Chapter 739 Portuguese Civil War

William's engagement ceremony added some color to the world, but the heat soon subsided.

People marveled at the luxury and scale of the royal engagement, but life always has to go on, and no one thinks that the royal family should not enjoy it all.

In November 1929, the world situation became turbulent again.

The location of the incident this time was in Portugal, and the cause was the cruel dictatorship in Portugal.

Speaking of which, Arthur's participation and influence were indispensable. In addition to highlighting the dignity of the Australasian royal family, William's engagement ceremony also showed the size and glory of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family.

The royal families of both Britain and Australia came from this family, which also made the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family known as the greatest family in the early 20th century.

Such a name naturally affected Portugal and those relatively neutral forces in Portugal.

On one side is the family known as the greatest in recent years, and on the other side is the dictatorship that the people are generally dissatisfied with, which also divided Portugal into two distinct factions.

One faction is the vested interests of the dictatorship, and the other is other candidates who want to overthrow the dictatorship.

In this second faction, the royalists who want to re-establish the monarchy and restore the Portuguese monarchy are undoubtedly the most powerful party.

When it comes to his own power, Antonio Carmona will naturally not back down easily.

After discovering that the Democratic Party in the country frequently contacted Manuel II's forces, Antonio Carmona was furious and directly launched the most brutal suppression of the Democratic Party.

As the second largest party in Portugal, the Democratic Party currently has a large number of members. The brutal suppression directly caused the Democratic Party to lose more than one-third of its members, and also directly ignited the war in Portugal.

Realizing that this was the best time, Manuel II immediately ordered the royalists in Portugal to start a war and started the Portuguese civil war.

With the strong support from Australasia and the support of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family, Manuel II was more confident, and he even felt that he could win the war before Christmas.

In fact, the situation is not much different from what Manuel II expected. Of course, this is not because of the strength of the Portuguese royalists, but because of the anger and dissatisfaction of the Portuguese people with the dictatorship of Antonio Carmona.

If you have to choose one of the two bottles of poison, then the Portuguese people will naturally choose Manuel II, who is less poisoned.

Yes, in the eyes of the current Portuguese, Manuel II and Antonio Carmona are two bottles of poison, neither of which is the best choice for Portugal.

Speaking of Portugal's geographical location, it is located in the westernmost part of the European continent, and the only adjacent European country is Spain.

But after entering the ocean age, Portugal's location is still relatively important. First of all, Portugal can serve as a hub for exchanges with Africa and is also one of the important transit points on the British route.

Secondly, Portugal's geographical location can pose a great threat to France.

The British have controlled the Strait of Gibraltar, which is the only way from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic.

Coupled with the Suez Canal, it is equivalent to the British blocking the entire Mediterranean, making the French Mediterranean Fleet a turtle in a jar.

But the French have more than just the Mediterranean Sea. They are close to the English Channel in the north and the vast Atlantic Ocean in the west.

If Portugal can be used to block the French from going to the Atlantic Ocean, the impact on France will undoubtedly be huge.

This is also the reason why the British government finally decided to support Portugal. George V tried his best to persuade the government to support Manuel II in the civil war.

Of course, George V also gave up a lot of interests for this, which was equivalent to a deal with the government.

With the support of the two powers of Britain and Australasia, Manuel II quickly ascended the throne of Portugal.

On December 21, 1929, after more than ten years, Manuel II announced his restoration and re-established the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Dynasty in Portugal, and immediately announced that the Portuguese government would establish diplomatic relations with Britain and Australasia.

In exchange for interests, the Portuguese government announced the lease of Sao Tome and Principe Island to Australasia for 20 years.

Smart people know that this is an exchange of interests between the two countries, but no country can say anything about such an exchange of interests.

After all, this is a very normal thing in the world. Everyone has their own needs, and the final result is what the two countries want to see.

Finally, the Portuguese issue was resolved, and Arthur was temporarily relieved.

There are more and more monarchies, which is also helpful for the stability of the monarchy in Australasia in the future.

Although Arthur's reputation and status in Australasia are unprecedentedly high, the former Queen Victoria also has a high status and prestige in the UK.

After the throne was passed down for several generations, wasn't George V's power also weakened a lot? If George V had not decisively given up the surname of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in World War I, I am afraid that whether the British royal family can be stable is a problem.

This also represents a simple truth that the throne can be inherited, but prestige and reputation cannot be inherited.

If you want to maintain the monarchy in Australasia, you must also maintain the monarchy in other countries, and you can't let the monarchy in Australasia become an exception in the world.

Turn his attention back to Australasia, Arthur began to inspect the projects that have been started in the eight-year construction plan.

First of all, the one that Arthur attaches the most importance to is definitely the Lake Eyre Canal Project, which is related to the ecological environment of the Central Australian region.

This is a bold decision by Arthur and an unprecedented attempt. If successful, the entire Great Artesian Basin will be reactivated, and Australasia will have millions of square kilometers of fertile land.

But if it fails, such a project that costs more than 100,000 people and a lot of financial resources will also be a blow to Arthur's reputation.

Although the blow is not so serious, it will have a certain impact on Arthur's subsequent layout.

It has been ten months since the Lake Eyre Canal Project was launched in February this year.

As the canal connecting the north and south Lake Eyre in the canal plan, it is less than ten kilometers long and has been basically completed in these ten months.

However, because the other two sections of the canal are relatively long, it is estimated that the construction time will take at least five years, and more manpower and material resources will be mobilized to build it with all their strength.

For this project, Arthur paid special attention and personally supervised it. After the construction of the canal between the two lakes was completed, Arthur personally arrived at the vicinity of the canal for inspection, and only then did he feel relieved after ensuring that everything was going according to plan.

The good news is that the construction plan of the Lake Eyre Canal is not short of manpower.

Because it was a project that Arthur strongly advocated, and people understood that the purpose of this canal was to restore the ecological environment in central Australia, this also led to a large number of people actively participating in the construction of the Lake Eyre Canal. The recruitment site was almost full, and every day a large number of people wanted to join the canal construction plan, even if they wanted less salary.

Originally, the Lake Eyre Canal construction plan only planned to use 150,000 workers, and almost all of these workers were recruited from the United States.

But unexpectedly, the local people in Australasia were too enthusiastic, which also made the number of workers exceed expectations, and it is now close to 250,000.

Although the cost of canal construction has increased, the more people there are, the less time it will take to build the canal.

Because there are three canals, this also means that the three canals can be started at the same time, and the total construction time of the canal can be shortened.

In addition to the canal connecting the two Lake Eyre, more than one-fifth of the canal between South Lake Eyre and Lake Torrens, and the canal between Lake Torrens and Spencer Bay have been built.

If the construction plan of the entire Lake Eyre Canal can be completed within five years, it would be a good thing for Arthur, even if some additional costs need to be borne.

In addition to the construction progress of the Lake Eyre Canal, there is another major project that has been completed for the most part, that is, the construction of airports in key areas across the country.

In fact, the current airports are still very different from the future market. After all, there is a gap of 100 years, and the airports of the two eras are completely two different concepts.

The current airport only needs a flat runway for takeoff and landing, and other facilities are very simple.

After all, an airplane can only accommodate more than ten passengers, so naturally there is no need for a wide passenger waiting area, and the area and construction difficulty of the airport will not be that large.

The cities that first built airports are naturally key cities such as Fort St. Arthur, Sydney, and Melbourne, as well as state capitals and large cities with a population of more than 500,000.

In order to promote exchanges between Australia and New Zealand, airports were built in both North and South New Zealand, and there was more than one.

In addition, each colony would also build an airport to facilitate exchanges between the mainland and the colonies.

In addition to these more common civil airports, simpler military airports are actually spread all over Australasia.

The construction requirements of military airports are simpler. You only need to flatten the road surface to ensure that the takeoff and landing of the aircraft will not be bumpy.

Compared with the comfort required by civil airliners, the biggest requirement for military transport aircraft is transportation efficiency, followed by the speed of the aircraft.

As for safety, it is enough to be at the qualified level. Because the life of most military aircraft will not be too long, war is a huge blow to relatively fragile high-tech products such as aircraft.

Instead of requiring the safety of military aircraft, it is better to consider whether it can carry more supplies and whether it can escape the enemy's firepower.

The first update of 3000 words, please vote for the monthly ticket and support!