The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 1125: 843 declares war! Declares war!

The German Army was obviously also aware of the large-scale mobilization.

Unlike the indifferent French government, Arthur had long understood that the Germans’ appetite would not be satiated by a mere Polish Corridor.

Since he already knew about France’s continual concessions, why not take this opportunity to swallow up Poland, which was completely unprepared?

If a level-headed person like Arthur could think this way, not to mention the rulers of Germany and Italy who were already quite mad.

After learning that the Island Nation was expanding its military preparations and had provocatively targeted Australasia in this respect, the Australasian Government quickly concluded that the Island Nation was diverting Australasia’s attention, and that Germany was likely to act soon in Europe.

For his own interests, Arthur, of course, chose to fight fire with fire.

The more intense the conflict in Europe, the easier it was for Australasia to reap greater benefits from the war.

In a world without the United States, the faster Europe fell, the more benefits Australasia would gain.

In order to cooperate with the Germans, Arthur decided to further expand his military preparations, to make the Germans believe that Australasia’s attention had been drawn by the Islanders.

In fact, Australasia’s hostility towards the Island Nation was not hidden at all, and various military expansions targeting the Island Nation emerged one after another.

As time reached October 3rd, 1935, a piece of shocking news instantly set the whole of Europe’s public opinion ablaze.

The day before, on October 2nd, a massive airship named Wilhelm II, traveling from Berlin, Germany, to Romania, crashed while passing over Polish territory.

Although the German side did not publish the cause of the airship’s crash, many photos leaked out of the airship burning in mid-air and the wreckage falling to the ground.

You have to understand that this airship was a truly gigantic one. The fact that it was named after William II, the Emperor of the German Empire, was enough to prove Germany’s emphasis on this airship.

In fact, this was indeed the case. Even though airplanes had completely replaced airships at the strategic level, large airships still had a role in long-distance transportation and cargo delivery due to their far larger space than airplanes.

This super airship, named Wilhelm II, was called the largest aircraft in human history.

So, why was it that among the great powers, only Germany was still vigorously developing airships?

One still has to mention the restrictions placed on Germany after World War I. Until Germany completely abolished these restrictions, they had no right to research and manufacture airplanes.

Since they couldn’t manufacture airplanes, airships naturally became the Germans’ only option.

This is why, despite the frequent airship accidents, Germany still had a sizable number of airship airlines, large and small.

This airship, which suddenly exploded and burned in mid-air before crashing, measured close to 233 meters in length and nearly 40 meters in diameter—an absolute behemoth in the sky.

Thanks to the airship’s gigantic size, the Wilhelm II could accommodate between 55 to 72 passengers and 42 to 55 crew members.

Among these 40 to 50 crew members, there were also 6 to 9 air stewards, what would later be known as flight attendants.

Besides, the airship was equipped with many facilities including a bar, a large restaurant, luxurious living areas, a movie screening room, an observatory, and many more.

Although its speed was a mere 123 kilometers per hour, considering the luxurious personnel and facilities on board, this was definitely the highest service that nobility and capitalists could enjoy in the sky at the time.

Precisely because those who could enjoy such luxurious airships were mostly nobility and capitalists, the news of this airship’s crash instantly garnered attention throughout all of Europe.

As the owner of the airship, the German government immediately started an investigation. Since the airship crashed in Poland, the German government demanded that Poland open its borders to allow a German investigative team to conduct a thorough inquiry.

The Poles didn’t take it seriously at first and agreed to the Germans’ request without a second thought.

After all, the airship did indeed crash on Polish territory, and it was reasonable for Poland to agree to a German investigation by all accounts.

But soon, the Poles noticed something was amiss.

The German government rejected the Polish government’s proposal for a joint investigation and merely collected the debris from the crash before quickly concluding the investigation.

However, a few days later, the German government suddenly made a statement, claiming the Wilhelm II airship had ignited leaked hydrogen in the air with a spark, leading to the explosion and burning of the entire aircraft.

The question then arose, where did the spark in the air come from?

Taking into account the sufficient combat capability of countries’ air forces, the German government shifted all blame to Poland.

In an interview, the German Foreign Minister angrily stated that the Poles were very angry about Germany reclaiming the Polish Corridor and had launched a terrorist attack against Germany.

Facing a host of exceptionally shocked domestic and international media, the German Foreign Minister firmly stated that if the Poles had not planned the terrorist attack, they should hand over all their air forces for the Germans to inspect.

Secondly, until Poland’s guilt is completely cleared, Poland is the prime suspect for the Zeppelin explosion. As compensation for all members on board the airship, the Polish government should pay a total of 18.77 million Pounds and prosecute the criminals who planned and carried out the terrorist attack.

Although the Poles had not yet figured out how they had become the prime suspects for the airship explosion in just a few days, they were certainly not going to agree to the Germans’ demands.

While the compensation was not a substantial amount for Poland, how could Poland admit to something that they had not done?

This very obvious framing and setup caused great dissatisfaction within the Polish government.

In interviews with foreign media, the Polish government also took a tough stance, indicating that the Germans were purely framing them.

Moreover, officials from the Polish Foreign Affairs Department stated that all conclusions drawn by the Germans were their wild guesses, with no basis in reality.

If the Germans did not have sufficient evidence to prove that the airship crash was orchestrated by Poland, then it proved Poland was innocent.

Regarding the German government’s frame-up, the Polish government demanded that the German government pay compensation of 18.77 million Pounds and issue a public apology to the Polish government.

Clearly, the governments of the two countries were once again at odds.

This also brought up the reaction of the Polish public to the forced cession of the Polish Corridor.

The so-called Greater Polish ideology was recognized by many Polish people. Faced with the act of being forced to cede territory, which ran contrary to Greater Polish ideology, the Polish public was quite dissatisfied.

What could the Polish government do? They could only repeatedly declare that the cession of territory was forced, and even officials from their Foreign Affairs Department felt almost no involvement in the latter half of the negotiation process.

Doing so did have some effect; the public’s dissatisfaction with the government over the cession of territory was shifted onto Germany, which had annexed Polish lands, and onto France and the Austrian Empire, for condoning Germany’s actions.

Now facing the Germans’ blatant frame-up, the Polish public could no longer hold back and demanded that the government maintain a firm stance in this diplomatic confrontation.

Although the Polish Corridor had been forcibly ceded, most of the Poles in this area had been relocated back to the interior of the country.

This also resulted in a current population of over 30 million for Poland, which still made it a medium-sized country with a vast land and large population in Europe.

Bear in mind, Spain, a nation of much interest to various countries, had only about 25 million people before the outbreak of the civil war. And now, it was quite an achievement for Spain to have a population of 24 million, considering the casualties and the outflow of immigrants.

The firm stance of the Poles perfectly suited the appetite of the German government.

Regardless of the reaction from the outside world, the German government put forward even more stringent conditions, demanding that the Polish government open all air force bases for German investigation, and provide flight records for all aircraft within Polish territory.

The Polish government could not possibly agree to the previous conditions, let alone the ones that virtually forced them to expose their air force data to the Germans.

After the Poles once again refused their requests, the German government dropped all pretense, and on the morning of October 15, 1935, delivered a declaration of war to the Polish Ambassador, who was then expelled from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Polish Ambassador did not dare hesitate and hurriedly returned to the Polish Embassy.

But tragically, the Polish Ambassador found that the road back to the Polish Embassy was suddenly under urgent repairs, and another slightly longer detour was blocked due to a traffic accident, making it completely impassable.

Clearly, the German government was obstructing the Polish Ambassador from conveying the message back to Poland.

The helpless Polish Ambassador could only choose to walk back to the embassy, which turned a journey that should have taken just over ten minutes into more than an hour.

Meanwhile, as the declaration of war was being delivered, hundreds of thousands of German soldiers at the German border and in the Polish Corridor were massively marching toward the Polish borders.

The Germans had carefully planned this in advance, amassing an army of 350,000 at the eastern border.

This army of 350,000, having experienced the Spanish Civil War, was considered among Germany’s elite forces.

However, the Germans could not afford to be careless. The country they faced, in terms of military size, was actually larger than theirs.

Indeed, the size of the Polish army exceeded that of Germany’s.

Due to the Poles’ relatively tragic history, even though Poland regained its independence after World War I and acquired a large amount of territory, the Poles still did not dare to slacken in the slightest.

Moreover, with the Polish vision of Greater Poland in mind, the Poles were very enthusiastic about expanding the size of their army and considered the several large countries surrounding them as potential enemies.

To date, the size of Poland’s army was approximately 750,000, and they had a large number of tanks and aircraft.

It can be said that, purely in terms of the size of the land forces, Poland’s army was comparable to Italy’s, which also gave the Poles confidence that they could confront Germany.