Chapter 182 The war is anxious.
Why have autocracies around the world basically disappeared since World War II, and the vast majority of monarchies have basically become constitutional monarchies?
This is a question worth thinking about, perhaps because the foundation of monarchy, that is, the divine right of kings, is not stable, and people are not as ignorant as in ancient times.
It may also be because after the two wars, most countries in Europe and the United States transformed into democratic republics. Under the strong cultural export and influence of these two regions, many colonies after World War II also imitated Europe and the United States after independence. Democracy was implemented, and republics sprung up like bamboo shoots at this time.
But one reason cannot be denied, that is, the old aristocracy had a deep impression of the oppression of the people. For example, the Tsarist Empire, which directly broke out a revolution during the war, overthrew the royal family, and even executed the monarch, was a typical example of the aristocracy oppressing the people.
In addition, Tsar Nicholas II disregarded the sentiments of the Russians and resolutely participated in the world war. The defeat in the early war caused heavy losses to the Tsarist Russian Empire, which naturally made the already turbulent Tsarist Russian Empire even more chaotic.
The oppression of the lower classes by the monarch and the landlord class represented by the monarch, that is, by various aristocrats in the West, led to the decline and disappearance of the monarchy after the war.
In addition, the newly rising capitalists have very effectively transferred the hatred of workers and civilians for capitalist exploitation to the monarchy, causing the emerging class of workers to have an abnormal hatred of the monarch and the monarchy. This is also a major reason for the decline of the monarchy.
But this is not often seen in Australia. Although Australia can be regarded as an autocratic monarchy system, including the current federation of Australia and New Zealand, which also adopts an autocratic monarchy, the federal royal family does not oppress the people. Instead, it has formulated various welfare policies.
The income of workers throughout the federation is higher than the per capita annual income of the federation. Will workers still hate the royal family?
At least in Australia, the people who were most grateful to Arthur were the poor people and workers provided by the royal family.
The royal family gave these poor people hope to survive, and also gave these emerging working class hope for a better life.
Although these people don't understand any big principles, they can still make simple comparisons. After comparison, it is clear who is good to them and who is bad to them.
This is Arthur's method to gain the support of the people and consolidate his dominance. As long as the welfare benefits brought by the royal family to the people are higher than those of other people in the country, in comparison, people will also know that the royal family will at least not oppress them.
Without the hatred of being oppressed and exploited, the emerging class will not be hostile to the royal family and the monarch, and the Australian monarchy will not be shaken by this.
This is also the benefit of an emerging country. If a country like the Tsarist Empire carries out reforms, it will not only face the hatred and distrust of a large number of emerging classes, but also the opposition of the aristocratic class it represents.
Even if the Tsar wanted to change and resolve the domestic conflicts in Russia, would those nobles who had been pampered and pampered for hundreds of years agree?
The nobles would not give up their privileges for the sake of the untouchables. After hundreds of years of accumulation, the noble class was a huge group that was fully able to influence the tsar.
This is also the reason why reforms in many countries in history ultimately failed. Because they could not solve the huge interest groups that had been formed, the reforms were only superficial.
While various reforms and measures in the federation of Australia and New Zealand were being carried out lively, the war in Australia's far north and Far East was also gradually heating up.
The Tsarist Empire acted very quickly, at least in terms of accountability.
One month after the war broke out, the Tsarist Empire quickly dismissed General Tasker, who had shown himself useless in this raid, and replaced Makarov, the last famous general of the Tsarist Russian Empire.
As for why the commander was changed after a month, it was because it would take at least a month for Lieutenant General Makarov to rush to the Far East.
Lieutenant General Makarov's full name is Stepan Ospovich Makarov. He was a famous naval admiral, military theory expert and scientist in the Tsarist Russian Empire. Lieutenant General Makarov's original position was the naval commander of Kronstadt Port in St. Petersburg.
As early as the eve of the outbreak of this war, General Makarov sent a letter to the Russian Imperial Navy, warning that a war between the Russian Empire and the island countries was imminent, and suggested that the Pacific Fleet anchored outside Port Arthur gather in one place, and Be prepared for possible attacks at all times.
But General Makarov offended most of the officials in the Navy Department because of his straightforward character.
This resulted in the Admiralty not paying heed to Makarov's suggestion, and even throwing it directly into the trash can after receiving the letter.
But unexpectedly, the Tsarist Empire's Pacific Fleet was attacked the next day, and two battleships were severely damaged.
The original Pacific Fleet still had a slight advantage against the warships of the island countries, but after being attacked, it was the combined fleets of the island countries that gained the advantage.
This defeat made the Tsarist Russian Imperial Government extremely angry, and it immediately ordered Lieutenant General Makarov in St. Petersburg to go to the Far East to replace Stark, the former commander of the Pacific Fleet.
By the time Makarov arrived in the Far East, it was already a month later, March 7, 1904.
After taking office urgently, Makarov took a series of measures to prevent a possible second attack by the island country. The fleet also dispatched a large scale and laid large minefields along the coast of Liaodong to prevent the island country from possible landing. A sneak attack from the rear of Port Arthur Fortress.
In order to cope with possible battles, Makarov also strengthened the defense of Port Arthur, at the same time stepped up the repair of some lightly damaged warships, and strengthened the navy's combat readiness training.
The Vladivostok fleet was also dispatched several times under Makarov's order to interfere with the island country's maritime traffic and transportation lines, which to a certain extent dispersed the island country's pressure on the Port of Port Arthur.
These policies were extremely effective in boosting the morale of the Russian Imperial Navy soldiers. Makarov personally led the team several times, which also made the naval officers and soldiers more recognize the new commander.
The island nation was most troubled by the new commander of the Russian Empire. After the island nation thought hard for a long time, they finally came up with a very insidious method.
Why did the Pacific Fleet become extremely difficult to deal with in a short period of time? Isn't it because of their new commander Makarov?
Since the Pacific Fleet cannot be solved in a short time, it is better to solve Makarov directly. Isn't this equivalent to solving the Pacific Fleet in disguise?
With this mentality in mind, the island country secretly dispatched warships to lay a large minefield at the Port of Port Arthur, preparing to lure the Russian Empire into war at the right opportunity and use this minefield to deal with the indeed capable General Makarov.
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(End of chapter)