The Rise Of Australasia

Australasia's National Day celebrations have become increasingly subdued, seldom organizing significant parades unless there's a major event.

After all, the country's strength had already been established through previous wars, and with Australasia's current standing, there was no need to bolster its prestige and status with such ceremonies.

As time entered 1930, there were still some points of interest in the government's annual report.

First was the population, which Arthur regarded with great importance, having made a substantial leap to over 37.55 million people.

In the economic crisis, Australasia was unique in achieving significant population growth.

Economically, last year Australasia's Gross National Product had reached a record-setting 5.867 billion Australian Dollars, with an annual fiscal revenue also hitting a new high of 375 million Australian Dollars.

However, a large cause of this was the devaluation of the Australian Dollar. Although it appeared that the economy had grown significantly, the actual change wasn't as substantial as imagined.

Currently, the currency exchange rate is: 1 pound = 2 Australian Dollars = 11.24 US dollars (Great Lakes area) = 147 rupees = 244 francs = 135,555 marks (estimated value)

It is worth mentioning that the currency of the American territories occupied by Britain, France, and Australia is gradually being converted to the respective pounds, francs, and Australian Dollars.

Meanwhile, US dollars are still in circulation in the Great Lakes area, but have also entered a significant devaluation stage.

In the compensations soon to be made by the Federal Republic of the Great Lakes, all countries have declared they will not accept payment in US dollars. They demand repayment in industrial products, grain, and mineral resources which hold more stable economic value, as well as in the more valuable gold.

From the currency conversion ratios, it's clear that the only resilient currencies remaining are the pound, the Australian Dollar, and the franc, with all other currencies significantly devalued.

Because of its strong tie to the pound, in addition to Australasia's own sphere of influence, the Australian Dollar has also become one of the popular world currencies.

To avoid increasing the influence of the pound, some countries have switched to settling in Australian Dollars instead, despite it not being much different from the pound.

This also illuminates a problem. As the British grow increasingly more powerful, Australasia has involuntarily found itself in opposition to them.

Unless Arthur is willing to give up everything and content to be Britain's subordinate, this major trend is unavoidable and signifies that relations between Britain and Australasia could never return to what they were.

As 1930 approached, a piece of news shook the whole world and affected the situation in Europe.

War had broken out again in Russia Nation.

Yes, after many years, Tsarist Russia and Soviet Russia had reignited war.

Several years had passed since the last civil war, and both Tsarist Russia and Soviet Russia had taken a breather.

However, the arrival of the economic crisis had brought significant changes to the situation in Russia Nation.

As Tsarist Russia had evolved from a capitalistic government into an autocracy, the economic crisis had a substantial impact on it.

But it was different for Soviet Russia. Historically, Soviet Russia was not severely impacted by economic crises due to the combination of political and economic factors.

Soviet Russia was not only unaffected by the economic crisis but managed to develop part of its industry and infrastructure during it and even expanded its military force back up to 500,000 personnel.

On the other hand, Tsarist Russia, due to a severe economic crisis, saw its military forces cut by Nicholas II to 600,000 troops.

Although its military still outnumbered that of Soviet Russia, Tsarist Russia's territory was several times larger than Soviet Russia's, and it also had a much larger population.

More importantly, like the previous United States and current Germany, Tsarist Russia was also suffering from the economic crisis, with countless unemployed, many on the brink of starvation.

Soviet Russia was different. Although its resources weren't abundant, the centralized rationing system ensured most people had enough to eat and didn't starve to death.

When compared, Soviet Russia clearly offered more hope, further contributing to its ascent.

It's worth noting that within Tsarist Russia there were many Russian capitalists. The exploitation of the common people by these capitalists during the economic crisis was also causing Tsarist Russia to weaken and the public to be greatly dissatisfied with the government.

Under the accumulation of various contradictions, the rule of Tsarist Russia was unstable, and Nicholas II was doing everything possible to strengthen his armed forces.

Against the backdrop of confrontation between the two Russian powers, there were also forces from countries including Britain, France, and Australia at play.

The British had currently become dominant, and France surely wanted Russia Nation to recover its strength and help resist against the British.

However, the British definitely didn't want Russia Nation to rise again, as a complete and powerful Russia could pose a significant threat to Britain in Central Asia and the Far East.

As for whether the British were backing Soviet Russia or not, that remained unknown. But the rapid rise of Soviet Russia during the economic crisis was indeed extraordinary and definitely impossible without the support of some country.

How exaggerated was Soviet Russia's industry?

In the entirety of 1929, Australasia's annual steel production was close to 13 million tons, of which the annual steel production was 4.705 million tons, and the pig iron output was 8.277 million tons.

Such figures are already quite impressive, and when looking at the entire world, they could definitely be considered a steel production giant, a true industrial powerhouse.

Yet Soviet Russia, in just a few short years, had increased its steel production to 5 million tons, of which steel output had already surpassed 2 million tons, exceeding Tsarist Russia's steel production of 4 million tons.

What level is a yearly steel output of 2 million tons for Soviet Russia? Compared to other major countries around the world, Soviet Russia's steel production had already exceeded the Island Nation and Italy, ranking sixth in the world.

When compared like this, the advancement in the industrial sector of Soviet Russia was indeed quite astounding. More importantly, due to the large-scale expansion of industry, Soviet Russia had hardly any unemployment; people were fighting hard at their posts for the country's future.

Moreover, Soviet industry was relatively scarce domestically, so there was no need to worry about market issues.

The steel and other industrial products they produced would be transported all over the country to be consumed in this great construction.

For these reasons, compared to Tsardom of Russia, Soviet Russia's economy and industry were healthier, signifying a changing of the guard.

The war was started by the Soviet side.

For Nicholas II and Tsarist Russia, they certainly did not want to ignite another conflict and add fuel to their fragile economy.

But there were huge political differences between the two nations, and they had originally been one; conflict was thus inevitable.

The issue began with some Soviet political parties going into Tsarist Russian territory to attract rural populations to join them and secretly arranging for their transfer to Soviet Russia.

Soviet Russia, able to arrange work and provide food, quickly became an object of desire for a large number of the Russian rural populace.

After all, if they stayed in Tsarist Russia, the government would offer them no relief; they would have to fend for themselves.

However, Soviet Russia's actions soon caught the attention of Tsarist Russia. The economic crisis had caused famine and chaos, leading to the deaths of millions of people.

Even after the loss to Soviet Russia, the population of Tsarist Russia was no longer over a hundred million, but approximately 87 million.

In contrast, the population of Soviet Russia was continuously growing; now approaching 30 million and still drawing people incessantly from the rest of Russia.

The constant drain on the population naturally hit a sore spot for Russian capitalists. After all, in the midst of the economic crisis, they relied on these common people. Without the continuous labor of the common people to create wealth and resources, where would the capitalists obtain sufficient supplies?

Keep in mind, once the people moved to Soviet Russia, they would become extremely hostile towards capitalism, in other words, they would become the enemy of capital.

This was something the Russian capitalists did not wish to see, and it naturally pushed the Russian Government to prevent Soviet Russia from attracting the people.

Having already experienced a civil war, the efforts to prevent such movement could not possibly be peaceful.

Conflicts were bound to escalate into chaos in this process and eventually evolve into small-scale warfare.

Once gunshots rang out, neither side was inclined to back down first. After all, this concerned national prestige, as well as which of the two Russias would take the initiative.

On January 7, 1930, the Russian civil war erupted once again.
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What started as a conflict between the border forces of both countries quickly spiraled into full-blown war.

It seemed as if Soviet Russia had been prepared all along, as its great army majestically advanced towards the Polish frontline, attempting to sever the connection between Tsarist Russia and Ukraine.

This inevitably leads us to the previous Intervention War. After the end of the Intervention War, Ukraine was initially in the hands of the Intervention Army.

But due to the economic crisis, Ukraine was ultimately returned to Tsarist Russia in exchange for some resources and minerals.

Ukraine was still very important to Tsarist Russia. First, Ukraine represented a very important port of access to the sea. Secondly, the region could blockade Soviet Russia, making the external exchange routes of Soviet Russia far longer.

The problem was that between Tsarist Russia and Ukraine, there was only a several-hundred-kilometer-long band of connecting territory.

This connecting band was at its narrowest just a few tens of kilometers wide and at its broadest not more than a hundred kilometers, and its shape was long and narrow, like the throat of Tsarist Russia.

If cut swiftly at its narrowest point, the Ukraine region would lose its connection with Tsarist Russia, becoming like an exclave hundreds of kilometers away.

This exposed Soviet Russia's intentions: to quickly take over Ukraine to secure a very reliable port of access to the sea, and incidentally split Tsarist Russia in two, from north to south.

Of course, this was just the first strategic move revealed by Soviet Russia. If unification were possible, Soviet Russia's ultimate goal was definitely to rebuild Russia.