Chapter 461 Diplomatic Means and Checks and Balances
According to the statistics of the soldiers' meritorious service by the defense department, the enfeoffment ceremony to be held in the future will allow the country to give birth to at least a dozen real nobles.
There are even more honorary titles such as knights, at least hundreds, which greatly strengthens the aristocratic class in Australasia.
In addition to knighthood for military merit, knighthood for political achievements, knighthood for scientific research, etc. are all ways to become a noble.
Arthur did value the military exploits of his soldiers, but he valued the contributions of government officials as much as those of civilians and scientific personnel.
Successive government officials, all scientific researchers, and even all civilians in Australasia will be awarded awards, medals, and knighthoods based on their merits.
With the addition of these government officials and scientific researchers, Australasia will have hundreds of nobles added at once, completely consolidating the rights of the Australasian aristocracy. At least the Australasian aristocracy will not exist in name only.
For a monarchy, the channels for advancement at all levels are very important. Even for all countries, ensuring that the lower class has a way to rise can stabilize the order of the entire country.
The upward path in Australasia is very simple, that is, anyone can obtain fields, funds, medals, and even titles by virtue of their contribution to the country and the royal family.
In this way, Australasia seems to be a feudal country, but in fact, Australasians can enjoy fairer treatment than those in so-called liberal democracies, which is justice and equality in the true sense.
Although the aristocracy is the largest ruling class group in Australasia, any class retains channels to become a nobility, which also means that anyone has the hope of becoming a nobility.
To give a simple example, in Australasia, even farmers and herdsmen, as long as they make certain contributions to the country, such as innovating new agricultural and animal husbandry technologies, they will receive a large number of rewards and even knighthoods.
As long as all classes and common people in Australasia have the hope of becoming nobility, they will not be hostile to the nobility, but will only work hard to make contributions to the country and the royal family, and then become nobility.
The reason why the common people are dissatisfied with the nobility and the interests in power is because the interests in power have monopolized all channels to reach the top.
When a person cannot change his class no matter how hard he tries, it is time for the people at the bottom to challenge the top.
Therefore, Arthur specifically stated in all channels for rising to the nobility that as long as he was a citizen of Australasia, he had the qualifications to become a nobility.
The aristocracy is open to all Australasians. As long as they can contribute to the country, they will be rewarded.
This is also Arthur's promise to all Australasians. Australasia's aristocratic system will be stable as long as the avenues for rising commoners are not monopolized.
It's like working in a company. A new employee will have hope for the company as long as he has the channel to become a senior executive or even a shareholder of the company.
But no matter how hard you work, you will end up just being a wage earner. You will also face the risk of continuous exploitation by the company's top management and even unemployment. Employees will naturally have no loyalty to the company and will even try their best to find new jobs or destroy the company.
Post-war statistics and enfeoffment rewards are currently the most important things in Australasia.
After Prime Minister Kent hurriedly compiled a summary of domestic affairs, he took all members of the delegation to London on a battlecruiser to participate in the peace talks on dividing the interests of all the Allied Powers.
In fact, the real location for peace talks is not in London, but in Paris, the capital of France. But before the Paris Peace Conference, there was a small conference in London, with the participants being the four original Allied powers, Britain, France, Russia, and Australia.
Although the Entente has six major powers, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the real leaders are still the original four major powers.
As a country that switched jobs midway, and its contribution in the war was not large, it is natural that Italy does not have enough say.
Although the United States has sufficient strength, it joined the war too late. In the early stage, it was suspected of sitting on the mountain and watching the fight between tigers and tigers.
Moreover, the greatest contribution of the Americans to the war was to provide loans to all Allied countries. The military casualties were very few, and the military's credit was equally small.
Such contributions by Americans are not enough to enter the core decision-making level of the Allied Powers, even if the overall strength of the United States has surpassed Russia and Australasia.
Among the four major powers of the Entente, the status of each country has actually changed significantly.
France and Russia were the two countries with the greatest casualties among the four major powers. They were also the only two countries among the four major powers that were land-adjacent to Germany.
Both countries have a great need for German land, so they naturally came together.
The United Kingdom and Australasia suffered little losses in the war, and they were either too far away from Germany or separated by straits.
Neither Britain nor Australasia has much demand for Germany, and they even hope that Germany will not be divided too much.
This has also led to the Allied Powers currently being divided into two factions, one headed by France and Russia, and the other headed by Britain and Australia.
But in any case, the real leading countries of the Entente are these four major powers. Therefore, the reason for meeting in London in advance is to show other countries the strength and unity of the four major Allied powers.
Arthur still wanted to join in the fun of the famous Paris Peace Conference in history.
But after thinking about it, I decided to forget it. After all, no monarch would personally participate in such peace talks, and there was no point in arguing with those officials.
Even if Arthur didn't say a word, just sitting there would be uncomfortable. With Arthur around, the officials couldn't let go and compete for benefits. Arthur was also bound by etiquette, sitting there and asking for trouble.
Rather than going to join in the fun, it is better to settle domestic affairs at home. Anyway, the status of a country is not determined by the size of the noble class, but by the strength and military power of the country, with a steel-like fist.
As the saying goes, the land is measured with cannons, and the coastline is guarded with naval guns.
Only when the military strength is strong can it win the respect of other countries.
As one of the four major powers of the Allied Powers, Australasia has attracted the attention of many countries.
Especially on the Balkan front, which the Australasian army was previously responsible for, many countries, including Serbia, have found Australasia and want to seek Australasia's diplomatic support.
This kind of diplomatic move is very common in the international community. After all, the interests of small countries basically rely on big countries to have the final say.
To talk about the cruel reality, if the four major powers of the Entente reach a consensus, even if they annex all the interests, other countries will not dare to say anything.
Maybe the Americans will make a little noise, but until the U.S. military is fully armed, the Europeans don't care much about the actions of the Americans.
A great power country will inevitably have many small countries to rely on. Great power countries can provide more shelter for small countries. Small countries will also become the market of great powers and expand their influence at the same time.
This can be regarded as mutually reinforcing. In this era of law of the jungle, this can be regarded as the best outcome for a small country. After a peaceful Christmas, the Paris Peace Conference is about to begin.
On January 16, 1918, the four major powers of the Allied Powers met in London, England, and reached a consensus that the four major powers would lead the Allied Powers, and reached a certain tacit understanding on the distribution of their respective interests.
Although there are still disputes over the distribution of certain benefits, at least agreement has been reached on the general direction.
The meeting of the four major Allied powers made the Americans feel dangerous. They were worried that the four major powers might exclude them from the distribution of benefits. Therefore, they urgently united with Italy and used a large number of media to launch a public opinion offensive.
Under the leadership of Americans, many American and European media began to question the intention of the four Allied powers to meet, accusing the four Allied powers of conspiring to exclude all victorious countries and monopolize the interests of the victorious Allies.
But such diplomatic means were innocuous to the four major powers. The propaganda departments and intelligence departments of each country acted together, and European public opinion quickly disappeared.
Of course, the diplomatic departments of various countries also gave unified explanations, saying that this was just a normal meeting of the four major Allied powers. As for why the United States and Italy did not participate in the conference, who told them not to join the Allied Powers early?
In order to wait for the end of the Paris Peace Conference, Arthur even postponed the annual report and victory parade, including the enfeoffment ceremony and awards, which would be officially held after the Paris Peace Conference.
On January 27, 1918, the Paris Peace Conference was officially held in Paris, France, with participants including all countries of the Entente and Central Powers.
This merger will include the former Allied countries, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. The treaties signed by the Entente and all Central Powers will be merged together, collectively known as the Treaty of Paris.
On the evening of January 26, the day before the peace conference, Prime Minister Kent received a request for a meeting from US President Wilson.
Although I don't have a good impression of Americans, after all, the United States is a powerful country. It would be too rude to directly refuse the request of the president of a powerful country to see him.
In the room prepared for representatives of various countries at the peace conference, Prime Minister Kent met the elegant and elegant President of the United States.
As soon as the two met, they acted like politicians. They seemed like good friends who had not seen each other for many years. They were very friendly and even talked about everything.
After chatting for a few minutes, and seeing that the atmosphere was almost heated, Wilson said happily: "Prime Minister Kent, I think Australasia and the United States are very similar. They are both emerging countries that developed later, and they both have very Good industry, economy and military. If you add in the British colonies, my God, we are really brotherly countries!"
Prime Minister Kent smiled contemptuously at President Wilson's words. The United States gained armed independence from Britain, while Australasia was peacefully enfeoffed. There are basic differences in the way the two countries were established.
What's more, the race in the United States is relatively chaotic, while Australasia has an entirely white population, which is closer to European blood.
Just the large amount of chocolate in the United States also makes Prime Minister Kent not have a good impression of the United States, let alone as a brother country.
But there is no way, the diplomatic etiquette is still there, Prime Minister Kent said with a smile: "Maybe, Mr. President." "
Not maybe, of course, Mr. Prime Minister. We are very similar brotherly countries, like we all have Sufficient strength and status. Sir, don't you think we should use our own strength to establish a new world order? It is necessary for emerging countries to increase their voice. We should negotiate with established powers like Britain and France to resolve conflicts. And work together to maintain world peace." President Wilson shook his head and said with great certainty.
Prime Minister Kent nodded as expected in his heart, but showed no reaction on the surface, waiting for President Wilson's next statement.
Putting aside the appetite of Americans, even if Australasia and the United States united to establish a new order, they would never be able to withstand the alliance between Britain and France.
To put it bluntly, Australasia is still very backward in terms of population and economy, and the United States is still very backward in military terms, and is far behind the overall leading powers like Britain and France.
Moreover, Australasia ignores thick legs like the British and instead cooperates with Americans who have the same shortcomings. Isn't this a mistake?
Emerging countries are inherently contradictory. Even if Australasia and the Americans could develop, sooner or later there would be conflicts over the Pacific.
The relationship between Australasia and the Americans is far less stable than that with the British, and the benefits Australasia obtains from the United States are far less attractive than those obtained from the United Kingdom.
As expected by Prime Minister Kent, President Wilson's next words were all about establishing a new order, and how Britain and France fell behind, and how Australasia and the United States became advanced and powerful.
Prime Minister Kent sneered at President Wilson's speech. Perhaps the United States has some advanced aspects compared with Britain and France, but it is still far from being as powerful as Britain and France.
The current world order can only be established on the basis of the four major powers: Britain, France, Russia, and Australia. Other countries have not yet had the strength to change the status of these four major powers.
After a few casual conversations, Prime Minister Kent sent President Wilson away, ending this meaningless meeting.
However, Prime Minister Kent still thought deeply about President Wilson's true intention.
There is still a huge power gap between the United States, Britain and France, and I believe Americans can also see this.
Logically speaking, Americans should not be stupid enough to challenge the status of Britain and France now. This is something that even the United States, Australia and Italy cannot do if they unite.
This being the case, it proves that Americans are not interested in drinking. It seems that they want to establish a new world order by uniting emerging countries like Australasia.
In fact, it may be that it wants to win over some allies and seek more diplomatic support to avoid being excluded from the core of the new world order.
From this point of view, there is no need for Australasia to cooperate with the United States. Australasia would have been one of the core layers of the New World Order. Although it was the weakest among the four major powers, its status was far superior to countries like Italy and the United States (in the Entente).
If the United States is allowed to join the core of the Allied Powers, Australasia's status will inevitably drop another one.
Isn't this equivalent to shooting oneself in the foot? Prime Minister Kent cursed secretly, saying that the Americans were stabbing themselves by tricking Australasia, and their impression of the Americans had also dropped a lot.
Thinking of this, Prime Minister Kent immediately called British Prime Minister Asquith, mentioned President Wilson's words without any trace, and said with a smile: "Some people are already restless." I believe the British will take action
, Even if the British had not thought about squeezing the United States out of the core of the Allied Powers before, they would definitely change their minds after hearing Prime Minister Kent's words.
After all, no one likes a restless country, especially such a potential enemy and challenger to national interests.
The Americans would definitely not be looking for just one country, Australasia, but they would never have imagined that Prime Minister Kent called Prime Minister Asquith immediately after President Wilson left, directly clarifying the Americans' purpose.
The British had plans to support Australasia against the United States before the war. Faced with such a good opportunity, how could the British, who were proficient in balancing policies, give up?
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(End of chapter)