnel.

For a country, advanced technology, equipment and talents are an indispensable part of national development.

Advanced technology and equipment are the country's present, and abundant and outstanding talents are the country's future.

Now that there is a big dog like the UK, Arthur will definitely not miss the opportunity to take advantage of the British.

The current proportion of talent in the world, Europe accounts for at least 80% of the top talents. 10% for the United States and 10% for other regions.

Although with the dark clouds of war gathering in Europe, there has been a massive loss of European talent.

But it still cannot be denied that Europe is still the brightest pearl in the world. It still has the most developed technology, the largest industry, the most prosperous economy and the most advanced system in the world.

As the most powerful country in Europe and the most powerful country in the world, it goes without saying that the British Empire has a huge talent pool.

At least when it comes to the navy, the British Empire's talent pool is definitely the richest in the world, and no one else.

Australasia's naval technology has received assistance from Germany and the United Kingdom, and has now developed into a world-class technology.

But there is still a huge gap between this and the British Empire. Arthur also covets the talents and technology of the British Empire.

Under Arthur's instruction, the Australasian government discussed the second round of negotiations and decided to set the aid as high as possible.

In terms of technology, talents, industrial equipment, etc., the more aid the better. The more aid Australasian receives, the more it can improve its current strength and future potential.

Because of Arthur's support, government officials really dare to speak up. Any cabinet department not only put forward a large number of technology and equipment requirements, but also hoped that Britain could support hundreds of talents.

Adding up several departments, the British government needs to provide thousands of talents every year, and even the British government cannot afford such a huge consumption.

Even if the British are rich, Minister Grey dare not agree to such a high aid request.

According to the requirements put forward by the Australasians, I am afraid that after the aid, Australasian strength will be at least among the top five powers.

This obviously conflicts with the current purpose of the British.

What the British need is a certain strength that can provide logistical assistance for themselves in the future European war and help them protect Australasian in the rear.

At most, after the war ends in the future, the purpose of jointly guarding against the expansion of the United States across the Atlantic Ocean will be added.

If we look at the current aid requirements, I am afraid that after the aid, Australasia will have the ability to compete with the United States alone.

Although a stronger Australasia can perfectly contain the United States, if Australasia continues to expand northward, the British are worried that it will be beyond their control.

After another ten days of wrangling, on March 11, 1913, the second article between the two sides was also determined.

The agreement stipulates that Britain will provide Australasia with a large amount of industrial machinery and equipment, mainstream and modern technology, and excellent reserve talents in various aspects for a total of seven years from 1913 to the end of 1919.

In terms of industrial machinery and equipment and technology, assistance will be provided according to Australasia's needs.

Australasia will purchase these industrial equipment and technology at a price slightly lower than the market price, and Britain will be responsible for teaching them to Australasia.

That is to say, after obtaining British technology, Australasia can skip the long period of mastering technology and directly let British experts teach these scientific and technological knowledge for itself.

This will greatly improve the speed of Australasia's mastery of British technology and allow Australasia's technological level to quickly catch up with Britain.

Although it costs money to buy industrial equipment and technology, for the Australasia government, which has a fiscal surplus every year, money is the least lacking thing.

Apart from other things, it is completely no problem for the government to spend 20 million Australian dollars every year to purchase British industrial equipment and technology.

This 20 million Australian dollars may not seem like much, but in this era, the purchasing power is already quite good.

What's more, Minister Grey personally promised that the industrial equipment and technology sold to Australasia will be sold to allies at a price lower than the market price.

Yes, after these two conditions were basically met, Australasia and the British Empire have actually become de facto allies.

In addition to military matters that have not yet been discussed, cooperation in diplomacy, economy and other aspects has already made them well-deserved allies.

As for the second item of talent assistance, after many "bargainings", Minister Grey reluctantly nodded and agreed to the demand proposed by Australasia for at least 300 talents every year for a total of seven years.

These 300 talents will cover all walks of life and various fields. The specific talents needed will be handled according to the specific needs of Australasia.

Even in Arthur's plan, talents in education, medical care and other fields will be within the scope of these 300 people.

In short, what talents Australasia lacks is just like what talents the British Empire requires.

In addition to these two items of assistance, Arthur also made an additional request to Minister Grey, that is, there will be a friendly exchange between the shipyards of Australasia and the British Empire every year.

In addition, the three major shipyards in Australasia will send some students to the shipyards of the British Empire for study, and some shipyards of the British Empire will also send some experts to Australasia for guidance.

The excellent shipbuilding industry of the British Empire, Arthur can't help but take advantage of this. With the two-pronged approach of sending students and inviting experts, Arthur did not believe that the shipyards in Australasia could not learn more.

Given the leading level of the British in warships, Arthur was eager to send students from the shipyards to the British shipyards every year.

The British also helped Australasia with the dreadnought and super dreadnought technology it currently possesses.

After the two major aids of the agreement were basically negotiated, the focus of this negotiation also came to another major point besides aid, that is, the military cooperation between Australasia and the British Empire.

As the saying goes, there are gains and losses, and there are gains and losses. The reason why the British Empire aided Australasia was definitely not without any purpose.

Such aid is different from the previous sponsorship aid. The scale of aid signed in this agreement is enough to allow Australasia to go further.

This also means that Australasia must pay a certain amount of return in terms of military cooperation to satisfy the British.

As the saying goes, sincerity for sincerity, such an agreement wants both parties to jointly implement it. In addition to equal conditions, the motivation of both parties to implement the agreement is also very important.

Starting from March 12, the negotiations between the British Empire and Australasia became Minister Grey's proposal, and Prime Minister Kent and the cabinet "bargained".

The first condition proposed by Minister Grey was that Australasia would send at least three main battleships to help Britain maintain the situation in the Indian Ocean after the outbreak of the European war.

The Indian Ocean coast has the Indian region, which is very important to the British Empire, as well as the British Empire's African colonies, and important strategic areas such as the Strait of Malacca.

Therefore, patrolling this area has become very important. At least during the war, there must be enough warships to protect the security of this area.

If the Australasia Navy can join the Indian Ocean patrol system, it will be able to save several main battleships for the British Navy and put them into possible naval battles in Europe.

This will also further expand the advantages of the Royal Fleet and the High Seas Fleet, and the possibility of fleets between the Allies gathering together will also be reduced.

Prime Minister Kent agreed to Minister Grey's first request without a second thought.

Sending three main battleships to help the British patrol the Indian Ocean after the outbreak of the European war was not a harsh condition and was completely acceptable to Australasia.

Minister Grey's second request was that if the European war broke out, Australasia would send at least 200,000 troops to participate in the war, and at least a quarter of the troops would be regular troops.

In order to repay the Australasians for their military efforts, Minister Grey also promised to be responsible for the logistics of the Australasian army in Europe and to bear half of the military expenses of the Australasian army in Europe.

In fact, it was not just Australasia. The British Empire also made such conditions to its other two allies, France and Russia.

If the European war broke out, the British Empire would bear part of the military expenses of France and Russia to ease the financial pressure of the two countries.

Especially Russia's financial pressure, because the domestic situation was originally turbulent, and the industry and economy were relatively backward, so more support from the British Empire was needed.

What's more, Russia already owed France a large amount of loans, and its financial situation was already very dangerous.

At present, it still maintains the largest army in Europe. If the British Empire does not provide certain financial support, Russia may fall into high debt and even bankruptcy before the war begins due to huge military expenditures.

Prime Minister Kent cannot make a decision on his own with such a request from Minister Grey.

After consulting Arthur, Prime Minister Kent agreed, but also made certain modifications to Minister Grey's request.

Regarding the issue of sending troops, Australasia can send at least 250,000 combat troops to Europe after the outbreak of the European war.

Although the number of people has increased, Minister Kent has also restricted the time for sending regular troops.

That is, the Australasia Ministry of Defense will send a total of more than 50,000 main forces to Europe during the entire war.

But the requirement is that the final command of all combat troops sent by Australasia is in the hands of the Australasia Ministry of Defense. Britain, France and Russia can request the cooperation of the Australasia army, but they cannot issue mandatory orders.

Arthur's idea is also very simple. Although he was confident in the combat capability of the army, the combat capability of an army that had not experienced a major war was not at its peak after all.

If the main forces of Australasia could participate in this great war in rotation through this European war, it would not only satisfy the British, but also train the combat capability of the regular army of Australasia.

But training was training, and Arthur had no intention of making his army cannon fodder for Britain, France and Russia and working for them.

Whether it was a non-main force or a main force that went to Europe for rotation, the final command must be in the hands of Australasia itself.

The few main forces were the foundation of the Australasia Army. Although Arthur had prepared for a lot of casualties when he planned to send them to Europe.

But Arthur could not accept large-scale casualties. If Britain, France and Russia were allowed to command the Australasia army, it was very likely that after the outbreak of World War I, these troops would be sent to a cruel meat grinder battlefield like Verdun.

You know, World War I saw several large-scale battles like Verdun, with more than millions of troops participating in each battle, and millions of casualties.

Even if Australasia could send 250,000 combat troops, they would only be exhausted in such a large-scale battle, and Arthur and Australasia would suffer in the end.

Therefore, Arthur would rather send 50,000 more combat troops to keep the command of the army firmly in Australasia's own hands.

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