The Rise of Australasia

Amidst the various major events, there were still some noteworthy minor incidents in February 1920.

First, in mid-February the Spitsbergen Islands Treaty was signed by the World Alliance, recognizing the Spitsbergen Islands as belonging to Norway and having full and complete sovereignty.

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However, at the same time, the World Alliance also stipulated that the area must never be used for war purposes and that all citizens of the contracting countries can freely enter and engage in legitimate production and commerce activities while complying with Norwegian laws.

This treaty made the entire Svalbard Islands (Spitsbergen Islands, Northeast Island, Aegean Island, and Baron’s Island) the first and only demilitarized zone in the Arctic region, allowing access to all citizens of the contracting countries.

Simply put, even though Australasia is in the Southern Hemisphere, due to this treaty, it has a scientific research base in the Arctic, which is still essential for it.

Countries adjacent to the Arctic Circle may not care, but for countries as far away from the Arctic Circle as Australasia, this would also have Arctic exploration eligibility.

Of course, this treaty had already caught Arthur’s attention with regards to Antarctic and Arctic exploration.

Being able to have a research base in the Arctic is undoubtedly a good thing for Australasia, but more importantly, Australasia must also secure the Antarctic, which is very close to it.

As the only superpower in the Southern Hemisphere, Australasia’s influence on the Southern Hemisphere is still significant, covering more than half of the Southern Hemisphere’s coastline.

Especially considering Australasia’s extensive territory, a substantial amount of Antarctic territory can be occupied and claimed.

There is no Antarctic Treaty in place now, and the Antarctic continent remains an unexplored land that has not been developed.

Speaking of the mineral resources of the Antarctic, they are no less rich than those of Australasia. Firstly, coal and iron mines are essential for industrial development. The Antarctic is home to the world’s largest iron ore reserves, with extremely high-grade iron content that can be mined and used worldwide for more than 200 years.

At the same time, the Antarctic also has 500 billion tons of coal reserves, boasting significant advantages in both coal and iron reserves.

Other than this, the Antarctic also has abundant reserves of copper, lead, zinc, molybdenum, gold, silver, chromium, nickel, and cobalt. The reserves and types of mineral resources are remarkably rich.

In addition to the much-talked-about oil and natural gas reserves, Antarctica has all the making of a mineral-rich continent, which is why Arthur is plotting to occupy most of it.

Moreover, the Antarctic has fairly rich marine resources. The well-known Antarctic krill can support an annual catch of 50 million tons without causing any harm to its population growth.

How exaggerated is the figure of 50 million tons? With the current world population of about 1.66 billion, an average of 132 lbs (60 kg) of Antarctic krill per person per year would be needed to consume 50 million tons of the catch.

This renewable seafood resource, if used for exports or food reserves, can generate enormous investments.

Of course, this is under the premise of protecting the marine environment. If the events of later generations still occur, no matter how large the population of Antarctic krill is, it will become radioactive products that people will change color to, let alone serve as food reserves or foreign sales.

At the same time, it strengthens Arthur’s determination to protect the ocean. As a country highly dependent on the ocean, Arthur will not allow any severe damage to the ocean by any country.

Even if Antarctica is cold, it still cannot obscure the fact that Antarctica has many valuable resources.

Even though the Antarctic resources are temporarily underdeveloped, occupying and waiting for technological equipment to grow in the future is not a problem.

In order to establish a presence in the Antarctic as soon as possible, Arthur ordered the three major film studios to shoot movies about the Antarctic, and in various ways to proclaim Australasia’s sovereignty over this territory.

In addition to the Spitsbergen Islands Treaty, on February 24th, Germany also experienced a historically famous event, which was the establishment of the Nazi Party by Adolf Hitler in Munich, officially beginning his political career.

Arthur paid some attention to this, but with Germany’s currently chaotic political situation, whether little Hitler could reach the heights he did historically is an unknown. After all, William II is still in power, and Germany remains a monarchical country.

March, on the other hand, was relatively uneventful in terms of international affairs. Apart from the World Alliance formally announcing a reduction in German reparations, most of the remaining matters were domestic incidents occurring within the colonial nations.

As time entered early April, the calm international community became turbulent once again.

Under the intervention of the British and French-led World Alliance, Soviet Russia broke out into the Polish War of Independence.

The leader of the Polish War of Independence, bourgeois nationalist Piłsudski, under the leadership of Britain and France, called for the recovery of the national territory before the 1772 partition of Poland and formally declared war on Soviet Russia.

It’s worth noting that before the partition of Poland in 1772, its territory included present-day Lithuania, parts of Belarus, and Ukraine, all of which are now controlled by Soviet Russia.

With British and French support, the Polish nationalist armed forces expanded from a few thousand people to more than one hundred thousand, forming an alliance with the World Alliance’s intervention forces and advancing towards Lithuania and Ukraine.

At present, the situation within Russia can be described as very complex, as a purely Russian civil war has evolved into an interventionist war involving many countries.

On one side are Soviet Russia and other Soviet countries, with a total of 1.7 million troops.

On the other side are the struggling Tsarist Russia and Poland, with the World Alliance intervention army, totaling up to 2 million troops.

So far, this civil war has lasted for several years, causing almost devastating damage within Russia.

Since the beginning of World War I, Russia entered a six-year war period, which greatly depleted the country’s human resources.

During World War I alone, more than 3 million Russians died, over 8 million were injured or captured, with a total loss of more than 11 million.

The internal conflict in recent years has not been any easier, with the combined casualties of Soviet Russia and Tsarist Russia already exceeding 2 million deaths and 4 million injuries.

What is even more worrying is that since April, Russia has been experiencing a rather severe drought, accompanied by a serious diseases.

Typhus has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers, and coupled with the casualties of civilians caused by the civil war, Russia has lost at least 20 million people in these six years of conflict.

Of course, this does not include those who have immigrated abroad, or Russian civilians who died from non-war reasons, such as influenza.

Before the war, Tsarist Russia had a population of 175 million people. After six years, the population has decreased rather than increased, with only 152 million remaining, which is roughly equivalent to the level in 1908.

It is worth noting that during these six years, several millions of Russians immigrated to Australasia, which is one of the main reasons for the significant decrease in Russia’s population.

It should be mentioned that due to differences in policies and systems, most of the immigrants to Australasia were from Tsarist Russia or the population from the Russian Provisional Government period.

These Russian immigrants were internationally known as Belarusians, and most of them were well-educated professionals.

They were different from the citizens of Soviet Russia, as they did not support the Russian revolution and simply sought a stable life.

For Arthur, these talents are the real Russian immigrants Australasia wants, not those rebellious secessionists.

Compared to the domestic situation, Russia’s current civil war is an area that Arthur cannot touch yet.

Arthur can only wait for the outcome, and during other times, it is better to avoid mentioning it to prevent trouble and jeopardize Australasia.

While Australasia’s King’s Cup was being urgently planned and promoted, the time has quietly come for the Antwerp Olympics in Belgium.

Eight years have passed since the last Olympic Games, and this year’s Olympics still attracted a lot of international attention.

Although the Kings Cup, which was held in Australasia with a large investment, has taken away some of the limelight, the Kings Cup is still in the planning stage, so people’s attention is inevitably drawn to the Olympics.

On April 20, 1920, the Seventh Summer Olympic Games officially began.

Although this edition of the Olympics was not as grand as the one in Australasia, it still attracted many countries to participate.

According to the information released by Belgium, 29 countries and regions had registered for the Olympics, with a total of 2,607 participating athletes.

It is worth noting that this year’s Olympics were the first to adopt the athlete oath ceremony, a procedure proposed by Pierre de Coubertin in 1913, but the Germans obviously didn’t enjoy the opportunity to host the Olympic Games.

In addition to the athlete oath ceremony, the Antwerp Games also featured the Olympic flag designed by Pierre de Coubertin, the famous Olympic Five Rings, for the first time.

Unlike the previous two Olympics, which had more participation from the great powers, the most participants in this edition of the Olympics came from the host country, Belgium, with a much larger number than the second and third places.

This illustrates a point, that the great powers do not pay too much attention when small and medium-sized countries host the Olympic Games.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that the British Empire feels that there are currently no rivals for Britain on the international stage and thus disdains to compete with other countries under these circumstances.

Without competition from the Germans, the British government and Prime Minister Lloyd George felt much less pressure.

Currently, neither France nor the United States pose a great threat to Britain, which has caused the British government to be somewhat relaxed in some areas.

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