The Rise Of Australasia

The current situation has changed too much compared to history, but there is no helping it.

After all, Arthur would never allow a formidable enemy like Roosevelt to rule the United States over the next few years.

Roosevelt’s capabilities far exceeded those of President Wilson during World War I; he is one of the most prominent Presidents in American history and a key figure in the rise of America as a world superpower.

An America with Roosevelt and one without him would end up entirely different. Assassinating Roosevelt is a good thing for Australasia, and it’s something Arthur would undoubtedly do.

Even if this were to be exposed in the future and he had to bear temporary infamy, Arthur would not mind at all.

As a time traveler, if one can’t even deal with their own major threats in advance, that truly would be a disgrace.

However, there is also bad news: Roosevelt will definitely not become the President of America. This means that the United States’ development will completely escape Arthur’s control, and nobody knows what kind of country it will become amid the economic crisis.

Perhaps there will be radicals who push the country to extremes, or perhaps another Roosevelt-like figure will emerge to bring the United States back to prosperity.

But regardless, an America without Roosevelt’s leadership is sure to be weakened. Even the fight for the American presidency has become the hottest topic in the country, and it will determine whether the United States can quickly recover from the economic crisis.

Arthur is looking forward to the changes in the United States, but at the same time, he cannot help but be cautious about these changes.

To be honest, the political situation is ever-changing. Even in the United States, there are some extremists.

And with the current economic crisis, it’s not impossible for the United States to take a radical approach by using a foreign war to distract from the economic woes.

After all, Mexico to the south is relatively weak and not a match for the United States.

Further south, it can take control of the entire Central America. An America driven to extremes may just do that.

The simplest way to prepare is to expand Australasia’s military preparation. After the naval shipbuilding plan was approved, the expansion plan for the army also quickly got underway.

It is worth mentioning that the nine aircraft carriers of the navy are equivalent to the construction of more than two hundred airplanes. Coupled with the high cost of airplanes, there is no need for a temporary expansion of the air force.

The current focus of military expansion is on the army, aiming to bring Australasia’s military to the level of the top world powers.

Looking at current worldwide military population, the Russians remain undisputedly first in the world.

With the largest population among the powers and previous internal conflicts along with the threat of war, it is no surprise that Russia maintains a military of nearly one million.

Following the Russian army is France. Of course, after the outbreak of the economic crisis, France also reduced its military size and now maintains only around 420,000 soldiers.

Next is the British Empire, which still retains an army of 350,000 soldiers, most of whom are part of the British mainland military, not including forces from the colonies and self-governing territories.

In fourth place is the Island Nation, with a total army population of 257,000. The Island Nation has undergone three rounds of military reduction after World War I and now has only 17 divisions.

Fifth is Australasia, with a total army population of 245,000, not much different from the Island Nation’s army size, which could also be considered tied for fourth place.

In sixth place is Italy, under the leadership of Mussolini, with an army of about 200,000.

The seventh is Germany, whose army size is strictly limited to 150,000. If one were to consider combat effectiveness, however, the elite officer-structured German Army is arguably the strongest, substantiating the phrase "less is more."

In eighth place is the Austrian Empire, with a total army population of around 120,000. Due to the loss of Hungary and significant territorial reductions, the Austrian Empire’s total army size is also strictly limited to about 120,000.

One distinctive feature is that the United States, a major power that faced no restrictions, actually falls behind the restricted German and Austrian Empires in terms of total army size.

This brings up the post-World War I American policy and the stinginess of Congress.

Although the United States mostly played a supporting role in World War I, it took pride in its victory.

The American Government naively believed that there would be no large-scale wars for a long time to come, and humanity would enter a long era of peace.

This led to the United States abandoning war preparations and repeatedly reducing its already small military size, with the current United States Army having less than 100,000 soldiers.

Simply reducing the number of personnel was not the sole objective of the United States Congress. Under the administration of several comparatively conservative Presidents of America, the United States Congress significantly cut military funding for the army, and almost no updates were made to American military preparations, which remained as they were after World War I.

If it had not been for the influenza crisis during which the World Alliance nearly passed a resolution to jointly attack the United States, the American army might have already reduced its troop levels to around 50,000.

After all, for a country with such a unique geographical location as the United States, as long as the navy could hold both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, there were basically no concerns on land.

Although there are two neighboring countries to the north and south, Canada is just a self-governing territory, with a population much smaller than that of the United States.

And Mexico has always been an underdog to the United States, with territories including California State, New Mexico, and others having been occupied by the United States from Mexico.

Under such circumstances, the United States naturally would not fear Mexico, and this also meant that the pressure on the United States from land was virtually nil.

Although the total scale of the Australasian Army was comparable to the Island Nation and ranked fourth in the world (counting only the Powers), Arthur was still not satisfied with this outcome.

The most important reason was the variable factor of the United States, which might very well lead to the United States and the Island Nation aligning against Australasia, effectively encircling it on all sides.

Under such a situation, maintaining a sufficient number of forces in the land, sea, and air became very necessary. In addition to maintaining a regular army, it was also essential to establish emergency measures for military preparation, ensuring that millions of new recruits could be conscripted within a short period to fight for the country.

Regarding military expansion, Defense Minister Thomas Johanson also quickly presented a plan to the Cabinet.

The previous scale of the Australasian Army consisted of two guard divisions, ten regular infantry divisions, two cavalry divisions, four artillery divisions, and one tank division.

Since almost all Indigenous Peoples were expelled, Australasia no longer had any colonial troops, only Guards and Regular army units, all composed of Australasian people.

Because the last expansion only involved the National Defense Army, this expansion also included the Guard Division, with plans to directly expand by ten divisions, bringing the scale of Australasia’s army above Britain and making it the third largest in the world (counting only the Powers), behind only Russia and France.

Firstly, the two guard divisions were expanded into two Guard infantry divisions and one Guard cavalry division. Although the Guard infantry divisions also included cavalry corps, there was no separate cavalry division.

Even though tanks had been developed, cavalry still had a role to play in some terrains that tanks could not replace, at least not for the next several decades.

It’s worth mentioning that, due to the expansion of the army, the highest unit formation in Australasia was no longer a division but rather an army composed of multiple divisions.

Firstly, the two Guard infantry divisions and one Guard cavalry division were merged into the Guards Army, with a full complement of approximately 52,000 people responsible for stationing near the Capital Region and Saint Arthur Castle, safeguarding the Royal Palace as well as Arthur’s safety.

Beyond that was the conventional expansion.

The number of infantry divisions increased to fifteen, and the cavalry divisions to four. Alongside this, three tank divisions and six artillery divisions comprised Australasia’s massive Regular army, totaling over 350,000 across 26 divisions.

Infantry Division One, Division Two, Division Three, and Cavalry Division One, Artillery Division One made up the First Army, with its commander being the former Brigadier General of Division One, Silvio, and the chief of staff being the former Brigadier General of Division Two, Fritz, both holding the rank of Lieutenant General.

Infantry Division Four, Division Five, Division Six, Division Seven, and Artillery Division Two comprised the Second Army, with its commander being the former Brigadier General of Division Three, Burtro, and the chief of staff being the former Brigadier General of Division Four, Scott, also with the rank of Lieutenant General.

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Infantry Division Eight, Division Nine, Division Ten, Division Eleven, and Artillery Division Three made up the Third Army, commanded by the former Brigadier General of Guard Division Two, Martin, with the chief of staff being the former chief of staff of Division One, Hermann, holding the rank of Lieutenant General.

Infantry Division Twelve, Division Thirteen, Division Fourteen, Division Fifteen made up the Fourth Army, commanded by the former chief of staff of First Guard Division, Bufford, with the chief of staff being the former chief of staff of Guard Division Two, Kenneth.

Cavalry Division Two, Division Three, Division Four made up the Fifth Army, commanded by Victor, with the chief of staff being Ian.

Artillery Division Four, Division Five, Division Six comprised the Sixth Army, led by Commander Igor, with Robbie acting as the chief of staff.

Tank Division One, Division Two, Division Three were combined into the Seventh Army, commanded by Karl, with Sallar as the chief of staff.

After such expansion and restructuring, Australasia would possess one Guards Army and seven Regular armies, with a scale and actual combat capability much stronger than before.

Of course, whether these newly appointed commanders could manage more soldiers was an issue. Australasia’s previous military organization had only reached the division level, and this expansion directly escalated to an army level, which was a significant test for the ultimate leaders of armed units. @@novelbin@@

A commander and a chief of staff are akin to the brain of an army. If there are issues with the brain’s functioning, the fighting capacity of the army would also be compromised.

However, if the brain performs exceptionally well, it can greatly enhance the combat effectiveness of an army organized as unitary forces, and it is an excellent opportunity for the emergence of famous military leaders on the battlefield.