The Rise Of Australasia

Minister Daize Taylor and Minister Grey quickly reached a verbal agreement, with the British Empire trading the regions of Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait for Australasia's occupation of the Mesopotamian Plain.

Moreover, the two Foreign Ministers happily agreed to visit each other's countries in the near future, in order to reach a further advancement of the Anglo-Australian Treaty, which Minister Grey believed would firmly tie Australasia to the British Empire's war chariot.

In fact, there was no harm in supporting the British Empire in the post-war allocation of interests for Australasia, and even considerable benefits could be gained.

Among the three major Allies, Australasia had the best relationship with the United Kingdom and Russia, and Arthur naturally could not risk offending the United Kingdom by supporting France's expansion in the European Continent.

After all, France and Australasia were far apart, and the French could not possibly have any influence on Australasia.

As for the unclear situation in Russia Nation, let alone the large-scale overseas expansion, it would be good enough to stabilize the domestic situation with war compensation, and the help to Australasia would not be too much.

This also means that the only country that can help Australasia after the war is the British Empire.

At present, the British Empire's consumption in the war is not large, and it is not a problem to maintain its position as the world's number one after the war.

Having a good relationship with the British Empire would also allow Australasia to gain more in the post-war allocation of interests, and although it would offend France, who would care?

After the war, the heavily consumed France urgently needed to recover through colonies, rather than conflict with Britain and Australasia, who had not consumed too much.

By the time France regained stability, Australasia's strength would no longer fear France, let alone the support of Britain.

After Britain and Australasia reached a consensus, the negotiations in Constantinople went smoothly.

On August 12th, the Allied Nations and the Ottoman Empire reached an agreement on territorial concessions.

The Ottoman Empire ceded tens of thousands of square kilometers of land in the Caucasus region to Russia Nation, the coastal area of the Rashid Emirate to Australasia, the Mesopotamian Plain and Yemen region to the British Empire, and all European areas to the Balkan Nations, retaining only the land within ten kilometers of Constantinople.

Yes, Constantinople eventually returned to the hands of the Ottoman Empire, at the cost of losing a large amount of territory.

Although it seems that the Ottoman Empire still has the territories of future Turkey, Syria, Israel, etc., these areas are surrounded by Britain, Russia Country, and Australasia, as well as the indigenous forces in the Arab region, and are not as calm as imagined.

Moreover, the time when the Allied Nations handed over Constantinople was after the end of the war, which means that Constantinople would still be jointly managed by the Allied Nations before the surrender of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Compared to the large amount of land ceded, the war reparations demanded by the Allies from the Ottoman Empire seemed pitiful.

According to the final agreement reached between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman Empire is required to pay a total of 150 million pounds in compensation to the Allies within 15 years, with an additional 3 million pounds per year for overdue payments.

As the main contributor to the Ottoman War, Australasia would receive a quarter of the 150 million pounds in compensation, or 37.5 million pounds.

The reason for the low compensation of the Ottoman Empire is that the present-day Ottoman Empire has been divided more than half, and the remaining territories are also coveted by the Powers.

Based on just Turkey and Syria, it would be very good for the Ottoman Empire to pay 150 million pounds in 15 years, after all, the size of the country could only allow the Ottoman Empire to pay that much.

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However, the Powers have made considerable expansions in the territory, and they do not care about this compensation that is insignificant to the war.

Arthur felt the same way. The land acquired by Australasia could now connect from Qatar to Kuwait.

A large area of land has abundant underground resources of petroleum and natural gas, which are worth countless multiples of the compensation Australasia received, so who would care about the small compensation?

Besides the land ceded and reparations for the war, the Ottoman government also signed various humiliating treaties, such as recognizing the British Empire and Italy's pre-war occupation of Ottoman territories, including Cyprus and Sozicanisos.

At the same time, the Alliance army has the freedom to move in Ottoman territory, the Ottoman government is not allowed to interfere or hinder, and the Allied army can freely enter and leave the Ottoman territory before the end of the war.

In areas such as Syria and Israel, the Allies have a large number of privileges. Although these territories were not ceded, the Ottoman Empire had lost its actual jurisdiction, and these areas were more like semi-colonies.

In addition, a large number of mining rights, and even railway toll and jurisdiction, in the Ottoman Empire were sold and leased to the Allied Nations.

With the signing of the Constantinople Agreement, the decline of the Ottoman Empire into an ordinary nation became inevitable, as its territory and population were not enough to support it as a regional strong country.

On the part of the Allies, the signing of the Constantinople Agreement boosted their morale, and the media of various countries scrambled to report on it.

After the surrender of the Ottoman Empire, there were only Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire left in the Allied Nations for the protracted resistance. The people of the Allied Nations seemed to have seen the victory coming.

It is worth mentioning that due to the joining of Australasia, the Allied Nations' demand for imported resources was not so high.

The Island Nation and the United States have been unable to find a good opportunity to join the Allies. Many times, the United States has tried to sell military equipment to the Allied Nations, but was rejected on the grounds that the Allies do not lack supplies.

This has caused that besides some scarce materials from Australasia, American trade in war with Europe was not much.

Of course, with the development of the war, Britain, France, and Russia had borrowed a lot of money from the United States, which was the only thing the United States has participated in the European War.

After the Constantinople Treaty was reached, the Allies' attention once again turned back to the battlefield on the Eastern Front.

At present, the German Army on the Western Front has entered a state of firm defense, and there is no good way to defeat Germany quickly.

All hopes of the Allied Nations are concentrated on the Eastern Front. If the Eastern Front can defeat the Germans again, Germany, which is suffering a heavy blow, will no longer be the opponent of the Allies and there will be hope for a quick resolution to the war.

Actually, not only is the Allied Nations paying attention to the battlefield on the Eastern Front, but the Axis Powers are also watching the Eastern Front more closely.

As early as after Bulgaria's defeat, Germany realized it was time for the final throw of the die. The defeat of the Ottoman Empire was inevitable. At the time when the Ottoman Empire was facing a siege, Germany also launched an offensive on the Eastern Front.

According to the plan, the German Army and the Austro-Hungarian Army carried out a strategic encirclement of the Russian Army on the Eastern Front.

The encirclement plan can be divided into two parts. The German Army in East Prussia advanced to the east and then went south around Poland.

The German-Austrian Alliance Army bypassed the south of the Carpathian Mountains and joined forces with the German Army in East Prussia to cut off the supply lines of the Russian Army in Poland and Galicia.

If the encirclement plan was carried out smoothly, at least millions of Russian troops would be trapped in the encirclement and surrounded by the combined German and Austro-Hungarian forces.

As long as most of these millions of Russian troops are wiped out, Germany and Austro-Hungary would have an overwhelming advantage on the Eastern Front battlefield.

Even with Russia suffering heavy losses, it could deliver a heavy blow to Russia and force Russia to withdraw from this war.

As long as Russia withdraws from the war, and with the pressure from the Eastern Front lifted, German and Austrian troops could move southward, forcing the fence-sitters in the Balkans to move toward the Axis Powers.

With the addition of German-Austrian and Balkan forces, there is still a chance of victory against the British, French, Italian, and Australian forces in the war.

Even if the Ottoman Empire could be persuaded to join the war again, Germany could receive supplies from the United States through the Persian Gulf, and the resource crisis would be resolved.

Without the restraint of the Russian Army on the Eastern Front, the British, French, and Australian Alliance forces and the German-Austrian Alliance forces on the Western Front were only in a balanced state.

Under single-front warfare, if the transportation route to the United States can be opened, Germany would not be afraid of the Allied Nations at all.

With the belief of making a desperate effort, at the end of July 1915, the German Army launched an all-out attack on the Russian Army.

At this time, it was the summer of the Northern Hemisphere, which is a good opportunity to attack Russia. If they waited until the icy and snowy winter, even the most powerful army might be lost in Russia.

Napoleon's example more than 100 years ago was such a case, which made the German Army very nervous.

If they could not end this battle before the arrival of winter, the Eastern Front battlefield would become difficult.

The German-Austrian Alliance Army launched a fierce attack on the Carpathian Mountains. The left wing of the Russian 8th Army Group was stationed here, and under the strong pressure of the German-Austrian Alliance Army, they had to retreat slowly to the rear.

However, the Russians also responded very quickly. The temporary commander of the Southwest Front had dispatched newly-reorganized 9th Army Group from the right wing to reinforce the 8th Army Group urgently.

But at this time, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire were already making their final desperate effort, and in addition to the advantage of the number of soldiers, the Russian 8th and 9th Army Groups still could not stop the offensive of the German and Austrian Alliance forces and could only retreat slowly towards their second line.

The Russians had no choice but to call in the 11th Army Group from the central region, barely blocking the charge of the Austro-Hungarian forces from the Carpathian Mountains.

But the fighting power of the Russian Army and the German-Austrian Alliance forces were vastly different. The casualties of the Russian three Army Groups surged, with the peak daily number reaching over 30,000.

Although the Russian Army successfully prevented the German-Austrian Alliance forces from surrounding the Russian Army in Galicia, it suffered astounding casualties in doing so.

According to rough statistics from the Russian front line, the total casualties of the 8th, 9th, and 11th Army Groups exceeded 300,000, with at least 100,000 dead.

This means that the total number of the three Army Groups, which was less than one million, has now suffered from nearly half the casualties, a heavy loss.