The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1059 - 790: Strengthen Military Training

Chapter 1059 -790: Strengthen Military Training

“Currently, there is none,” the Defense Minister, Thomas, replied to Arthur with a wry smile, signaling a certain helplessness.

Even if Australasia’s intelligence work were impeccable, it was ultimately impossible to obtain all news from Europe comprehensively.

Besides, the agreement between Germany and Italy was destined to be highly confidential content between both countries. To know the content of this agreement, it would at least take some time for intelligence personnel to fully infiltrate Germany and Italy and gather information.

It would take at least a month or so, which meant that during this period of intelligence vacuum, Europe’s situation would be the most chaotic and perplexing.

“The Chaco War should also be coming to an end, shouldn’t it?” Arthur suddenly said.

In reality, the Chaco War was simply a power-draining conflict between Britain and France. Both sides kept creating problems for each other in the quest to win this war.

Though the internal consumption between Britain and France was also beneficial to Australasia, this was under the premise that there were no surprises.

The agreement between Germany and Italy was precisely such a surprise, which made Arthur resolve to preserve the strength of Britain and France to face what could very likely become the German-Italian Axis.

“Your Majesty means?” the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Wellington, stood up quickly, respectfully awaiting instructions.

“Initiate a conference with Britain and France regarding the Chaco War. Europe’s situation can no longer tolerate the existence of this war between them,” Arthur said calmly.

For the Powerful Nations, such wars really could be started or ended on a whim.

The hundreds of thousands of lives invested by Bolivia and Paraguay in this war, along with the more than 200,000 casualties it resulted in, meant nothing to the Powerful Nations, not even meriting a word of regret.

The only ones to blame were their countries for not being strong enough, and for having a large oil field on their land.

“Yes, I understand,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wellington, nodded.

“Please inform me immediately if there is any news from France and Austria,” Arthur continued his instructions.

After the agreement between Germany and Italy, it was certain that France and the Austrian Empire would make a move.

Without any surprises, within a few days, a fresh Franco-Australian agreement would emerge, directly targeting the agreement between Germany and Italy.

If Germany and Italy have reached some military cooperation, it’s very likely that the agreement between France and Austria would morph into a military alliance to jointly counter a possible invasion by Germany and Italy.

“How is the military currently? Are we prepared for any potential outbreak of war at any time?” Arthur turned his gaze towards the Defense Minister, Thomas, inquiring about his most pressing concern.

To be honest, Arthur cared about World War II far more than World War I. First of all, the aftermath of World War II more or less decided the world’s power structure.

It’s extremely difficult to rise as a world superpower after World War II since technology had greatly advanced by then, including ultimate trump card weapons like nuclear weapons.

Secondly, in theory, World War II would be the last global conflict during Arthur’s reign. This World War would determine not only the fate of Australasia but also whether Arthur’s lifelong efforts would be realized.

If the military were unprepared and the war were to break out quickly, it would face a severe disadvantage in the early stages of the war.

Especially since the strength of Soviet Russia at this time was nowhere near as strong as it was historically, whether Germany’s military might could be curtailed was Arthur’s biggest worry.

“Your Majesty, 15 infantry divisions, 4 cavalry divisions, 6 artillery divisions, and 3 tank divisions are ready to be deployed at any moment. We are confident in defending the safety of our motherland,” Defense Minister Thomas immediately stood up, gave a very standard military salute to Arthur, and spoke earnestly and seriously.

Arthur rubbed his forehead, not quite satisfied with the current size of the army. If they waited until the outbreak of war to urgently expand the military, it would not be as effective as expanding now and allowing for prolonged training.

But the problem arose, if the war were to erupt only several years later, expanding the military too soon would not only impose a huge burden on the nation’s finances but would also arouse the suspicion of the European powers.

If it caused a large-scale arms buildup worldwide, it might even accelerate the outbreak of World War II, which was what Arthur did not want to see.

After some thought, Arthur decided on another method to indirectly expand the size of the reserves: “Starting next year, we will increase the duration and frequency of military training for the reserves annually.

Individuals aged 20 to 35 must participate in military training twice a year, with each training session lasting no less than half a month.

The costs of military training will be borne by the nation, and this policy must be strictly enforced as it concerns the number and quality of our reservists.”

While Australasia’s rise had relied on good relations with Britain, as well as its rich mineral resources and land, the country’s attention to military matters was also very high.

As soon as one turned 18 and entered University, they would participate in at least one military training session per year, no less than half a month in duration.

For the adult working population, military training would take place every three years, twice, with each session lasting about two weeks.

This had indeed been able to ensure that most of the age-appropriate population, when conscripted as soldiers, were proficient with the military’s rules and regulations, including the use of some common weapons.

Because of this, it was very effective in shortening the military’s training time. Previously, it took at least six months for a new troop of recruits to be trained into an army.

If they were to be combat-ready, they had to undergo at least another six months of rigorous training, becoming very familiar with various types of weapons and improving their marksmanship.

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But now, although it was only brief training, it had nonetheless reduced the basic training time in the army’s formation by 1 to 2 months at least.

Once these reservists became actual soldiers, they only required brief refresher training to be on par with recruits who had been trained for a month.

In addition, both the civilian population and the military in Australasia placed great importance on ideological education and its influence.

In all types of schools, there were specialized political ideology courses to ensure that the students nurtured were loyal to the royal family and the nation.

In the military, the position that Arthur had established 30 years ago for the cultivation and ideological education of soldiers, the Political Commissar, had been officially changed to military chaplains.

Actually, no matter how the title changed, the role of the Political Commissar and military chaplain was the same: to provide ideological education to the soldiers during their free time, ensuring their loyalty to the royal family and country.

In fact, ever since Arthur had taken complete control of the religious organization in Australasia, the role of the Political Commissar had been replaced with military chaplains.

Unlike the armies in the East, Western militaries held a stronger belief in religion, making chaplains quite significant.

The chaplains could conduct religious activities and also provide ideological education during their free time.

departments.

The Industrial Sector would probably be the most affected. A large portion of those of age required for military training was made up of workers from various factories and enterprises.

Although these people were trained in batches and each military training session would not last more than half a month,

large-scale and frequent military training would definitely affect the production of enterprises and factories.

If the production of enterprises and factories were affected, it would indirectly impact the operation of the Ministry of Industry.

The data for the Ministry of Industry would also worsen, which could potentially affect Industry Secretary Joey’s political achievements.

According to the Cabinet’s four-year term rules, this year was actually quite important for Industry Secretary Joey.

Joey had served three terms as Industry Secretary and had no hope of being reappointed as a Cabinet Minister.

If he wanted to continue staying in the Cabinet, he had to climb higher, taking positions such as Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, or Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Justice, and other important positions.

With Arthur controlling Australasian Protestantism, there was no need to worry about these chaplains straying from his control.

Moreover, under Arthur’s subtle influence, Australasian Protestantism was continuously promoting the idea of loyalty to the Monarch and patriotism.

With Arthur being such a good monarch, the people did not reject the spread of these ideas; they even occasionally included words about loyalty to the Monarch and patriotism in their prayers.

The biggest impact of this might be that there would be far fewer people opposing Monarchism in the future. If everyone in Australasia believed in the Austro-Larasian faith, the country would become very stable, and internally there would hardly be any significant problems.

“Your Majesty, wouldn’t frequent military training of these people affect the normal production of our industries?” Defense Minister Thomas asked Arthur hesitantly.

“There will definitely be an impact, but we must overcome these difficulties,” Arthur explained. “The situation in Europe is getting more and more complicated, and we cannot be certain when war will break out.

Given this, we must prepare for the possibility of war breaking out at any moment. For our country and for the more than 30 million common people, we must even prepare for the prospect of going to battle tomorrow.

In such a case, increasing the frequency of military training is essential, as it can ensure we have an ample number of reservists and shorten the time we need to expand our military in the future.

As for the impact on civilian production, it won’t be too massive in the short term. Compared to a temporary reduction in production scale, I would be more unwilling to see our country suffer heavy losses due to war.”

“Yes, I understand,” said Thomas. With Arthur putting it like that, there was no reason for Minister Thomas to disagree.

Besides, the reason Minister Thomas raised the question was to consider the feelings of the other Cabinet members.

If the Ministry of Defense frequently organized military training, it would have a certain impact on all

But the competition for these positions was far greater than that for a Cabinet Minister, which meant that Minister Joey needed to have more political achievements and be very exemplary in his political career, without any blemishes.