The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 958: Chapter 715: Plan to Divide the United States

Due to the territorial expansion, the National Day celebrations in 1929 were grander than usual, but they weren’t grand enough to necessitate a military parade.

With Australasia’s gradually increasing power, Arthur no longer needed to use parades to boost national pride and unity.

Moreover, military strength should be kept as confidential as possible, as the unknown are always the most feared.

After National Day, time quickly advanced to January 15th, 1929.

This was the date agreed upon by the nations to hold peace talks, and it was also the eagerly anticipated time for the partitioning of America.

Arthur also attached great importance to this negotiation, as, naturally, one would take as large a share as possible of the benefits.

The team Australasia sent to the negotiations was led by Deputy Prime Minister Darren Watson, accompanied by several Cabinet Ministers and key government officers.

They had set out in early December and had no problem reaching London by January 15th.

The current dire state of America was well understood by all nations. Resolving America’s chaotic situation sooner was beneficial for other countries as well.

After all, what everyone wanted was a relatively stable region, not to clean up the mess left by the now-defunct American government.

Only a stable region could generate profits for the nations, whereas a chaotic region would add to the political and financial burdens.

On January 15th, the peace talks officially commenced.

The first item discussed at the negotiations was the division of the United States’ Atlantic Fleet.

When the Pacific squadron surrendered previously, the Britain-France-Australia tripartite had already taken their shares. Thus, what remained to be divided was the United States’ Atlantic Fleet, which still had nearly 20 main battleships and a large number of small and medium-sized warships.

Just as Arthur had done before when dividing the Atlantic Fleet, Australasia didn’t have much demand for warships, which allowed the main strength of the United States’ Atlantic Fleet to be divided almost entirely between Britain and France.

Britain naturally took the lion’s share, directly taking 15 dreadnoughts, 3 battlecruisers, and a large number of small and medium-sized warships.

This almost cleaned out the United States’ Atlantic Fleet’s assets and significantly strengthened the Royal Navy’s prowess.

In the current situation, the once more expanded Royal Navy had pulled far ahead of other countries.

Just looking at naval strength alone, France, Australasia, and the Island Nations all together might not be a match for the British.

Of course, this was just a unilateral prediction by the British Government. They had made this seemingly wild but actually not too far off estimation based on naval size and technological level of all nations.

Nobody really knew how an actual naval battle would turn out and it may only become clear who was stronger and who weaker when war truly broke out.

Of course, if only naval size was taken into account, the British Empire was more than capable of crushing other nations.

After Britain had its fill of the meat, it was naturally France’s turn to pick at the bones.

Due to Australasia’s withdrawal, the French also got their hands on 3 dreadnoughts and 2 battlecruisers, to some extent strengthening their own naval forces.

It is worth mentioning that the French specifically requested complete acquisition of America’s submarines, even willingly trading the state of New Mexico for them.

The British naturally had no objections, as New Mexico could be used to win over Mexico and incidentally make Mexico a surprising force in North America against France.

Moreover, not just France, Mexico could also contain Australasia’s development in North America.

As mentioned earlier, much of the west coast of America once belonged to Mexico, and in this war, Mexico naturally demanded these lands.

However, biceps cannot twist thighs; Texas State and California State were occupied by France and Australasia respectively, and Mexico naturally had no way to contest.

This situation was favorable for the British. Although Texas declared independence to become the Lone Star Republic, France was clearly the power behind it.

This also indicated that Mexico would certainly have some conflicts with France, and it was very possible that this could lead to war in the future.

Tying down part of the French forces in North America meant Britain would become even more influential in Europe.

The same logic applied to Australasia. Even if California were to become independent in the future, Australasia would surely have a hand in its control.

Mexico naturally had designs on this region with a population already exceeding 5 million, and with Mexico as a check, at least Australasia’s development would not be so smooth.

Such a strategy could resolve the threats of two strong enemies in North America, and this made the British Government quite generous in their decision to hand over all American submarines to France.

After Britain and France had their share, the United States’ Atlantic Fleet truly had nothing left but a little soup.

Of course, if each country only got a few small and medium-sized warships, then the remaining twenty-plus countries could each have a sip of soup without a problem.

Most nations didn’t mind this since what they were interested in was gaining a slice of American Territory, not the warships.

Even if they could get one or two battleships, could their national strength compare to that of the Powers?

It would be better to gain more on the territory side or secure more profits, as these were tangible gains they could secure.

After all, the exorbitant annual maintenance costs of warships don’t just fall from the sky; they have to be covered with real silver and gold.

For small countries, having too many warships is not a good thing, as the size of the country has already determined the sustainable scale of its military.

The British receiving the majority of the Atlantic Fleet seemed to make the Royal Navy much stronger, but in fact, Arthur was even happier about this.

The annual maintenance costs for 15 dreadnoughts and three battlecruisers are not a small figure.

This seemed to greatly strengthen the Royal Fleet, but it was also destined to take up a large portion of Britain’s naval budget.

The remaining budget for the military became even smaller, naturally reducing what the British could invest in aircraft carriers.

Add to that the task of dealing with America, and in the coming years, the British investment in aircraft carriers should decrease more and more, until either a main battleship retires or the American economy recovers.

But either of these two events would take a long time. After all, America had not only experienced an economic crisis but also a severe ravaging by the war.

For America’s economy to recover to its heyday, it would take at least five to ten years, which is simply impossible otherwise.

Five to ten years are crucial for the development of a country, and aircraft carrier-related technology could even advance by leaps and bounds in such time.

That was also Arthur’s opinion regarding Australasia’s opportunity to develop aircraft carriers. Not to mention surpassing Britain in the number of carriers, but at least taking a significant step ahead in carrier technology.

As for whether the British would maintain a very large Royal Fleet and also vigorously develop aircraft carriers at the same time, that was almost an impossibility.

The British Navy’s most famous policy in the past was that the size of the Royal Fleet was equal to the combined strength of the world’s second and third navies.

But now, having received the American fleet, the Royal Navy’s fleet size had even surpassed the combined strength of the second, third, and fourth navies.

This is an exaggerated figure, and the naval maintenance costs are enough to give the British Empire a headache.

It was for this reason that Germany and Russia both expressed no need for ships, asking to exchange their rightful share of warships for actual funds, with the warships being exportable to any country.

The French naturally accepted Germany and Russia’s requests gladly. After all, both Germany and Russia owed the French a significant amount of debt.

The French didn’t even need to provide any funds; they could simply forgive some debts from these two countries to obtain their rightful share of warships.

Though not many, the additional warships provided a significant supplement for France, whose naval scale had already fallen noticeably behind.

Over 100 years ago, France was the undisputed superpower of Europe, and now, both their army and navy had declined considerably.

After the division of warships, all nations turned their attention to the next issue, namely the disposition of American territory.

It was clear to all countries that America was definitely to be divided and dismembered.

But the specifics of the division mostly depended on the views of the three Powers – Britain, France, and Australia.

In the current world order, it was very difficult for small countries to have a say, almost impossible to assert any decisive authority.

The fate of Czechoslovakia in history proved this point: the fate of small nations could only be controlled by more powerful countries, even when it came to territorial and sovereign issues.

The good news was that the British visibly valued the role of the World Alliance, which meant that the belligerent countries were still assured a share of the spoils.

As the second topic commenced, some countries suggested that since the United States had many states, each belligerent country could be allocated one U.S. state.

However, this proposal was quickly rejected by Britain, France, and Australia.

Distributing the spoils this way, though seemingly fair, was the most unfair method due to the vast differences in land area and population of each state; moreover, Britain, France, and Australia definitely wouldn’t agree to let small nations take so much of the territory they had fought hard for.

Aside from some originally neutral countries, there were clearly three factions in the meeting, led respectively by Britain, France, and Australasia.

As long as these three countries agreed on a proposal for the division of the United States, the other small and medium-sized countries would have no choice but to accept it.

Ultimately, it was the British who first put forth their proposal:

Britain would reclaim its original 13 colonies and establish two new governments there.

The French would obtain Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Mississippi, as well as the sovereignty of the Lone Star Republic.

Australasia would get the territories of Hawaii, Alaska, California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and American Pacific Islands.

Based on this, Michigan would be integrated into Canada to become Canadian territory.

Beyond that, a United American Government would be established centered on Illinois, which all belligerent countries could manage jointly, and all belligerent countries would enjoy the highest authority within the United American Government.

This so-called United American Government was essentially the new United States. Under the British proposal, the new United States still maintained a large area, including some central and eastern regions.