Chapter 819: Army Arms Race and Chain Reaction

Time flies, and soon it is 1934.

The first good news to mention is that the national census ordered by Arthur before was finally successfully completed, and the population data and size of Australasia were completely updated.

According to the data of the first census, as of January 1, 1934, Australasia had a total population of more than 42.379 million, ranking sixth in the world (only counting the homeland of the great powers), which has exceeded Italy's 41.57 million.

It is worth mentioning that France is also a country with a population at this level. Although the specific population of France is unknown, according to the population growth data and newborns in France in recent years, the population of France should be between 42.5 million and 43 million.

The population of 42.37 million is also good news for Arthur. With the war approaching, the larger the population, the greater the country's war potential.

The next goal of Australasia is to surpass France in population data, and it is best to reach a population of more than 45 million before the war.

After all, the casualties caused by war to the country are immeasurable. Only by having a larger population can the country avoid the serious damage caused by war.

The good news is that the people are not opposed to having more children. After all, the tuition fees of children in multi-child families are basically paid by the government, and the government also has corresponding encouragement for multi-child families, which has greatly reduced the expenses of multi-child families on newborns.

Compared with the size of the population, Arthur is actually more concerned about the proportion and distribution between different races, which is also the real purpose of holding this population census.

According to the results of the population census, among the 42.379 million people in Australasia, British blood is as high as 56.4%, totaling more than 23.9 million people.

Russian blood accounts for 21.7%, totaling more than 9.2 million people. German blood accounts for 7.7%, totaling more than 3.26 million people.

American immigrants account for 4.7%, totaling more than 1.99 million people, and the rest of European immigrants account for 8.1%, about 3.43 million people.

The remaining 1.4% are all Asian immigrants. These Asian immigrants came from all over East Asia, including the Philippines controlled by Australasia.

It has to be admitted that at this time, the countries of the world are naturally pursuing the currently very advanced and developed Western civilization.

As the Western power closest to Asia, Australasia naturally attracted the curiosity of a large number of Asians.

There are people who want to come to Australasia to learn knowledge and serve the country, and naturally there are people who want to join Australasia.

However, because of the general racial superiority of Europeans, Arthur does not actually advocate attracting Asian immigrants.

First, it will create racial confrontation, and second, these Asian immigrants will be more severely discriminated against when they come to Australasia, which is somewhat unnecessary.

However, for some Asians who want to come to Australasia at all costs, Arthur will naturally not oppose it.

If they can live in Australasia, where racial discrimination is rampant, then this is indeed their ability.

As time entered 1934, Arthur had to turn his attention back to the situation in Europe.

To be honest, Europe at this time seemed to be the same as before World War I. The confrontation between the Franco-Austrian alliance and the German-Italian agreement reminded people of the massive war twenty years ago.

For Germany and Italy, two ambitious countries, after testing the appeasement policy of Britain and France towards them, they would never be satisfied with temporary gains.

As expected, after expanding the army to 250,000, the German army did not stop its expansion.

In just half a year, most of the SS were dismantled and reorganized into the German army.

This also allowed the number of German army to expand rapidly from the originally expected 250,000 to 400,000, and the army size re-entered the ranks of the great powers.

Did Britain and France discover these small moves of Germany?

It is impossible to say that they did not discover them. But the question is, even if these small moves were discovered, how could Britain and France respond?

For the British, there is not much difference between 250,000 German troops and 400,000 German troops. Anyway, the French army also remains at more than 400,000, and France also has a stronger navy.

Although it has been proved in the previous war that the combat effectiveness of the German army is indeed stronger than that of the French army.

But with the advantage of the navy, the military strength of France and Germany should be maintained at the same level, and France should even be slightly ahead.

Although the Italian army is large in size, the individual combat capability of the soldiers is extremely worrying. Italy is almost at the same level as the incomplete Austrian Empire. This is simply a perfect balance of internal consumption.

It is precisely because of this idea that the British government, although it learned of Germany's small moves, did not take more radical measures to sanction Germany.

After all, most of the light weapons of Germany's 400,000 troops were purchased from Britain. In the eyes of the British, this is obviously Germany's proof of its sincerity to Britain.

However, France is obviously not happy with Britain doing this. The French are not worried at all about the 250,000 German troops facing the nearly 500,000 French troops.

But if the German army expands to 400,000, it is really hard to say who is better and who is worse. Strictly speaking, the French are not afraid of Germany, but they are afraid that the war with Germany will bring another huge harm to themselves.

But it actually makes no difference. The German army has actually expanded to 400,000. If a war breaks out, even if Germany can be defeated, it will definitely be a war of attrition.

The French finally gave in, but they also put forward their own request, which is to allow the Austrian Empire to abolish the previous army restrictions.

As a defeated country, the Austrian Empire's army size was also limited to 100,000. After the large-scale expansion of the German army, the French provided Austria with a large number of loans and weapons and equipment, and successfully allowed the Austrian army to legally reach the threshold of 300,000.

If the previous arms race was just a good show for the British and French island countries and Australasia, then the current arms race has become a big show in which all the powers participate.

After Germany and the Austrian Empire expanded their armies respectively, would other countries not expand their armies?

Obviously impossible.

In February 1934, France promulgated a new conscription law, stating that it would expand the size of the French army from 500,000 to 650,000 in the next six months, and the newly added 150,000 troops would all be deployed on the border with Germany, that is, the famous strong fortress, the Maginot Line.

Italy was not happy with the French doing this.

After all, Italy is an ally of Germany and a potential enemy of France. France's conscription is obviously aimed at Germany, and it does not take Italy into consideration at all.

In the eyes of Mussolini, who was very arrogant in his heart, this was obviously looking down on himself and his Italy.

The angry Mussolini issued an order to let the Italian First Army of more than 150,000 troops take over the task of the northern garrison troops and deploy them on the border with France.

Italy's move caused dissatisfaction in Serbia to the east of Italy before the French responded.

At this time, Serbia was already a giant country in the Balkans, with its territory covering Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia and Montenegro.

Of course, it also has a new and domineering name, that is, the Federal Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

This Yugoslavia is somewhat different from the historical Yugoslavia. The original Austrian Empire did not lose Croatia and Slovenia.

But during the economic crisis, the Austrian Empire did not control its territory well, which also gave Serbia, which had already annexed Bosnia, an opportunity.

The Balkan Peninsula was very chaotic at that time. Russia, which originally controlled the Balkan Peninsula, had lost control of the Balkan Peninsula for its own reasons.

At that time, Italy welcomed Mussolini's rise to power, and Mussolini's ambitions in the Balkans were already known to everyone.

In order to ensure its independence, under the leadership of Serbia, the Kingdom of Serbia and Montenegro established the United Kingdom of Serbia and Montenegro.

Afterwards, Croatia and Slovenia declared independence and soon joined the United Kingdom.

The Austrian Empire obviously could not cope with the united Balkan countries, after all, the number of Austrian troops was strictly limited to 100,000.

Moreover, the economic crisis was indeed serious at the time, and the Austrian Empire had no ability to launch a foreign war.

Thus, a regional power that occupied half of the Balkan Peninsula and was far more powerful than other Balkan countries was born.

As of today, the population of Yugoslavia has exceeded 14.5 million, and there is absolutely no problem in saying that it is the most powerful country in the Balkans. (Romania is not as powerful as it was in history)

As a neighbor of Italy, Yugoslavia's vigilance against Italy can be said to be the highest except for the Austrian Empire.

More importantly, the Italian First Army formed by Mussolini was the main force to invade the Abyssinian Empire.

Although such an army deployed on the northern border of Italy seems to be targeting France, it is also a serious threat to other neighbors on the northern border of Italy, the Austrian Empire and the United Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Although the territory of Yugoslavia is not much different from that of Italy, and they are both European countries.

But the population gap between the two sides is too big, and the economy and industry are completely at two different levels.

No matter how weak Italy is, it is a great power recognized by all countries. Faced with such a relatively powerful great power, Yugoslavia immediately took its own action after sensing the danger, that is, to seek help from France.

Why seek help from France? First of all, France and Italy are potential enemies and competitors.

Secondly, compared with Britain, which is outside the two major military groups, in the eyes of the United Kingdom of Yugoslavia, France is the country that can really help itself.

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