Chapter 782: Sharpening the Knife to Attack France

Compared to the conditions offered by the French, the conditions offered by the British are undoubtedly more generous.

This actually also means that Australasia is likely to cooperate with the British, and the French are destined to fight against Britain and Australasia alone in the competition in South America.

Although France is the second most powerful country in the world on the surface, this does not mean that everyone will think so.

If we only look at the mainland, Australasia has already surpassed France in industry and military. In terms of economy, due to the continuous depreciation of the franc, Australasia's economy is also better than that of France.

If it were not for the vast colonies of France that made France's overall data better, and if Arthur deliberately pushed the French to the second most powerful country in the world in order to avoid direct conflict with the British, I am afraid that the second in the world should belong to Australasia now.

For Arthur, no matter what the world ranking is, it is just a title.

If the British become hostile to him because of this title, and even use all their strength to guard against his rise, it would be a bit of a loss.

Although the world's second and third countries seem to have a huge gap in strength, only Arthur understands that Australasia can crush France in military terms, and it can be said that there is a 100% chance of defeating France.

This is not Arthur's complacency, but the conclusion drawn after a horizontal comparison between the Australasia army and the French army.

Not only the French army, but many countries that participated in World War I have begun to fear war.

The World War I brought them huge casualties and property losses, so that most Europeans are unwilling to see such a large-scale war again.

But Australasia is just the opposite. Although Australasia also suffered casualties in World War I, the casualties were very low compared to other powers.

More importantly, during World War I, Australasia annexed a large amount of land, and took advantage of the opportunity of a large amount of material exports and arms trade to make its domestic infrastructure and economic development reach the level of European powers.

It can be said that it was because of that world war that Australasia completely possessed the strength of a great power, and the lack of foundation between it and the European powers was also mostly eliminated.

Coupled with the prevalence of Arthur's personal worship in Australasia, the Australasia army is full of fighting power and has reached the point of being truly fearless.

In terms of the morale and fighting spirit of the army alone, the Australasia army is definitely the best and can easily crush the French army that is currently afraid of war.

More importantly, because of the pension policy that Arthur has formulated at great expense, the soldiers of the Australasia army can be said to have no worries.

This is different from the blind enthusiasm of the island country. Although the army of the island country can also burst out the fighting spirit and enthusiasm comparable to the Australasia army, the fighting spirit of the soldiers is blind after all.

When their fighting spirit is affected, the morale of the army and the fighting power that erupts will also be greatly reduced.

But the Australasia army is different. Because the worries have been completely solved by Arthur, they can rest assured to fight for Arthur, the royal family and the entire country.

Even if they died in battle, their families would receive preferential treatment from the government, and there would be large pensions issued by the royal family and the government, which would ensure that they would be well fed and clothed, and would not starve, even though they lacked the backbone of their families.

If the navy was not so far behind the British, it would not be a problem for Australasia to compete with the British for the throne of world hegemony with its terrifying military performance.

Of course, the current throne of Pacific hegemony is enough for Arthur. It is not so easy to be the world hegemon, at least now, Arthur is not willing to be the world hegemon.

Only after the Second World War is completely over and the world order becomes stable, will Arthur be interested in the new world hegemony throne.

Of course, before deciding to launch an attack on the throne of world hegemony, Arthur must ensure that the strength of Australasia's navy, army and air force are at the top of the world.

At present, the navy, army and air force actually have certain defects. First of all, the scale, the navy, army and air force can only be regarded as world-class, and the number of navy and army is not the first in the world.

The population has a great impact on this, and continuing to expand the population is also what Arthur will do next.

In Arthur's expectation, the population can reach 50 million, and the total size of all the armies will exceed 1 million, only then will it be qualified to compete for the throne of world hegemony.

Of course, in order to completely sit firmly on the throne of world hegemony, the population must do everything possible to exceed 100 million.

Under the interference of the British, this so-called mediation meeting is actually a negotiation to buy time for Paraguay.

The French naturally understand this. During the entire negotiation period, the conditions of Bolivia and Paraguay were very exaggerated, and it was obvious that neither party could accept them.

While proposing quite outrageous conditions, both Bolivia and Paraguay were purchasing a large number of corresponding weapons and equipment.

However, in terms of the purchase of weapons and equipment, the two countries have different purchase directions based on their different concepts.

Bolivia still adheres to the principle of big money, because with loans from France and Mobil Oil Company, all the weapons and equipment purchased by Bolivia are tanks and aircraft, as well as some large-caliber artillery and other heavy weapons.

Paraguay is different. Paraguay is already in serious shortage of light weapons, and their focus on purchasing weapons is on light weapons including rifles, machine guns and small-caliber artillery.

It is worth mentioning that Paraguay and Bolivia have also hired army instructors from Australasia and France to become commanders of their armies.

This situation is still very common in this era. Small countries do not have a perfect grasp of army tactics, and they do not have many military talent reserves.

When war breaks out, most small countries will hire some army instructors from the big countries that support them as commanders of the army.

Before World War I, the more popular commanders in the army were all Germans. After all, Germany's reputation as the world's number one army was resounding throughout the world at that time, and the German military academy was also one of the most popular military academies at the time.

As for now, no one has claimed the title of the world's number one army. Some people think that it was the French who defeated Germany with the army, some people think that it was the Australasia who showed strong army combat effectiveness in World War I, and even some countries think that island countries and Russia are also qualified to compete for the throne of the world's number one army.

After all, the number and combat effectiveness of the army of these countries are quite good. Apart from these countries, the number of army of other countries, including the United Kingdom, has fallen far behind.

Paraguay imports a large number of light weapons instead of heavy weapons, which is also the suggestion made by the Australasian Military Command to the Paraguayan government.

After all, heavy weapons are really difficult to use in the grasslands and jungles of the Northern Chaco region. Although airplanes can indeed play a sufficient role, Bolivia and Paraguay do not have many airplanes, and whether they can make full use of powerful airplanes is a problem.

This is like giving a batch of hot weapons to a country in the cold weapon era. Although hot weapons can also play a certain role, without corresponding tactical application, their combat effectiveness is definitely not as good as the army of this era, even if the weapons and equipment of both sides are at the same level.

The price of airplanes is too expensive and is not suitable for Paraguay, which is small and has a small population. Purchasing a large number of light weapons to make up for the lack of Paraguayan weapons and equipment is what the Australasian Military Command believes Paraguay should do most at present.

In addition to purchasing weapons and equipment in large quantities, Paraguay also carried out a national mobilization at the suggestion of the British.

Although the country has a small population, the number of troops quickly expanded from 3,000 to 60,000 under the national mobilization.

Paraguay's opponent, Bolivia, had maintained several times the number advantage before, which made Bolivia relax its vigilance.

Although Bolivia also carried out a certain mobilization, it was not a national mobilization that affected production, but a border mobilization near the North Chaco region.

Although this also allowed Bolivia's army to exceed 30,000, it was at a disadvantage in terms of numbers compared to Paraguay's desperate 60,000.

On May 22, 1931, because the differences between Paraguay and Bolivia were too huge, the mediation meeting organized by the British officially failed, and the war between Paraguay and Bolivia continued.

The Bolivian army thought it could continue to defeat Paraguay with great momentum, but they did not expect that their offensive was quickly blocked by Paraguay, and the front line fell behind, and began to switch from offense to defense.

Under the command of the Australasian officers, the Paraguayan army launched a surprise attack on several important military fortresses on the front line. Without the Bolivians' preparation, they quickly conquered several military fortresses occupied by the Bolivians.

This is not over yet. Because of the strong support of the British, a large number of weapons and equipment were urgently transferred to Paraguay and successfully armed to the Paraguayan army.

With the newly arrived weapons, Paraguay quickly gained an advantage on the front line and defeated the Bolivian army.

At this time, the Bolivians and the French behind them felt that it was not good and realized that Paraguay might have carried out a national mobilization.

In order to maintain its advantage in military strength, Bolivia also decided to launch a national mobilization and expand the number of army troops to about 150,000.

Compared with Paraguay, which is not a large country, Bolivia's national mobilization area is larger and it will take more time.

Moreover, because Bolivia is close to Chile and Argentina, Bolivia wants to carry out a comprehensive mobilization, and it is highly likely that it will not be hidden from other countries.

Soon, the British got the news that Bolivia was also conducting a national mobilization. In order to ensure that Paraguay's advantage continued, the British decided to find something for the French to do.

How to find something for the French?

After thinking about it, the British still set their sights on the original American land.

As mentioned before, the French acquired the more elite areas in the southern United States, including Texas, which has rich mineral resources and a large population, and the entire southern coast of the United States.

Although these areas have re-established the republic with the support of the United States, because the relationship between the states of the United States is not good, these countries are not so cold about the rule of the French.

Take Texas, which has become an independent Lone Star Republic, as an example. The history of the establishment of the Lone Star Republic can be traced back to 1836, which is nearly 100 years ago.

The history of the establishment of the Lone Star Republic is that it was dissatisfied with the rule of the Mexicans and sought independence to become a sovereign country.

Even though it was forced to join the United States after independence, the Lone Star Republic has maintained considerable power, including the unique right of independence in the United States.

Although the Lone Star Republic is currently under the control of the French because of the defeat and division of the United States, this does not mean that the Lone Star Republic will respect the rule of the French.

Especially after the real transformation from Texas to the Lone Star Republic, many emerging parties within the Republic have been eager for the country to regain independence.

Texas is no longer the barren region it was before. With a population of more than 5 million, plus a large amount of mineral resources and crop production, the Lone Star Republic can completely become a pearl in the Americas.

In addition to the problems within the Lone Star Republic, Mexico is also very greedy for this land that was once its own.

Although the Lone Star Republic is currently controlled by France, the second largest power in the world, this still cannot prevent Mexico from taking a step back.

After all, compared to the distant France, Mexico is a neighbor of the Lone Star Republic, closer in distance, and has a natural location advantage.

For Mexico, as long as it can persuade the Lone Star Republic to break away from the rule of the French and join Mexico, it can regain Texas in a non-war way.

The reason why the British set their sights on the land of the United States is that they saw the various problems of the Lone Star Republic.

It can be said that the Lone Star Republic is a bomb that can explode at any time for France.

Even the bomb of the Lone Star Republic will affect the South Coast Federal Republic and the Florida Confederation Republic in the east, and may directly disintegrate the French rule on the south coast of the United States.

This is what the British want to see. Not only will it create a big trouble for the French, it may even cause the French to suffer heavy losses directly.

You know, French capital has always loved foreign economic exports. Although it has only been in charge of these three republics for a short time, French capital has already exported a lot of economic output in these three republics, and the funds and assets invested are countless.

If the French lose their right to rule these three republics, not only will the French government suffer heavy losses, but French private capital will also face a catastrophe.

For the British, this is likely to solve their biggest competitor and make themselves completely free of trouble in Europe.

4000 words are updated, and I wish you all a happy new year.