The Rise of Australia

News that George V was critically ill quickly spread to other European countries and regions.

Although the British tried to block the news, George V had not appeared in public for a long time, and it was difficult not to arouse the suspicion of other countries.

After all, George V is already 70 years old. After all, at this age, the oil lamp has indeed run out.

Unlike the British government, which is more concerned about the succession of the throne, other European countries at this time are thinking about whether the change of the British throne will have a major impact on the subsequent European situation.

Among those who are more concerned about this issue are naturally the ambitious German Empire and the Kingdom of Italy.

These two ultra-nationalist countries wearing monarchical vests can no longer resist the urge to expand.

After careful consideration by Germany and Italy, they believed that during the period between George V's critical illness and Crown Prince Edward's accession to the throne, the British would basically not be too involved in European situations and affairs.

Even if Germany and Italy do something about the succession of the British throne, the British will be busy with the crisis of the throne and have no time to worry about anything else.

However, just in case, Germany and Italy decided that other countries, including the United Kingdom and Australasia, would not have enough energy to manage European affairs.

The best way to contain Australasia is naturally to let the island countries create some friction with Australasia on the border to attract Australasia's attention.

The islanders had no intention of doing this. After being promised a large amount of material assistance by Germany and Italy, especially assistance in industrial equipment, the island country changed its mind very seriously.

As a result, the three major powers of the Triple Alliance began to act at the same time. Their ambitions for expansion and their desire for more land areas could no longer be suppressed.

For Germany, the best expansion target is actually the Austrian Empire. The Austrian Empire contained a large population of South Germans, a people with the same roots as Germany.

Moreover, the industrial scale of the Austrian region and the Czechoslovak region of the Austrian Empire is quite good.

If the Austrian Empire is annexed, the industrial scale of the German Empire will reach a level comparable to that of the British Empire, and its population will completely widen the gap with Britain and France, becoming a more powerful country than Germany before World War I.

But it is a pity that if they have to annex the Austrian Empire, Germany and Italy may face more than just France and Austria. The British will never allow the Germans to do this.

There was no way, Germany could only settle for the next best thing and target Poland, which had a very important strategic position.

The original plan of the German government was to carve up Poland with Russia in the east.

However, several contacts with the Russian government were unsuccessful, and after signing anti-Russian agreements with the island countries and Italy, Germany gave up its plan to win over Russia and annex Poland.

For Germany, Poland is just a medium-sized country in Central Europe.

The German rulers once proudly announced in parliament that it would only take a month for the German army to crush Poland.

Because of the wanton exclusion of dissidents, Germany's current rulers have achieved complete control over Germany.

In the current Germany, Italy and island countries, we can see relatively extreme blind worship of individuals.

This allowed the armies of the three countries to achieve extremely high loyalty to their rulers, which not only strengthened the combat effectiveness of the armies, but also consolidated the power and status of the rulers of the three countries.

Why not choose the three Low Countries as the target of aggression, but choose Poland, which has a larger population and a stronger army?

The most important thing is that Poland is located between Germany and Russia, with Austria's Czechoslovakia region to the south.

Northern Poland is located on the Baltic Sea, and the country is extremely rich in mineral resources. Metallurgy, chemistry, machinery and shipbuilding technology are quite developed, which is a huge supplement to Germany, whose industry has not yet been completely perfected.

Secondly, if the entire Poland is occupied, Germany will have a huge logistics base. The entire Polish plain can become Germany's grain growing area and pasture, providing Germany with a large amount of grain, meat, and fresh dairy products every year.

After Poland was solved, Germany no longer had any opponents in Eastern Europe except Russia, which kept a low profile and made no statements.

This is extremely beneficial to Germany's plan to attack Western Europe. With the food and mineral resources provided by Poland every year, even if they compete for consumption, they will not be afraid of France in the short term.

In order to occupy Poland, Germany and Italy made extremely detailed plans.

Although Italy could not annex Polish territory, Germany made concessions on Austrian territory and was willing to let Italy annex more Austrian territory and control the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the Balkans after occupying the Austrian Empire.

In a meeting between Germany and Italy, both sides made detailed plans for the attack on Poland. The German and Italian governments agreed that both sides would take three months to prepare for an attack on Poland and to prepare for possible actions by France and the Austrian Empire.

There are still many differences between this world and history. So far, apart from regaining the Rhineland Demilitarized Zone, Germany has not made any territorial expansion actions.

Since no military action had been launched against the Austrian Empire, the attitude of Britain and France towards Germany at this time was mainly appeasement.

This also facilitated Germany's planning of Polish territory. Germany's true ambitions have not yet been exposed, and the British and French people have not yet clearly seen the Germans' true purpose.

According to the agreement reached by the German and Italian governments, after three months of preparation, the two sides would launch an attack on Poland on October 15, 1935.

If the Poles are willing to back down before then, preparations for war can be cancelled. But if either Britain or France decides to maintain Poland's independence, Germany and Italy will prepare for a super war to force Britain and France to make concessions.

On July 21, 1935, at a regular meeting of the German Reichstag, the German rulers gave a very exciting speech for two hours.

The German rulers reiterated the once huge territory of the German Empire and stated that Danzig was Germany's legal territory at all times and that Danzig's sovereignty could not be violated by any country.

Seeing that the speech was well received, the German rulers took the opportunity to reiterate the fact that Poland occupied German territory after World War I.

The transfer of national hatred to Poland greatly increased the Germans' desire for war against Poland.

The speech, without any publicity, quickly spread throughout Europe as breaking news.

Before Poland could express its position, in a media interview the next day, the German government publicly stated that Germany would take back Danzig's sovereignty by force at all costs and would defend all legal German territories to the death.

The German government's stance quickly aroused tensions across Europe. Poland, in particular, is very wary of its neighbors.

The Polish government responded quickly. The Poles said that whether it was the Free City of Danzig controlled by Poland or the annexed German territory, it was ceded to Poland by Germany as an atonement for its sins in the last European war.

The Germans' attempt to take back Danzig and its territory was not only a provocation to the majesty of the Polish government, but also a provocation to the Allied Powers' trial for Germany's crimes.

The Polish government stated righteously that the Poles would never forget Germany's crimes in the last European war and would never accept Germany's request for the return of territory.

At this time, Poland was still thinking about the Greater Poland doctrine it proposed more than ten years ago. After gaining control of the Kingdom of Lithuania from Russia, the Poles' self-confidence has increased infinitely.

Although they were facing the world's largest army power before World War I, for the Poles, Germany was not as powerful as they imagined.

What's more, as early as after Poland became independent, it had reached cooperation with many European powers, including Britain and France.

Treaties signed between Poland and European powers include the Franco-Polish Mutual Assistance Treaty, the Anglo-Polish Mutual Assistance Agreement, the Polish-Russian Contract, etc.

With the support of Britain and France, the Poles had no intention of retreating to Germany. After Germany frequently mobilized troops to the German-Polish border, the Poles announced an expansion of their troops and mobilized most of their troops to the border with Germany.

Now, Europe is no longer filled with the fog of war, but the flames of war have been ignited.

Seeing that a war was very likely to break out between the two sides, France, which had nothing to do with the conflict, panicked.

For France, the possible war between Germany and Poland is actually pushing France into the abyss.

If France does not help Poland, after annexing Poland, Germany's overall strength will completely surpass France, comparable to or even surpassing the former German Empire.

But if France helps Poland, fighting a large-scale war with the Germans at this time is not what the French want to see.

What's even more terrible is that Germany does not only have Italy as an ally at this time. The National Army, which already had the upper hand in the Spanish Civil War, and the island countries in the Far East were also allies of the Germans.

At this time, only the Austrian Empire clearly supported France. The two countries of France and Austria combined were only barely in balance with Germany and Italy.

Even if they can finally defeat the Germans, the French will definitely face no less than the huge casualties of the last world war.

Having experienced two huge casualties in just over 20 years, this was a heavy loss that the French government simply could not bear, and it was also a horrific experience that the French people were simply unwilling to experience again.

For the sake of its own security, the French government decided to allow Poland, which was resolute and uncompromising, to make certain concessions.

In the view of the French peacemakers, Germany's territorial claim to Poland was justified. Just like France was extremely eager to cede the Alsace and Lorraine regions after the Franco-Prussian War, the powerful Germans had the idea of ​​regaining the ceded Danzig and other territories, which was not that exaggerated.

Even if the Germans have not yet made territorial claims to the republic controlled by France that once belonged to German territory, the French have decided to transfer the sovereignty of this republic to Germany.

If a little bit of territory can bring long-term peace, for the current French government, this is a good thing that is enough to solve its big trouble.

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