The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1200 - 896 The Cordial Relationship Between the

Chapter 1200: Chapter 896: The Cordial Relationship Between the Two Kingdoms and the New Balkan League_2

Chapter 1200: Chapter 896: The Cordial Relationship Between the Two Kingdoms and the New Balkan League_2

The news of the partition of Italian East Africa sent shockwaves through Italy, startling the nation like a bolt from the blue.

East African Colony was one of Italy’s most important colonies, and also one of the few major colonies Italy possessed in Africa and the world at large.

With the loss of the East African Colony, Libya was all that remained of Italy’s large colonial possessions.

Libya is located along the Mediterranean coast and faces the Italian mainland across the sea.

Compared to the East African Colony, Italy placed more value on this part of the Ingra Mediterranean colonies.

To defend the Libyan Colony, Italy announced it would reinforce the colony with 300,000 troops, and also dispatched a number of airplanes and tanks to Libya.

Even though Italy had reinforced the defense of the Libyan Colony, it had clearly underestimated the ambitions of Britain, France, and Australia to seize Libya.

In terms of the offensive, the British-Australian forces were clearly the main players. With troops from India, South Africa, and Egypt, the British easily assembled an army close to 700,000 strong.

Though these were all indigenous fighters whose combat effectiveness was uncertain, they still numbered 700,000—a substantial force, no doubt.

Australasia, on the other hand, sent 300,000 troops, of which 50,000 were elite forces, equivalent to several hundred thousand colonial troops.

Added to the more than one hundred thousand troops from France, the combined forces of Britain, France, and Australia had surpassed a million. Faced with only 500,000 in the Italian Army, their advantage was significant.

There were only two directions for the attack on Libya: the East and the West.

The Western Front was mainly an Anglo-French effort, advancing from Gabes towards one of Libya’s few urban centers, Tripoli.

Meanwhile, the Eastern Front was dominated by British and Australian forces, moving from Sidi Barrani towards the Libyan Colony’s Tobruk and Benghazi.

Since the Libyan Colony was located in the Mediterranean and surrounded by British and French colonies, Australasia had no interest in Libya whatsoever.

Even though Arthur was aware of Libya’s petroleum reserves, the country’s distant geographical location led him to choose to give it up.

Of course, giving up on Libya was not without its trade-offs. Australasia would not participate in the partitioning of Libya in exchange for territory in Oman from Britain in the Middle East Region.

Although Oman was not as valuable as the colonies along the coast of the Persian Gulf, it could effectively expand Australasia’s colonial reach in the Persian Gulf, a worthwhile exchange of interests.

Without Australasia’s involvement, the Libyan Colony was naturally left to Britain and France to divide.

Arthur wasn’t interested in the specific results of the British and French partitioning, but it was expected that Britain would not let France gain too much colonial territory.

To ease the pressure on the French, Britain employed its navy and a substantial number of its air force and even tanks in this offensive.

The million-strong combined forces of Britain, France, and Australia swiftly entered Italy’s Libyan Colony with lightning speed and launched a fierce attack on the colony’s cities.

At the cost of hundreds of thousands of casualties, Britain and France managed to conquer the Libyan Colony in just over half a month, reducing Italy’s sphere of influence to its mainland.

Although Italy tried to support the Libyan Colony, most of its resources were repelled by the British fleet.

Italy could only watch helplessly as its last major colony was divided up by the Anglo-French alliance.

With the fall of its African colonies, Germany and Italy’s offensives in Europe became even more urgent.

On August 29, 1936, Germany and Bulgaria signed an alliance treaty, and Bulgaria officially stepped onto Germany’s battlefield.

Bulgaria’s allegiance to Germany made the situation in the Balkans even more tense. It is worth noting that Bulgaria was on the losing side in World War I as well.

Although defeating Turkey earned Bulgaria a substantial amount of “souls,” it was beaten by a coalition of Balkan states, and the territories gained from Turkey were subsequently partitioned among them.

It is because of this history that Bulgaria harbored considerable hatred towards several of its neighbors, which is why they chose to align with Germany.

After Bulgaria and Germany signed a military alliance, significant changes occurred in Bulgaria’s northern neighbor, Romania.

With the support of Germany, Romania’s Chief of Staff Ion Antonescu actively promoted pro-German sentiments and won considerable support from the Romanian people.

Germany also promised Bulgaria that if they could coerce Romania to join their ranks, Germany would ensure Romania returned the Bulgarian territories it had occupied following the Balkan wars.

This statement was met with great enthusiasm by the Bulgarians, who joined the ranks pressuring Romania.

Faced with encirclement from Germany and Bulgaria, the Romanian government felt the pressure immensely, and the Romanian people felt threatened by Germany.

Under such circumstances, the pro-German advocate, Ion Antonescu, gained substantial support from the Romanians and became an influential figure within Romania.

The consecutive shifts in Bulgaria and Romania sent shockwaves through the other Balkan states. If Germany’s reach extended into the Balkans, these states would have no power to resist.

To protect their territorial security, the Balkan states, led by South Slavia, had no choice but to turn to Britain and France for support.

In Europe, the only powers that could potentially counter Germany were the alliance of Britain, France, Italy, and Australia.

More importantly, there were already territorial disputes between South Slavia and Italy, making it impossible for South Slavia to join the German bloc.

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This also meant that South Slavia had only one option, which was to join the British and French camp, to help defeat Germany.

On September 3, 1936, representatives of South Slavia, the Greek government, the Albanian government, and the British and French governments met in Athens to formally discuss the Balkan situation.

In these talks, the South Slavic representatives mentioned the latest movements of Bulgaria and Romania and requested the support of Britain and France.

The British and French diplomats were naturally pleased to see South Slavia, a major Balkan state, leaning towards them, and expressed their willingness to support the Balkan states.

Due to German pressure, the negotiations were quickly concluded and a new Balkan League treaty was forged.

The treaty stated that South Slavia, Albania, and the Kingdom of Greece, as signatories, were allies under the independent protection of Britain and France.

If any of these three countries were attacked by another nation, it would be considered an attack on the entire alliance. Moreover, Britain and France would provide substantial support to the three nations, and if necessary, a new Balkan battlefield could be opened, just as in the previous war.

As the British and French representatives signed the Balkan League treaty, the Balkan states finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although this treaty couldn’t guarantee their complete safety, it at least ensured that when facing an assault led by the German military bloc, they would have some form of support.

One only needs to look at a map to understand why the Balkan states became so panicked upon learning of the shifts in Bulgaria and Romania.

If Bulgaria and Romania sided with Germany, they would complete an encirclement of the Balkans along with Germany and Italy.

South Slavia, Albania, and Greece would all be inside this vast encirclement.

This meant that without external support, the three countries would struggle to resist the German-Italian military bloc and might quickly fall to the German Army.

With the support of Britain and France, at least the Royal Navy would assure their safety. Even if they faced the risk of annihilation, they could take to the sea and head to London to form a government in exile and continue resisting Germany.