Chapter 478: The Attribution of Royal Power
While European countries are still in chaos, the plan to move the capital of Australasia has officially begun.
The site of the new capital is located at the junction of the Murray River and the Darling River, west of Sydney and north of Melbourne, in the very center of the Murray River Basin.
The first phase of the new capital's construction plan includes the construction of a new palace, government, courts, churches, parliaments, schools, hospitals, and the preparation of new houses for the first residents of the new capital.
This is no small project. According to the construction plan given by the government, Arthur will not be able to settle in the new capital until five years at the earliest, and even ten years is not impossible.
Because the royal consortium has developed very rapidly in the past ten years, Arthur has not been stingy in the construction of the new palace. It is expected to invest 150 million Australian dollars to build a larger, more luxurious and extravagant palace according to Arthur's ideas.
Because the population of Australasia has gradually enriched, this new palace will be rich in cultural characteristics from all over the world, creating a true Palace of Nations.
The construction of the palace will invite bids from construction companies from all over the world, gathering the strength of the world to build a palace in the true sense.
A budget of 150 million Australian dollars is completely sufficient. After all, converted, this is a cost of 375 million US dollars, 1.875 billion francs, and 1 billion taels of silver.
This should also be the last time the capital of Australasia is moved. As the place where he and his family will live in the future, Arthur is very generous in his budget investment.
In fact, Australasia's financial position is also very good. The government has also invested US$500 million to build a new capital and develop the Murray River Basin.
It’s not that the Australasian government is so arrogant just for the sake of a capital city. After all, the purpose behind moving the capital is to develop the entire Murray River Basin. This is a more important strategic plan than the new capital.
In order to introduce people to the new capital, the Australasian government specially issued a regulation to attract people from the surrounding areas of Sydney and Melbourne. If they are willing to settle in the new capital, the government will give away a house, five acres of land, and a compensation of 200 Australian dollars. Funds etc.
Other parts of Australasia are still quite short of population. Only the two major cities of Sydney and Melbourne have a population of over 2 million.
If a portion of the population can be attracted from these two cities to the new capital, it will not only reduce the difficulty of developing the Murray River Basin, but will also not affect the development of other parts of Australasia.
After all, if people are introduced from other areas, it can easily affect the development of other areas, especially for areas like Western Australia that require scarce populations.
Arthur's appeal was still very strong. From the official announcement of the new capital construction plan, by the end of 1918, more than 100,000 Australasians had signed up and were willing to settle permanently in the new capital.
The transfer of these people will be carried out in the new year. A population of 100,000 is considered enough for a brand-new capital. After all, the emergence of the new capital will also attract some immigrants, and the population will rapidly grow to 200,000 to 300,000. Still no problem.
When the construction of the new capital is officially completed, the southeastern region of Australia will form a triangular urban agglomeration with Melbourne, Sydney and the new capital. This will be the core of Australasia and can accommodate at least hundreds of millions of people.
Also taking advantage of the temporary subsidence of the influenza, the World Alliance began to discuss the handling of the German royal family.
Logically speaking, as the German emperor, Wilhelm II had an unshirkable responsibility for the war and naturally had to bear the responsibility for launching the war.
However, the situation in Germany has clearly shown that the command power of the German government in the late war was controlled by the military government headed by Hindenburg, and William II also lost his real rights.
Coupled with the complicated relationships between European royal families, various countries have not yet decided on how to deal with the German royal family.
This makes the current situation in Germany very embarrassing. Wilhelm II fled to the Netherlands, and the major states in South Germany did not obey the government's management, and they seemed to be in disarray again.
Naturally, the British did not want to see the Germans become a piece of loose sand and be manipulated at will by the French. Therefore, they proposed to retain William II's throne of Prussia and let the major German states elect a new emperor.
The purpose of the British is actually very simple. After all, Prussia is still the largest state in North Germany and even the entire Germany. It is very simple to gain the support of other states.
It does not seem to be difficult for William II, who has retained the throne of Prussia, to become the emperor of Germany again through election.
The control of Germany by William II, who has always been prestigious, can unite Germany into a rope to resist the threat of the French.
Contrary to the British attitude, France naturally did not want to see Germany have a relatively prestigious ruler.
France is willing to see the current military government continue to rule Germany. After all, the failure of the war caused the German military government to suffer a lot of criticism, and many German generals and officials were dissatisfied with the military government. This is a rift within the Germans and a guarantee for France to keep Germany under its feet forever.
As for the opinions of other powers, the Russians don't care much about this, because there are still contradictions within the Russian government. This is something Nicholas II, the Russian government and even the Workers' Alliance attach great importance to.
What kind of system Russia will become depends on the competition between these three major forces in Russia.
The remaining Italy and Australasia are both monarchies in the true sense, and have jointly signed the European Royal Family Declaration.
Naturally, Arthur could not support Germany becoming a republic, and Italy had no intention of violating the European Royal Union Declaration.
It was impossible for a single Frenchman to prevent the restoration of the monarchy in Germany. The French immediately put forward other demands, such as that the new German emperor must be approved by a vote of the World Alliance, and that the power of the German government could be guaranteed to avoid the emergence of an autocratic country. etc. To put it simply, the French saw that they could not prevent William II from retaining the throne of the King of Prussia, and they made a new decision to restrict Germany, that is, to increase the rights of German states and to allow Germany's prime ministerial power and monarchy to check and balance each other.
As a result, the three powers of Germany's local states and the central government's chancellorship and monarchy coexisted, making it almost impossible for Germany to condense into a unified state like before the war.
The current military government betrayed Wilhelm II late in the war, and the South German states also sought independence later in the war. This makes it almost impossible for the three major forces in Germany to reconcile in the future. In the game, the national cohesion is -80%.
At this time, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was rescued by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, was not in such a good mood.
To put it bluntly, the outcome of Wilhelm II was completely in the hands of the four major Allied powers.
Continuing as the emperor of Germany, or being directly deposed from the throne, was only a matter of thought among the four major powers of the Entente.
On the one hand, William II expected that the four major Allied powers would abide by the European Royal Family Declaration and retain their thrones and crowns.
On the one hand, he felt that his early escape to the Netherlands was disgraceful, and he wanted to return to his throne in a more glorious way, rather than as a charity from the Allied Powers.
This can also be regarded as a reflection of the good face of traditional nobles. For traditional nobles like William II, the dignity and face of the nobles are sometimes more important than actual rights. What's more, William II is more extreme and saves face due to congenital reasons.
In fact, with the European Royal Family Declaration signed before, it is basically impossible for William II's throne to be abolished. At most, Prussia will be cut off and William II will become the king of a smaller Prussia.
The European Royal Family's Joint Declaration not only concerns the rights and status of all European royal families, but also reflects the unity of the interests of the European royal families.
If someone openly and openly abandons this declaration, it is equivalent to betraying the entire European royal family, and the impact is naturally self-evident.
It is worth mentioning that all European countries that launched the war this time, including Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and other countries, all retained their monarchies.
Although other countries also contributed, Arthur, who advocated the conclusion of a joint declaration of European royal families at the time, undoubtedly gained the greatest share of prestige.
The European Royal Family's Joint Declaration allowed the European royal families to successfully unite on some interests, and Arthur, who promoted this declaration, naturally became one of the representatives of the European royal families.
It is worth mentioning that the monarchs of all powerful countries are of the same generation as Arthur.
King George V of England was Arthur's cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm II was Arthur's cousin, and Nicholas II was Arthur's cousin.
Including King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy, these monarchs have lost most of their rights, and Arthur is the only real monarch among the great powers.
It also made Arthur's status among the European royal families not low. He was born into the British royal family, belonged to a German family, and was related by marriage to the Russian royal family, which allowed Arthur to have connections with the royal families of all the powerful countries.
Although Australasia is not the most powerful country, Arthur's status in the European royal family is no less than that of monarchs like George V.
Even because most of George V's power was emptied out by the cabinet, he also lost part of his reputation among the European royal families.
After all, how can a monarch who relies on the legacy of his ancestors and whose own rights have been eclipsed by the government gain the sincere respect of other royal families?
Moreover, George V was still like in history. At the end of the war, because he could not withstand the pressure from the people, he publicly announced that he would change his family's surname to Windsor.
You know, George V required all members of the British royal family since Queen Victoria to change their surnames to Windsor, except for princesses who are married or to be married.
Although Arthur is also in this range, Arthur will never recognize the surname of George V.
If nothing else, just using the castle name as his new surname, Arthur only felt that the price had dropped.
After George V announced to change his surname at that time, Arthur publicly announced that he did not agree with George V's surname change. The Australasian royal family was still the glorious Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family.
Arthur's behavior also gained him the favor of many German families. His reputation and status among European royal families also increased significantly.
After all, the name and dignity of the family are what European royal families value most. Changing one's long-established surname is a loss of value in the eyes of European royal families.
The first update of 3000 words, please vote for me and support!
It's a bit laggy today, so updates are a bit slow.
(End of chapter)