Chapter 287 Stock Exchange
As time entered September 1910, the floods in several provinces in East Asia became more and more serious. Starving people everywhere were snatching food, refugees broke out, and the people were in distress.
It was also time for Australasia to gain a good impression. Arthur made a high-profile announcement to provide 100 tons of food and 50,000 Australian dollars to the disaster area on behalf of Australasia to show Australasia's peaceful and friendly side to the outside world.
As expected, after receiving the good news of Australasian aid, not only the local government publicized it, but the victims and refugees from all over the country were also very grateful to Australasia.
Unfortunately, what they didn't know was that the income from selling food in Australasia during this disaster was hundreds of times more than this aid.
In early September, Sydney took the lead in establishing the first stock exchange in Australasia. On that day, Arthur personally participated in the opening ceremony of the stock exchange and delivered a speech, stating the importance of the stock exchange.
In fact, stock trading took place as early as 1602 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. At that time, the Dutch government printed the world's earliest shares, East India Company shares.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Netherlands, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States successively established their own stock exchanges, which has been at least a hundred years ago.
Even in Arthur's less developed island country, two stock exchanges were established in 1878.
It seems that the establishment of the Australasian stock exchange has lagged far behind other countries.
The newly established Sydney Stock Exchange is managed by the Treasury and is not for profit.
However, the establishment of stock exchanges and stock markets plays an important role in the development of the country and private enterprises.
Private companies can choose to list on a stock exchange and divide their company into a number of shares to sell to others.
This allows companies that lack funds to raise development funds in the stock market to meet the large amount of funds required for construction and development.
In addition to raising capital, the stock market can also diversify investment risks and allow private companies to appreciate their assets.
This is good for the development of Australasian enterprises, and can also attract a large amount of external capital to Australasia and drive various developments in Australasia.
Given the size of the population and economy, the current establishment of the stock exchange in Sydney is sufficient.
Sydney is the only city in Australasia with a population of more than one million and is also the political, economic and cultural center, so it can naturally attract more capital.
I believe that after the establishment of the stock exchange, small and medium-sized enterprises in Australasia will also usher in certain development.
As September slowly passed, Arthur became increasingly concerned about the situation in Europe.
Judging from historical developments, the second Moroccan crisis should come soon.
The Moroccan crisis, a political conflict between Germany and France in Morocco, also intensified competition in Europe and worsened relations between Germany and other countries.
After the first Moroccan crisis, in March 1907, France sent troops to occupy the Oujda state in eastern Morocco on the pretext of the murder of a doctor.
Then, in August 1907, France sent troops to forcefully land in Casablanca on the pretext that several French workers were killed (actually these French workers destroyed a Muslim cemetery during construction) and occupied five villages on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. a port city.
After France occupied Bussa Blanca, the relationship between Germany and France suddenly became more tense due to the pursuit of deserters and the conflict at the German consulate.
However, at that time, Germany chose a calm attitude that surprised other countries and agreed to submit the incident to arbitration, so that the incident could be resolved peacefully.
In fact, there are two main reasons why Germany chose to settle the matter. First, the situation in Europe has become very tense due to the previous Bosnian crisis, and the Germans are unwilling to add fuel to such a tense situation.
The second reason is that the first Moroccan crisis has made Germany realize that France's tendency to control Morocco is unstoppable.
Instead of continuing to fight France in Morocco, it is better to compromise on this in exchange for Germany's economic interests in Morocco and compensation from France.
After all, Germany is the second largest power in the world. Since it gave in to France in Morocco, France must give some compensation!
Therefore, on February 9, 1909, France and Germany signed the Franco-German Agreement. France announced that it recognized the independence and integrity of Morocco and recognized that Germany had equal economic rights in Morocco.
Germany recognized France's special political rights in Morocco and pledged not to interfere with France's actions to maintain peace and stability in Morocco.
The signing of the Franco-German Agreement made the politicians and high-level leaders of Germany and France very satisfied, and even alleviated the conflicts between the two countries to a great extent, almost transferring the conflicts between France and Germany to the negotiation table instead of the battlefield.
Unfortunately, the approach of France and Germany made the British very cautious and concerned.
In the final analysis, it is impossible for Germany and France to reconcile as long as Britain is here.
Both Germany and France have a dominant position in Europe. Once these two countries unite, they will really be able to control the entire Europe.
This is something the British don't want to see at all. After the reconciliation between Germany and France, wouldn't their enemy naturally become Britain?
What's more, if Germany can reconcile with France, can't it not reconcile with Russia?
Their conflicts have been reconciled, what will happen to Britain?
You know, although Britain and France are the two countries with the largest colonies in the world today, most of the interests are actually controlled by the United Kingdom.
If the major European powers are to reconcile, their enemy can be imagined, and that is Britain.
Can the British Empire, a well-known European troublemaker, tolerate such a situation?
If nothing else, reconciliation between Germany and France is the last thing the UK wants to see. After the reconciliation between Germany and France, the main contradictions on the European continent disappeared. This will turn the reason for the confrontation between the two major military groups into the conflict between Germany and Britain. To put it bluntly, it is the competition between the first power and the second power for the position of world hegemony.
Under such circumstances, would France and Russia still be willing to sacrifice their lives for Britain?
It would be better not to even take part. After all, the British Empire occupied the most colonies and divided up the interests among all the powers. On the basis of peace for everyone, carving up the British Empire seemed to be beneficial to most countries.
If history continues, the second Moroccan crisis will break out in a few months.
The second Moroccan crisis made the contradiction between Britain and Germany even more acute, because Germany became the only target of British politics.
At the same time, the second Moroccan crisis also strengthened the relationship between the Anglo-French Entente.
Because at the most critical moment for France, Britain stepped forward, drew its sword to help, and dealt Germany a fatal blow.
This made the French grateful to Britain, and later strengthened close cooperation between the two countries in all aspects, with the purpose of jointly fighting Germany.
The second Moroccan crisis created a more tense situation in Europe and even increased the atmosphere of war.
If it were not for the British's hard-line stance in the crisis and the Germans' retreat, I am afraid that the second Moroccan crisis would have become the trigger for the First World War.
Regardless, it is necessary to be prepared for this crisis. The Moroccan crisis in history was relatively properly resolved, but who can guarantee that the Moroccan crisis in this world will not become a trigger for war?
After all, with Arthur as a butterfly in this world, many developments are no longer the same as before.
Under such circumstances, it is not impossible for Britain and Germany to have other ideas.
If Germany chooses to be tough, wouldn't it mean that World War I is coming?
Of course, even if the second Moroccan crisis did not become the trigger for the First World War, it was necessary to prepare for it in advance.
This crisis has focused the attention of the three major European powers, Britain, Germany and France, and is busy in this competition. It has also caused many countries with other ambitions to use this crisis to expand their own interests.
For example, the Italian-Turkish War, the Balkan War, etc. that broke out during the crisis.
It is worth mentioning that the protagonists of these two wars are the same, the already decadent Ottoman Turkish Empire.
It is worth mentioning that the Sarajevo incident, the trigger of World War I in history, is also related to the Balkan War.
To be precise, the Balkan War was a war between several Balkan countries and Turkey, including Serbia, the protagonist in Sarajevo.
After the two Balkan Wars, the Balkan countries formed two camps, opposing each other.
On one side were Serbia, Greece, Romania and Mendinegoro, and behind them stood the Allied Powers.
On the other side are Bulgaria and Turkey, with the Allied Powers group headed by Germany and Austria behind them.
From this we can also see the control and influence of big countries on small countries. The Balkans were also divided into two factions due to the influence of the two major European military groups.
Since they are divided into two major factions, conflicts between them are inevitable.
As one of the Balkan countries, Serbia naturally has some ambitions. Serbia dreamed of unifying the Balkans and establishing a Greater Serbian Yugoslav state.
This ambition naturally conflicted with the strategic interests of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Bosnia and Herzegovina, which the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexed two years ago, has mostly Serbian residents and borders Serbia.
Due to the border conflict between each other, Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire became enemies, but the small country could not resist the big country after all.
Therefore, some nationalist young military officers in Serbia formed a mafia called Unity or Death.
And this mafia, composed of Serbian officers, was the organization that would provide weapons to the assassins of Archduke Ferdinand in the future.
It can only be said that the conflicts between various European countries are related. Because of the second Moroccan crisis, Jean-Jean Italy launched the Italian-Turkish War.
Just because Turkey was tired of dealing with the Italian-Turkish War, the Balkan countries formed an alliance and launched the First Balkan War.
Later, due to the uneven distribution of war and the opposition of national forces behind it, the Balkan countries split into two factions.
Coupled with Serbia's territorial expansion in the two wars, Serbia gave birth to the idea of establishing a Greater Serbian Yugoslavia.
This idea conflicted with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and also made some young Serbian nationalist officers hate the Austro-Hungarian Empire, especially those like Archduke Ferdinand who opposed Great Serbism and were hostile to Serbia. Key Personnel.
The second update of 3200 words, please vote for me and support!
Today, the number has reached 7400/10000 per day. Please vote for me and support me!
(End of chapter)