The Rise of Australia

On April 14, 1936, under the witness of Prime Minister Baldwin, the Duke of York, the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent, King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom signed the abdication document sent to the governments of the various dominions at Belvedere Castle, officially declaring himself Will give up the British throne.

On April 15, Edward VIII, as King of the United Kingdom for the last time, read out the Decree of Abdication to all the British people through national broadcasts, and at the end he said affectionately and silently: "I believe that there is no such thing as the woman I love. Without my help and support, it would be impossible to fulfill my duties and fulfill my obligations as a king.

For the subsequent development of the British Empire, and for me and my love, I will voluntarily give up the British throne, and my descendants will no longer have the right to inherit the British throne. "

The abdication of Edward VIII was the biggest news for the British Empire. Not only was Edward VIII the first king in British history to voluntarily give up the throne for love, his reign was also one of the shortest among British monarchs.

From the death of the last British King George V to the abdication of Edward VIII, less than two months have actually passed.

These two months have had a profound impact on the British government, and have also created the very severe situation the British government is currently facing.

In addition to marveling that Edward VIII was really willing to give up the throne for love, the people were also looking forward to whether the new king, Duke Albert, could sweep away the decline caused by Edward VIII and lead Britain to regain its What about the grand occasion of the past?

Starting on April 16, Britain officially entered the era of Duke Albert's rule.

In order to stabilize the British government and people, Duke Albert decided to use his father's name. He dropped the name Albert and changed it to George. Because of this, Duke Albert became the sixth king of England named George, that is, George VI.

Because of the emergency, after George VI became King of England, he immediately focused his attention on the crisis currently facing Britain.

At the newly convened meeting of the cabinet to swear allegiance to George VI, George VI specifically stated: "The British Empire is currently suffering a major crisis comparable to that of 20 years ago. Only when we work together can we lead the UK out of the crisis and regain its The glory of the past.”

King George VI showed a very determined attitude towards war. On April 17, King George VI met with the French representative Minister Roman, and the two sides had a long confidential discussion.

It was also on that day that King George VI signed the British General Mobilization Order. This order will fully mobilize the British Army, Navy and Air Force, bringing the British Empire into a state of total war.

On April 18, Britain and France jointly issued an ultimatum to Germany. The two countries demanded that Germany immediately stop its military operations in Austria, fully withdraw its troops from Austria, and restore the pre-war situation.

This ultimatum was urgently translated by the German diplomatic department and reported to the German government and staff.

At 11:15 noon on April 19, the British and French ambassadors to Germany asked Germany for a final reply. Germany also gave its final answer, which was to reject the British and French proposals and require the British and French governments to bear the responsibility for launching the war.

With the support of Britain, France also became increasingly tough.

At 3:22 pm on April 19, French Ambassador Coulender sent a note to the German government: "Because of your country's unprovoked declaration of war and refusal to give in, you must bear the responsibility for launching the war. As an ally of the Austrian Empire, I declare on behalf of the French government , we shall fulfill our allyship with the Austrian Empire, and shall be at war with your country.”

At 5:25 pm on April 19, British Foreign Secretary Halifax summoned the German Ambassador to London and expressed a strong attitude: "According to the instructions of His Majesty the King, we are hereby notifying your government that due to the unprovoked war in your country, "As the defender of European order, I am honored to inform you that we will be at war with your country from this time on."

The German government was stunned. They did not expect that Britain, which had changed its king, would soon turn into a war party, reach an agreement with the French, and directly declare war on Germany.

But at this time, the Germans had no time to daze. What they want to do is to try their best to defeat the Austrian Empire before Britain and France complete their mobilization, creating a considerable advantage for this large-scale war.

At 8:12 a.m. on April 20, Italy complied with its alliance with the German Empire and declared war on the Austrian Empire, France, and Britain.

Later on the same day, the Austrian Empire, France and the United Kingdom also declared war on Italy respectively, and a war spread across the five powers, affecting the entire Europe and even the world.

However, although war was declared, this did not mean that the British and French troops could arrive on the battlefield immediately.

Although the British and French armies often numbered in the millions, a considerable part of these armies came from the colonies. As old colonial powers, Britain and France have colonies all over the world. It is very difficult to bring these colonial armies together in a short period of time.

This resulted in Britain and France needing longer preparation time than other countries to get most of their troops to join the war.

Especially the UK. Although the British Empire was the world's hegemon, there was no bonus for the world's hegemon in assembling an army.

As an empire on which the sun never sets, Britain has colonies all over the world. To transport all these colonial armies to Europe would not only require a large number of transport fleets, but also a lot of time.

The German General Staff made estimates based on the respective situations of Britain and France. In three months, the maximum number of French troops deployed on the battlefield was only about 1 million, and the British only had 500,000 troops.

As for Germany, they have assembled more than 2 million troops, plus Italy's millions of troops ready to attack, and they can completely attack the Austrian Empire like Poland did in these three months.

After Austria's demise, the situation became Britain, France vs. Germany and Italy. Although Britain and France have stronger foundations, Germany and Italy are obviously stronger in terms of military combat effectiveness.

Of course, the combat effectiveness of the German army played a decisive role in this. As for the Italian army, as long as they do not hold back, they will be the greatest help to Germany.

While pinning its hopes on a quick defeat of the Austrian Empire, Germany has begun to seek help from another of its allies, the island nation.

The location of the island country is still very important. They can threaten the most important area for the British, which is India.

Once India is in danger, no matter how hard the British government fights, it will definitely not be able to give up its India for France.

As long as they share some of the pressure from the British army, the German army can easily defeat the French army on the frontal battlefield.

But it is obvious that the islanders are definitely not fools. Although island countries can indeed pose a certain threat to India, they must pass through the sphere of influence of Australasia.

Facing Australasia alone has already made the people of the island country feel even more pressure. If they completely offend the British again, the island country will have no chance of winning in the struggle for hegemony in the Pacific.

As an island country, if the island country wants to maintain its status, a strong navy is crucial. But Britain is the country with the most powerful navy at this time. If it offends the British, the island country's navy will be completely blocked by the UK. No matter how powerful the island country's army is, it will be useless if it cannot get out of the island.

After the British Empire declared war on Germany and Italy, as members of the British Commonwealth, India, Canada and South Africa also declared war on Germany and Italy.

Although this war seemed huge, what was strange was that as of April 25, when the British Alliance declared full war, the main battlefield was still in Austria.

Even though war broke out between Germany and France, there were still no large-scale battles or conflicts on the German-French border.

This can be regarded as a tacit understanding between the German and French governments. Germany did not intend to waste its troops on attacking France prematurely. After all, defeating the Austrian Empire as soon as possible at this time was more important.

As for France, although they have decided to participate in the war, their war preparations have not yet been completed, and they do not intend to prematurely devote their main force to the battlefield before the arrival of the British army.

And what about the British? George VI was indeed a militant, but this still did not change the fact that Britain was unprepared for war before George VI came to the throne.

The British had been preparing for war far longer than the French. According to the calculations of the British cabinet, the first batch of troops arriving in France will land on the French coast as early as half a month later.

But these troops are only Britain's standing troops, and their numbers are bound to not be too large. According to the British cabinet's plan, the number of British troops deployed on the European battlefield will not exceed 200,000 within two months.

Compared with Germany and Italy, which often have millions of troops, this amount of troops is obviously a drop in the bucket.

But there is nothing that can be done about it. The British government is indeed very poorly prepared for war, and the current size of the British army is less than 600,000.

Due to the hasty participation in the war, the British people were obviously unprepared for this war, and the British government's mobilization progress was also very slow.

The colonies don’t need to count on it either. Among the relatively large British colonies, the closest ones are Canada and South Africa, which are separated by an ocean or a continent.

The main source of British colonial forces, India is even separated from the British mainland by the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean and the European continent.

It took at least 3 to 4 months for these colonial governments to declare war, mobilize, and then send troops to Europe.

This also means that the first three months of the war were actually a war between France and Austria and Germany and Italy. If the Austrian army can hold off Germany and Italy and buy enough time for Britain and France, the situation of Britain and France will be much better.

But if the Austrian Empire is as fragile as Poland, I am afraid that in the next few months, the situation will become France alone against Germany and Italy.

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