Chapter 262: Germany’s Dreadnoughts and the Establishment of the Allied Powers
The cabinet meeting lasted for a long time, and also discussed the future development plans of many departments, and solved some problems in the current development.
For example, the People's Livelihood Department's new policy proposal to benefit the people involves more than seven million Australasians, which also means that the cost of the new proposal is not a small number.
According to estimates from the Ministry of Finance, the new policy will increase financial investment by at least AU$5 million per year. Therefore, the cabinet's support for the new policy is also divided into two groups.
However, in the end, with Arthur's approval, the implementation plan of the new policy was determined.
There is also the issue of the Ministry of Defense. With a new Minister of Defense, it will take some time to get acquainted with the Defense Department's current military force.
Because the navy was about to usher in a large-scale expansion, at Arthur's initiative, the Ministry of Defense established the Department of the Army and the Department of the Navy to manage the army and navy systems respectively.
As for the aviation system, which is currently not large in scale, it has been temporarily classified under the Army.
After the army and navy expanded one after another, the Ministry of Defense also became the bulk of Australasia's financial expenditure.
According to this year's Department of Defense report, Australasia's military expenditure will reach a new high this year, at least 14 million Australian dollars.
A small half of this is the salary of soldiers, plus the equipment, weapons and ammunition required for soldier training, as well as the construction and maintenance of the navy, etc., forming a huge figure of nearly seven million pounds.
However, military expenditures were the last thing that could and should not be saved, so even if the national defense department applied for additional military expenditures again, Arthur gritted his teeth and agreed.
With such expenditures by several departments, substantial financial losses this year will definitely be inevitable.
But after all, it is a prime time for national development, and the available funds of the Ministry of Finance are still very abundant, so there are not too many financial worries for the time being.
In addition, Arthur also assigned tasks to several new positions, allowing them to master their respective positions as quickly as possible and get into work as quickly as possible.
For Australasia, if there is nothing happening around, the best option is to quickly invest in development.
Arthur knew that the real opportunities were World War I and World War II in the future, and the rest could only be regarded as small fights.
The cabinet meeting finally ended with Arthur's order, and various departments and cabinet ministers also devoted themselves to their respective work.
As the time came to September, a piece of news completely detonated European public opinion, making Europe, which has attracted much attention, even more popular.
Since the birth of the Dreadnought battleship, the Dreadnought, an advanced and powerful battleship, has attracted the attention of countries around the world.
This also gave the British Empire a good spotlight. Who made them the builders of dreadnoughts?
If there is the only country in Europe that can challenge the British Empire in all aspects, then the German Empire deserves it.
Although the German Empire was only a few decades away from national reunification, no one can deny the strength of the German nation, which quickly created a world hegemon with the largest army and second largest navy.
Since the birth of the dreadnought, Germany quickly came up with its own dreadnought technology, which was the Nassau-class battleship that was originally highly anticipated in history but was actually of no use.
If the dreadnought is an all-round improvement of the old battleships, then the Nassau-class battleships are just old battleships with a little more power and armor protection.
The Germans were careful not to adopt new steam boilers, and they did not pay attention to large-caliber artillery. As a result, the gun caliber of the Nassau-class battleships was only 283 mm, which was far lower than the 305 mm main gun of the dreadnought.
Even if the Germans' 283mm main gun has been strengthened to a certain extent and the firing frequency is faster, the lethality and damage are far less than the 305mm main gun. This is the real reason why the Nassau-class battleship lags behind the dreadnought.
But it is far different now than it was in history. The Germans acquired a new dreadnought design from Australasia, which contrasted the Nassau-class battleships with the Sovereign-class battleships.
The Germans were surprised to find that in addition to the armor protection capabilities of the Nassau-class battleships being comparable to the Sovereign-class battleships, the theoretical artillery output capability and speed were slightly inferior.
The Sovereign class battleship is a dreadnought ship designed based on German and British warships. Doesn't this mean that there is a gap between the Nassau class battleship and the Dreadnought battleship?
Such a stark contrast quickly alarmed William II, and under William II's order, the original two-ship, four-ship Nassau-class battleship construction plan per year was cut in half, and the remaining two ships were all given. Sovereign class battleship.
Although the Monarch-class battleship was not designed by Germans, it also used a lot of German technology. With the help of drawings and detailed information, it was not difficult for German experts to quickly master such technology.
According to the German shipbuilding plans of 1906 and 1907, the two Sovereign-class battleships Rhineland and Posen were completed in August 1908 and September 1908 respectively, making the German Empire the second country in the world to have dreadnoughts. .
The Germans were quite resourceful, and they had two dreadnoughts at once. There are a total of three British Bellerophon-class battleships planned to be built, but even the earliest Bellerophon-class battleship will be completed around February 1909.
This caused Germany to suddenly overtake the United Kingdom and become the country with the largest number of dreadnoughts in the world.
The importance of the dreadnought goes without saying. The navy is the standard to measure whether a country is strong or not. If we take a closer look at all the great powers, they are all maritime powers with sufficient navy.
Even a last-minute power like Italy has the sixth-largest navy in the world.
Needless to say, the Italian Army's combat effectiveness is not even as good as some of the less powerful countries. The criterion for whether a country can become a great power is whether its naval strength can reach the level of a great power, which is the top eight in the world.
In other words, the previous battleships and the current dreadnoughts are a country's ticket to becoming a great power, and they are also the main condition for whether it can be truly taken seriously.
If Germany has been catching up with Britain before, then at least in recent times, Germany has achieved catch-up in terms of dreadnoughts.
This has put Germany in the limelight for a while. Some European people and small countries are even discussing when Germany will catch up with the United Kingdom.
This made it unacceptable for Britain, and what was even more unacceptable was that Russia was getting closer to Germany. There were even rumors that Nicholas II wanted to sign a further non-aggression treaty with Germany.
At present, the momentum on the European continent has clearly shifted towards Germany. This is the view of a considerable number of small countries and European people.
Take a closer look at the two major groups that are currently confronting each other in Europe. The Allies have the German Empire, which currently has the largest army and the second largest navy. It also has the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which has a powerful army, and the Kingdom of Italy, which has the sixth largest navy in the world. These three countries are enough. Dominate the world.
As for the Allied Powers, Russia did not join the Allied Powers because of the proximity of Germany and Russia and the alienation of France and Russia.
Although it still maintained its alliance with France, the conflict between Britain and Russia put France into a dilemma.
Although France currently has signed ententes with Britain and Russia, Russia and Germany also have neutrality treaties.
Can Britain and France alone really stop the three major powers of Germany, Austria and Italy from uniting? Not really.
After all, no matter how powerful Britain is, it is only in terms of its navy. France is a country located on the European continent and is threatened by the German Army at any time.
No matter how powerful the British navy is, it can't go ashore to fight the German army, right? Moreover, Germany is currently catching up with Britain in terms of its dreadnoughts. It is really not certain which navy will be stronger in the future.
There are various signs that the Allies have firmly suppressed the Entente in the limelight, and even some small countries that were originally friendly with the Entente have kept silent for fear of getting into trouble.
Such a situation is not acceptable to the British. If they do not vigorously promote the expansion of the Allies, I am afraid that Europe will be dominated by the Allies in a few years.
The British cabinet held a long meeting for this purpose. King Edward VII also appeared and said something that shocked the British cabinet: "Don't forget who is our biggest enemy. If Germany cannot be solved, then everything in Britain will disappear." ."
On September 7, 1908, Britain officially sent a note to Russia, starting peace negotiations between the two sides on a series of contradictions.
Although it is not known what the negotiations between the two parties contained, on September 17, 1908, the two countries first signed a "Treaty of Understanding". Both parties chose to forget their previous conflicts and become a peaceful and friendly country again.
Then on September 19, the heads of state of Britain, France, and Russia met. In order to express their sincerity, the meeting location was chosen in St. Petersburg, which greatly satisfied the Russians.
On September 23, the "British-Russian Entente" was officially signed. The British expressed compromises with Russia in many areas, and even promised to temporarily abandon support for the island countries as long as Russia turns its attention back to Europe.
The details of various treaties have not been announced to the outside world, but the Anglo-Russian Entente completely reversed the situation in Europe.
After the signing of the Entente, the British publicly stated that their conflicts with Russia no longer existed, and Britain, France, and Russia would make joint efforts for peace and tranquility in Europe.
Needless to say, there is no need to say more about the goals of these three countries. Except for the German Empire, which was in the limelight some time ago, no other country can make these three powerful countries put aside their past grievances and unite together.
Due to the mutual understanding between Britain and Russia, the Entente was formally established. Britain, France and Russia did have the strength to fight against the Allies in terms of influence and real strength.
The British used their diplomatic methods and influence to let the whole world understand who is the overlord of this world.
After William II heard about the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente, he fell into a brief silence.
He once thought he had successfully won over Russia, but he did not expect that at this moment he would be pried into a corner by Britain.
But there is no way. As the current world hegemon, Britain has a strong influence in all major regions and can bring more benefits to Russia.
The friendship between countries is more about interests. William II believed that if he were Nicholas II, he would do the same for the benefit of the country.
Suddenly, politicians and small countries close to the Allies came forward one after another, as if the previous silence did not exist.
After Europe entered the heyday of the Allied Powers, it entered the heyday of the Entente Powers in a short period of time.
Arthur shook his head helplessly in Australasia. Unexpectedly, the wheel of history was still going back and forth, and the respective countries of the two major military groups finally chose the path in history.
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(End of chapter)