Chapter 862 Total War

On April 14, 1936, witnessed by Prime Minister Baldwin, the Duke of York, the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent, King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom signed the abdication document sent to the governments of the dominions at Belvedere Castle, officially announcing that he would give up the British throne.

On April 15, Edward VIII read the Abdication Decree to all British people through national broadcasting for the last time as the King of the United Kingdom, and said affectionately and silently at the end: "I believe that without the help and support of this woman I love, it is impossible to fulfill my duties and fulfill my obligations as a king.

For the subsequent development of the British Empire, and also for me and my love, I will voluntarily give up the British throne, and my descendants will no longer have the right to inherit the British throne."

The abdication of Edward VIII is the biggest news for the British Empire. Edward VIII is not only the first king in British history to voluntarily give up the throne for love, but his reign is also one of the shortest among British monarchs.

From the death of the previous British King George V to the present, Edward VIII's abdication has actually been less than two months.

These two months have had a profound impact on the British government, and have also created the very serious situation that the British government is facing now.

In addition to marveling at the fact that Edward VIII was really willing to give up the throne for love, the people are also looking forward to whether the new king, the Duke of Albert, can sweep away the decline brought by Edward VIII and lead Britain to regain its former glory?

Since April 16, Britain has officially entered the era of the Duke of Albert's rule.

In order to stabilize the British government and the people, the Duke of Albert decided to use his father's name. He gave up the name Albert and changed it to George. Because of this, the Duke of Albert became the sixth British king named George, that is, George VI.

Because of the emergency, George VI immediately focused on the crisis currently facing Britain after becoming the King of Britain.

At the newly convened cabinet meeting to swear allegiance to George VI, George VI specifically pointed out: "The British Empire is currently suffering from a major crisis comparable to 20 years ago. Only if we work together can we lead Britain out of the crisis and regain its former glory."

George VI showed a very firm attitude towards war. On April 17, George VI met with French representative Minister Roman, and the two sides had a long secret talk.

It was also on the same day that George VI signed the British General Mobilization Order. This order will fully mobilize the British Army, Navy and Air Force, and put the British Empire into a state of total war.

On April 18, Britain and France jointly issued an ultimatum to Germany. The two countries demanded that Germany immediately stop its military operations in Austria, withdraw its troops from Austria, and restore the pre-war situation.

This ultimatum was urgently translated by the German diplomatic department and reported to the German government and the General Staff.

At 11:15 am on April 19, the British and French ambassadors to Germany asked Germany for a final reply. Germany also gave a final reply, which was to reject the British and French proposals and demand that the British and French governments bear the responsibility for starting the war.

With the support of Britain, France also became unusually tough.

At 3:22 p.m. on April 19, French Ambassador Couland sent a note to the German government: "Because of your country's unprovoked declaration of war and refusal to give in, you must bear the responsibility for starting the war. As an ally of the Austrian Empire, I declare on behalf of the French government that we will fulfill our alliance with the Austrian Empire and consider ourselves to be at war with your country."

At 5:25 p.m. on April 19, British Foreign Secretary Halifax summoned the German ambassador to London and said in a tough attitude: "According to the instructions of His Majesty the King, I now inform your government that because of your country's unprovoked war behavior, as the defender of European order, I am honored to inform you that we will be at war with your country from now on."

The German government was stunned. They did not expect that Britain, which had changed its king, would quickly turn into a war party and reach an agreement with the French to directly declare war on Germany.

But the Germans had no time to be in a daze at this time. What they had to do was to defeat the Austrian Empire as much as possible before Britain and France completed their mobilization, creating a considerable advantage for this large-scale war.

At 8:12 am on April 20, Italy followed its alliance with the German Empire and declared war on the Austrian Empire, France and Britain.

Later on the same day, the Austrian Empire, France and Britain also declared war on Italy, and a war that spread across five powers and affected the whole of Europe and even the world broke out.

However, although the war was declared, it did not mean that the British and French troops could arrive at the battlefield in the first time.

Although the British and French armies numbered millions, a considerable part of these troops came from colonies. As old colonial powers, Britain and France had colonies all over the world, and it was difficult to gather these colonial troops together in a short period of time.

As a result, Britain and France needed longer preparation time than other countries to allow most of their troops to join the war.

Especially Britain. Although the British Empire was the world hegemon, the world hegemon had no bonus in assembling troops.

As the empire on which the sun never set, Britain had colonies all over the world. To transport all these colonial troops to Europe, not only a large number of transport fleets were needed, but also a lot of time.

The German General Staff made an estimate based on the respective situations of Britain and France. Within three months, the maximum number of troops that France could deploy to the battlefield was only about 1 million, and Britain even had only 500,000.

As for Germany, they had assembled more than 2 million troops, plus Italy's millions of troops ready to go, and they could completely blitz the Austrian Empire like Poland in these three months.

After the demise of Austria, the situation became Britain and France VS Germany and Italy. Although Britain and France have stronger foundations, Germany and Italy are obviously stronger in terms of military combat effectiveness.

Of course, the combat effectiveness of the German army played a decisive role in this. As for the Italian army, as long as they don't drag their feet, they are the biggest help to Germany.

While pinning their hopes on quickly defeating the Austrian Empire, on the other hand, Germany has begun to seek help from another ally, the island country.

The location of the island country is still very important. They can threaten the most important area for the British, that is, India.

Once India is in danger, no matter how much the British government advocates war, it will definitely not give up its own India for France.

As long as they share some of the pressure of the British army, the German army can easily defeat the French army on the front battlefield.

But it is obvious that the islanders are definitely not fools. Although the island countries can indeed pose a certain threat to India, they must pass through the sphere of influence of Australasia.

Facing Australasia alone has already made the islanders feel pressured. If they completely offend the British, the island countries will have no chance of winning in the Pacific hegemony.

As an island country, if the island country wants to maintain its position, a strong navy is crucial. But Britain is the country with the strongest navy at this time. If they offend the British, the island country’s navy will be completely blockaded by Britain. No matter how strong the island country’s army is, it will be useless if it cannot leave the island.

After the British Empire declared war on Germany and Italy, as members of the Commonwealth, India, Canada and South Africa also declared war on Germany and Italy one after another.

Although this war seems to be huge, it is somewhat strange that as of April 25, when the Commonwealth declared war, the main battlefield was still in Austria.

Even though war broke out between Germany and France, there were still no large-scale battles and conflicts on the German-French border.

This can be regarded as a tacit understanding between the German and French governments. Germany does not intend to waste its troops in the attack on France too early. After all, it is more important to defeat the Austrian Empire as soon as possible at this time.

As for the French, although they have decided to join the war, their war preparations have not been completed, and they do not intend to put their main forces into the battlefield too early before the arrival of the British army.

And what about the British? George VI is indeed a war advocate, but this still cannot change the fact that Britain was unprepared for war before George VI ascended the throne.

The British have been preparing for war for much longer than France. According to the calculations of the British Cabinet, the first batch of troops to arrive in France will land on the French coast as early as half a month later.

But these troops are only the standing troops of the United Kingdom, and the number is destined to be not too large. In the plan of the British Cabinet, within two months, the number of troops deployed by the United Kingdom to the European battlefield will not exceed 200,000.

Compared with Germany and Italy, which have millions of troops, this force is obviously a drop in the bucket.

But there is no way around it. The British government was indeed not well prepared for the war, and the current size of the British army was less than 600,000.

Because of the hasty entry into the war, the British people were obviously not prepared for this war, and the British government's general mobilization progress was also very slow.

There was no need to count on the colonies. The largest colonies of Britain were the closest to Canada and South Africa, separated by an ocean or a continent.

India, the main source of British colonial troops, was even separated from the British mainland by the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the European continent.

It took at least 3 to 4 months for these colonial governments to declare war, mobilize and send troops to Europe.

This also means that in the first three months of the war, it was actually a war between France, Austria, Germany and Italy. If the Austrian army could hold back Germany and Italy and buy enough time for Britain and France, the situation in Britain and France would be much better.

But if the Austrian Empire was as fragile as Poland, I am afraid that in the next few months, the situation would become France alone against Germany and Italy.

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