The Rise of Australia

While Australasia was busy producing military equipment, Spain on the other side of the world had reached the final stage of the war. 6̳̳

As Germany and Italy gradually showed their ambitions, the balance of the Spanish Civil War also completely tilted towards Germany, Italy and the Spanish National Army.

After Germany and Russia carved up Poland, Russia withdrew its aid to Spain, leaving the Spanish republican government alone.

Although it has the assistance of some weapons and equipment from Australasia, how can Spain alone defeat the combination of Germany and Italy?

Poland, which has an army of one million, cannot resist, let alone the Spanish Republican government, which currently has less than 400,000 troops.

Since the end of last year, the German and Italian air forces have launched indiscriminate bombings of cities controlled by the Spanish Republican government.

Although it effectively attacked the Spanish Republican Government's troops, it also caused a large number of casualties to Spanish civilians.

According to data released by the Spanish government, the major bombings in Germany and Italy caused approximately 70,000 casualties to the military and 20,000 civilian casualties.

Germany also tested its newly developed tanks and aircraft on the Spanish battlefield, eventually gaining valuable experience and using it in the development of its own weapons and equipment.

On February 2, 1936, Britain and France announced their recognition of Franco's regime and severed diplomatic ties with the Spanish republican government.

On February 3, the Spanish Republican government withdrew from the World Alliance and angrily accused Britain and France of only pursuing their own temporary interests and disregarding the wishes of all countries in the world.

On February 5, a rebellion broke out at the Spanish naval base, and the naval general announced his surrender to the Spanish National Army.

On February 7, Colonel Casado, commander of the Spanish Central Front, launched a coup, announced that he would take over the power of the Spanish Republic, and surrendered to the rebels the next day.

On February 9, the Spanish National Army and the German-Italian Army jointly took over the troops on the Central Front and began to hunt down the democrats of the Spanish Republican Government who supported the war.

On February 11, the Spanish National Army completely occupied the entire Spain, and the civil war came to an end.

With the support of Germany and Italy, Franco held a victory parade in Madrid. Amid cheers, he announced the reconstruction of Spain, appointed himself Marshal-General of the Spanish Armed Forces, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Spain, and Regent of Spain. He also announced his plans to rebuild Spain. The Falange Party in Spain is the only legal political party in the country.

It is worth mentioning that the Spain that Franco rebuilt was neither the Kingdom of Spain in the monarchy era nor the Spanish Republic in the republican era.

To be more precise, what Franco established was the Spanish state. This is a national political system with Franco's characteristics between a monarchy and a military dictatorship.

In name only, the Spanish state remains a monarchy. But Franco did not intend to find a king for Spain, nor did he intend to welcome Alfonso XIII back.

Franco declared that the King of Spain was vacant. Spain did not have a real king, only Franco, the regent.

Restoring the monarchy without restoring the monarch also caused speculation at home and abroad about whether Franco would make himself the new king of Spain.

The high positions of Spain's regent and marshal-in-chief have ensured Franco's supremacy in the new Spanish state.

Even if he really wants to become the new king of Spain, with the support of Germany and Italy, it will not be difficult at all.

It is nothing more than whether it can win the support of Britain, France and many European monarchies. But after having defected to Germany and Italy and implementing military dictatorship, would Franco still care about the attitudes of Britain, France and other European monarchies?

After the demise of the Spanish Republican government, small and medium-sized European countries were completely disappointed with Britain and France.

On February 15, 1936, King Leopold III of Belgium issued the Declaration of Neutrality, stating that the Kingdom of Belgium would remain absolutely neutral in international situations and withdraw from all alliances and treaties to which Belgium had previously joined, including the World League.

Obviously, Belgium's approach has proved that they are more willing to believe in the security that maintaining neutrality brings to them than the World Alliance.

This also means that as Britain and France continue to give in to their appeasement policies, their prestige among European countries has become lower and lower.

Although Arthur did not believe that Belgium's declaration of absolute neutrality would allow them to survive the subsequent war, such a move did set a precedent for small and medium-sized European countries.

On February 23, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands issued a "Message to the People", publicly stating that the Netherlands would adhere to neutrality and become a truly permanently neutral country.

On the same day, the Netherlands announced its withdrawal from the World Alliance and abrogated any non-peaceful treaties.

Two European countries in a row withdrew from the World Alliance, which dealt a huge blow to the prestige of the World Alliance and also made other countries vaguely have the idea of ​​withdrawing from the World Alliance.

Having said that, it would be impossible for Belgium and the Netherlands to declare neutrality and withdraw from the World League without the German push behind them.

They must have reached an agreement with the Germans, otherwise Belgium and the Netherlands would not have been able to give up the World Alliance and the independence guarantees given to them by Britain and France so easily.

But there is no definite answer as to whether the Germans can keep their promises.

Judging from historical results, the absolute neutrality pursued by the Netherlands and Belgium is just a piece of waste paper that can be torn up at will to the powerful powers.

But in any case, Belgium and the Netherlands declared neutrality and withdrew from the World Alliance, completely disrupting the order of the World Alliance.

On February 27, 1936, the World Alliance held its last regular meeting and successfully passed the proposal to dissolve the World Alliance with a ratio of more than 3%.

The international organization that was established after World War I and guaranteed world peace for 20 years finally completed all its missions with the rise of Germany and Italy.

This also means that since 1936, after the dissolution of the World Alliance, the world order will become more unpredictable.

How the world situation will develop is currently only decided by a handful of the most powerful countries.

On March 3, 1936, Arthur successfully arrived in London, England, accompanied by Queen Mary and Crown Prince William.

The purpose of coming to the UK this time is very simple, that is to attend the funeral of the former British King George V.

Although the general situation in the world has long since changed, George V's physical condition has not been greatly affected.

Speaking of which, George V, who was born in 1865, is now 71 years old.

When he died at such an age, George V could be considered to have died a good death, which was a relatively good ending for a generation of monarchs.

Of course, if it were just the funeral of George V, it would be logically enough to send only Prince William.

After all, Arthur and George V were equals, and theoretically there was no need to come to George V's funeral in person. What's more, the relationship between Arthur and George V was not that close, and their blood relationship had long been estranged.

But if you think about the current world situation, you can understand why Arthur came to London in person.

The current situation in Europe is very unfriendly to Britain and France. Arthur feels that it is necessary for Britain and France to unite early and prepare for a possible war.

If the Germans are caught off guard again and the French are allowed to perish in just a month or two, then this European war will not be easy to fight.

The current situation is not very good for Britain and France. The French's international influence has declined again and again, and they seem to have cemented their reputation as cowards.

Because of its neutrality policy, Britain was not greatly affected. But the problem is that Britain is about to usher in a very famous monarch in history, Edward VIII, who loves beauty but not country.

If the British throne crisis encountered World War II, it would be tantamount to making an already bad situation worse for Britain and France.

Of course, Arthur has no intention of directly interfering with the succession of the British throne.

Although Arthur did have a lot of reputation in the UK, these reputations were not enough to support Arthur's interference in the British throne.

The funeral of King George V is expected to be held on March 5. As a monarch who has ruled the British Empire for 26 years, the British have a relatively high impression of this king.

George V succeeded to the throne in 1910 and led the British to win the First World War. During the term of George V, although the British Empire faced multiple challengers, it ultimately defeated them, allowing the British Empire to firmly maintain its position as the world's hegemon.

Now, the British Empire once again faced the challenge of the Germans. This made the British expect that the next monarch could lead them to win this war and keep the British Empire on the throne of the world's hegemon.

In London, Arthur also met Prince Albert and Princess Elizabeth.

Speaking of which, Princess Elizabeth is almost ten years old. As Princess Elizabeth's godfather, the last time Arthur saw Princess Elizabeth, Elizabeth was still a child who could not speak.

Precisely because of their status as godparents, Arthur and Queen Mary were relatively kind to Elizabeth.

At this time, neither Prince Albert nor Princess Elizabeth knew that Princess Elizabeth would become the longest reigning monarch in British history and break Queen Victoria's record in one fell swoop.

This also has to make people sigh. In European history, the queen's reign is generally longer than that of male kings.

But compared to Queen Victoria, although Queen Elizabeth is also very important in the UK, her prestige and power lag far behind.

During Queen Victoria's reign, although she had not been involved in political affairs for a long time, Queen Victoria still had a certain degree of control over the government.

By the time of Elizabeth, the British government had long been controlled by political parties and other forces. The British royal family was more of a mascot, with very low power.

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