Prologue: The end of the race

The arms race in the B century, the first global arms race in the history of mankind, is a race between countries that completely changes the balance of power in the world. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The encyclopedia explains the arms race in this way - an arms race in which in peacetime hostile or potentially hostile states are imaginary enemies of each other and compete in the quality and quantity of military equipment. In order to cope with possible future wars, countries are competing to expand their armaments and enhance their military strength. An arms race is a preventive military confrontation that can be deterred by balancing the military forces of both sides. The arms race is a bloodless war, and only money is lost, not lives.

In the second half of the B century, a huge arms race was staged throughout the world. Civilized countries that have experienced the industrial revolution have applied the latest scientific and technological achievements to the military industry. The military industries of various countries are developing at a rapid pace, and the military equipment is also changing with each passing day. At that time, the world's major countries were constantly upgrading their weapons and equipment, waiting to show their skills in possible future wars.

The Saxony-Windsor Empire has long been the dominant maritime power, and its naval technology has always been far ahead of other countries and the world's best. In order to continue to defend its position as supremacy at sea, the country focused on strengthening its navy in the B century arms race, constantly developing and equipping new giant warships. It was at this time that the famous dreadnought-class warships in history were born in the country, which also led to the production and large number of equipment of dreadnought-class warships in many countries later. Several countries reformed their armies during this period and built a large number of Dreadnought-class warships and a surprising number of other warships. In that era when steel was still a high-tech product, such a warship of more than 10,000 tons was definitely expensive, and only a super rich tyrant country could have a decent fleet. At that time, the navy of any company was an expensive fleet in exchange for "golden military purchases". It can be said that the navy has been an extremely expensive branch of the military since its birth, and its equipment is extremely expensive. Even in a modern society with a high degree of industrialization at the price of steel cabbage, warships are definitely not cheap.

The arms race initiated by the Saxony-Windsor Empire is an international race with naval equipment as the main competition area, and it is destined to be an expensive race. Even for local tyrants, this competition is expensive, but participation is a must, and you must have what others have, otherwise you can only be meat on someone else's board.

By the end of this century, some countries began to be unable to hold on, to be precise, many countries could not hold on, and the long-term excessive investment of national resources in the military industry will inevitably make other industries a weak link. There are voices of opposition in academia, politics, and business. The opponents are convincing and eloquent. They claim that this aimless and indeterminate gear upgrade is time to end. Each country must have a good understanding of its own and its adversaries' fundamentals in order to win the arms race. This is quite important. A fierce arms race must be fought when necessary. An unnecessarily fierce arms race will slow down one's own economic development and, to a certain extent, trigger unnecessary hostility.

They proposed that all countries should work together to reduce armaments. The opposite aspect of the arms race, namely, disarmament, is in fact an executable strategy. In the contest of great powers, there are no permanent friends, only eternal interests. Military strength and military power give the impression of others is not the same. Military power is not purely military power, and most of it needs to be mobilized before it can be transformed into military power. Therefore, military potential is a potential resource. The timing of potential resources is an incentive for other countries to adopt non-targeted attitudes. Of course, disarmament must be carried out in the interest of the overall national strategy. The forces that need to be retained should be sufficient to deter potential enemies and be able to divert the spearhead of potential enemies through the effect of time in exchange for greater living space for themselves.

Some of the former supporters of the arms race also have a considerable number of people who believe that the arms race requires a lot of money, and that the financial situation is so tight that an increase in military spending will inevitably crowd out other needs. This is not pulling the economy, this is jamming oneself in one's own neck.

The remaining hardcore arms supporters also put forward their own opinions. They claim that those who say that the government is short of money are actually clinging to the idea of balancing finance, and the new idea is that the government can use public bonds and the issuance of currency to carry out deficit fiscal operations. So will it be inflationary? The answer is that in this case in China it will not. Let's talk about the fundamentals of macroeconomics: the expansion of government spending will lead to an increase in effective aggregate demand, and if there is idle production capacity in the country, it will not inflation, but only production. If spare production capacity no longer exists in the country, it is only then that the expansion of government spending is likely to cause inflation. According to this theory, most countries at that time had great potential, and with the right way of intervention, it was possible to achieve both cannon and butter. Increasing spending on armaments means an increase in the incomes of people in military-industrial enterprises and scientific research units, as well as an increase in purchasing power. The arms race is good news not only for the defence industry sector, but also for the civilian sector of the economy. It can at least reduce unemployment and stabilize society.

The two views have their merits, and who is right and who is wrong can only be judged by history. However, the international environment at that time repeatedly supported the views of these hardcore armament maniacs.

In the view of the leaders of the world's major countries at that time, in the international environment in which the whole world participated, the opposite aspect of the arms race, that is, arms reduction, was actually an extremely difficult appeasement strategy. In the contest of great powers, there are no permanent friends, only eternal interests. When there is no trust between States, disarmament becomes impossible. Disarmament is possible only in the context of the overall strategy of the country. Moreover, economic development requires an arms race, and an arms race is a banner that invigorates the spirit of the country, improves internal malaise, gathers the strength of the people, and arouses the enthusiasm of all walks of life throughout the country. The arms race can only continue.

"If you triple military spending, the economy will speed up tenfold."

Let the arms race unfold with great fanfare!

But this already seems to be the last madness.

Countries that could not hold on began to complain again and again, but they could not withdraw. This was even the case with the Windsor Empire of Saxony, the initiator of this arms race. With the loss of the country's industrial supremacy, the superpower at this time, like the midday sun, reached its apex and also went to a downward trajectory, and gradually fell into a situation of internal and external difficulties. Domestically, the country's economic development has slowed down, and the corresponding international strength has declined significantly. In the 30 years from 70 to 00 of the C century, the Saxony-Windsor Empire had an average GDP growth rate of only 3%, which was almost the bottom of the top ten powers in the world. While significantly higher than the Kingdom of William, whose economy has stagnated due to the lack of colonies (the figure for that country is 1.6%), it is significantly further behind the 4.9% of the United Empire of St. Roman-Santa Sunia and the 6.3% of the Commonwealth of Asia and America. This data is specific to each year, and people are surprised to find that the Saxony-Windsor Empire has been growing at a rate of less than 1% since the 90s of the B century, and the economy has stagnated or even declined for ten years.

In this last frenzied moment, the country that initiated the race has been in a severe economic crisis for more than a decade. The country's politicians tried almost every means to save the day, but failed. The famous economist John Maynard Keynes wrote on the last page of one of his books that if you try all the methods and still can't get out of the quagmire of economic crisis, there is another way to start a war.

In the first year of the C century, the faltering Saxony-Windsor Empire resolutely raised the battle flag! War!