The Rise of Australasia

Chapter 817 -611: Pointing the Sword at Persia

This year marks the 19th since the foundation of Australasia, and there won’t be any major events for National Day.

Although last year they took control of two countries, Arthur decided to hold a grand parade at next year’s celebration, which will be the 20th anniversary of the nation’s founding.

Due to the war, the tenth anniversary of the founding didn’t see much celebration, which was generally considered a pity.

This time, for the 20th anniversary, they are determined to hold a lavish parade ceremony to celebrate with both the nation and its people.

The good news is that there’s a whole year until the parade ceremony, which is plenty of time for the military to select the soldiers for review and undergo fairly stringent training to prepare for the upcoming event.

To emphasize the significance of this parade ceremony, countries like the Philippines and El Salvador will also participate, and even Arthur plans to invite major powers such as Britain to join.

At present, Australasia is undoubtedly one of the top three superpowers in the world, so hosting such a grand ceremony is certainly justifiable.

Of course, the parade ceremony is currently only in the preparation stage. As for the scale of the parade, the size of the army participating from the navy, army, and air force, and the specific National Day event schedule, that is for government officers to consider.

Compared to the parade ceremony, Arthur attaches much more importance to the British proposal to completely partition the entire coastline of the Persian Gulf.

As mentioned before, only three forces remain on the Persian Gulf coast: Britain, Australasia, and Persia’s Qajar Dynasty.

There’s no need to say much about the British-Australian nations, and the sole purpose of the British proposal is indeed the recently changed Persia.

Previously, due to the Russian war, Russia Nation’s influence had essentially withdrawn from Persia, leaving only the British controlling the region.

According to the previous treaty between Britain and Russia Nation, the north of Persia was owned by Russia Nation, the south by Britain, and the central part was a buffer zone between the two countries.

Now, with the withdrawal of Russian forces, the British naturally turned their attention to the central and northern parts of Persia.

Yes, Persia’s Qajar Dynasty has not yet been eradicated.

Indeed, if one understands the history of Persia during this period, the real reason for the Qajar Dynasty’s survival until now becomes clear.

In history, the establishment of the Pahlavi Dynasty was actually the result of Anglo-Russian competition in Persia. Britain sought to completely control Persia, while the Soviets declared their renunciation of all unequal interests in Persia held by Russia Nation, supporting Persia in its struggle for independence from Britain.

This immediately turned Persia into a pro-Russia and anti-Britain stance, forcing the British to find means to change this outcome.

But now it’s different, as there’s no one left to compete with the British in Persia, Britain no longer needs to support a proxy but rather focuses on completely controlling Persia.

If there were a map available, one could see why Persia’s geographic location is so important to Britain, which is also why Russia Nation and Britain engaged in prolonged competition over this land.

First, given Persia’s geographic position, its southern coast is near the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, providing an excellent seaport.

To the east lies India, Britain’s most critical area, and to the west is the Mesopotamian Plain in the rich Middle East Region, connecting the Middle East and India.

If Britain could control Persia, it would be able to establish a range of power from India to the Middle East, from the Middle East to Egypt, and from Egypt to South Africa. ꞦαŊỖꞖΕṢ

A series of contiguous colonies would significantly strengthen British control in these areas and also make their colonies more stable.

After all, India has always been the British’s greatest concern. Controlling Persia would greatly increase India’s stability.

For the previous Russia Nation, India’s geographic position was also critically important. This was a seaport that didn’t require passage through the Suez Canal, considered an excellent ice-free port by the Russians.

But because it was too close to India, even though the Russians had previously engaged in long-standing competition with the British over this land, they still were no match for the British.

Now that Russia Nation’s influence has receded, the British can no longer contain their ambition. For them, a Persia completely under their control is the current state Persia should be in.

Of course, in order to bring Australasia on board and quickly resolve Persia as an opponent, the British have also decided to capitalize on the momentum to sweep through some of the indigenous powers in the Middle East and, together with Australasia, utterly take control of the entire Middle East Region.

After acquiring land divided from the Ottoman Empire, Britain has already become the largest country in the Middle East Region.

If this operation to sweep through the indigenous forces is completed, Britain will establish a range of power from Persia to the Mesopotamian Plain, then encircling the entire Arabian Peninsula, and finally stopping at the Sultanate of Oman.

This also means that aside from the Persian Gulf coastline and some inland regions under Australasian control, Britain will be in possession of most of the Middle East.

The territory assigned to Australasia was the Rashid Emirate, an inland Indigenous nation at the heart of the Arabian Peninsula in Sutton Arabia.

The scope of this Indigenous power was actually quite large, spanning over a million square kilometers and boasting a population of several hundred thousand Indigenous Peoples.

The real reason why the British generously ceded this land to Australasia was that they felt this mostly desert land held little value, after all, one can’t exactly make money by selling sand!

In comparison to this desert, maintaining control over Persia and the Mesopotamian Plain, which was equivalent to nearly half of India, was the area that truly mattered to the British.

Arthur found the British proposal to form a joint force to sweep away the Indigenous Peoples quite interesting indeed.

Although the value of the entire Rashid Emirate wasn’t high, there were still some areas near the Persian Gulf coast likely to have petroleum deposits.

This was land offered proactively by the British, and acquiring it merely required deploying a military force to cooperate in battle, so naturally, Arthur would not refuse.

Fighting against these Indigenous Peoples was actually the easiest part. With overwhelming superiority in weapons and equipment, minimal casualties could achieve victory in war as long as one didn’t take unnecessary risks and just relied on fire suppression.

The days of melee combat were long gone. In an age where airplanes filled the skies, victory was a far reach for those who lagged in military technology.

Moreover, whether it was the Qajar Dynasty of Persia or other Indigenous forces in the Middle East, none had strong internal cohesion, far from being a united front.

Especially Persia, which had been infiltrated and corrupted by Britain for a long time, had almost become a semi-Colony, making occupation relatively straightforward.

However, even so, Arthur still made his demands clear, insisting that the British be responsible for the logistical supply of the Australasia Army.

War went hand in hand with high costs, regardless of who the fight was against.

In actual combat, Soldiers’ shooting accuracy was nowhere near pinpoint; in fact, the majority of bullets ended up being wasted.

But that was inevitable—after all, one couldn’t expect Soldiers to carefully aim before Shooting in the midst of a battlefield. Where would be the need for fire suppression otherwise?

Most Soldiers even fired in haste, after all, reality isn’t quite like a game.

In games, characters can survive several gunshot wounds, but a real soldier hit by even a single bullet might lose combat capability, or worse, risk death if not promptly addressed.

Of course, that assumes the hit wasn’t to a vital area. If bad luck struck and one was hit in the vitals, there was little to do but honorably accept a one-for-one exchange with the bullet.

Though there were those rare individuals who could grit their teeth and fight back after being shot, they were a scarce commodity in the Military.

This is why Arthur strongly advocated the fire-power-is-king philosophy in the Military. While such a doctrine did lead to some waste and high military expenses, it was far preferable to large casualties.

This was the case when Australasia lacked manpower, and it remained unchanged now that the Population had increased; the fire-power-first philosophy would be maintained.

After all, there are countless ways to make Money, especially for a country. But the loss of manpower was a deficit for any country, and unless absolutely necessary, Australasia’s wars would never be fought with a disregard for human life.

Of course, the human life being referred to here was that of Australasians, not the Indigenous Peoples mentioned before, nor the current Filipinos.

The lives of Australasians were precious, but the case for Filipinos was different.

Just like the Indigenous Peoples of the Dutch East Indies, Filipinos had a high birth rate and Population growth.

Arthur had already benefited from the Philippine Government conducting a comprehensive census. Although it was impossible to have a precise headcount, it was still much more accurate than the current estimates of the Philippine Government.

Considering the situation in the Philippines, the current Population was definitely at the ten-million mark, with a significant yearly growth rate.

Beyond representing a guaranteed Market to some extent, these Populations served as Cannon Fodder and manpower in war, which was where the true value of the Philippines lay for Australasia.

Naturally, the upcoming operation in Persia would include the Philippine Military, which in fact would be the main force of Australasia.

After all, if the British were averse to casualties, so was Australasia. Rather than suffering a bitter fight with Persians, it made more sense for Filipinos to measure strength against them.

Since the Philippines was already in a state of peace, instead of idling the Philippine Soldiers there, it was better to deploy them to Persia for combat, an opportunity to enhance their combat skills.

Leveraging this war would also support several Philippine Officers friendly to Australasia, making it easier for Arthur to maintain control over the Philippines.

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