After the election of the Cabinet of Ministers in Australasia, calm has returned to the country and it has entered the previous environment of development and construction.

But at this time, Europe was not calm, the Italian-Turkish war was raging, and the powder keg in the Balkans seemed to explode immediately, making the originally clear sky in Europe a little more cloudy, as if a storm was coming.

On October 27, 1911, Arthur had just held a cabinet meeting with the new cabinet government when he received an invitation from England to attend a large gathering in London.

Britain invited more than a dozen countries to this gathering, most of which were friendly countries with Britain, including France and Russia, which directly signed entente treaties with Britain.

Of course, this also means that countries such as Germany and Austria-Hungary, which are opposed to Britain, are not invited. Therefore, this conference can also be seen as a large gathering within and in favor of the Entente countries.

In fact, this also means that Australasia is favored by Britain, France and Russia, after all, Australasia is far away in Oceania, and being able to participate in such an Entente meeting means that Australasia's strength has been recognized by the Entente.

But such an invitation was a headache for Arthur. If you participate directly, you will inevitably be seen as joining the Entente camp.

This is very different from Arthur's idea of selling arms neutrally in the early stage and joining the advantageous side in the later stage.

But after all, it is the request of the British big brother, and if you don't go, you will inevitably lose face and hurt the feelings with the British government and the British people.

After careful consideration, Arthur chose to let the Prime Minister of Kent go. Prime Minister Kent is Arthur's confidant and can represent Arthur to a certain extent. In addition, Kent is the new Prime Minister of Australasia and can also represent the current Australasian government.

Therefore, the Prime Minister of Kent is also a more suitable candidate besides Arthur.

Before Kent's departure, Arthur specifically instructed Kent to watch more, ask less, and participate less in the meeting.

It is still necessary to understand the current level of support for the Entente in European countries, but it is not necessary to join the Entente directly.

After all, the consumption of the First World War for the Entente was very huge, and the day earlier to join the war also meant the day of early consumption of Australasia's heritage.

If this meeting was a dilemma for Arthur, then for the Allied powers, represented by Wilhelm II, it was an above-board target.

Unfortunately, although the time and participants of the meeting were public, the content of the meeting was extremely confidential.

Even if the German intelligence organization spent a lot of effort on this, it was only clear that the conference was aimed at the Allies, and Germany did not know what the conference had discussed and what purpose it had achieved.

However, this does not mean that Germany has no means of opposition.

Not long after the Kent butler arrived in London, on November 30, 1911, the day after the Allied Conference, Germany also said that it would hold a conference in Berlin, and the participants in the conference were all members of the Central Powers and European countries that favored the Central Powers.

What was a headache for Arthur was that even though Germany knew that Arthur had sent Kent to the Allied Conference, the German government still openly invited Australasia to participate in the Allied Conference.

Although Australasia did have good relations with both sides, such a blatant act before the war would not only damage Australasia's face, but also be unpleasant.

Thus, on December 1, 1911, Arthur, on behalf of the Australasian government, publicly declared that Australasia was a peaceful and friendly country and was temporarily unwilling to join the European dispute.

However, for the sake of world peace and humanity around the world, Australasia is willing to provide due medical and material support to Europe at any time to ensure that European people are not affected by European disputes.

At the same time, Arthur also stressed that Australasia would not directly join the Entente or the Central Powers for the time being, unless the interests of the country and its citizens were compromised.

In view of the good relations between Britain and Germany and Australasia, as well as the blood ties between the two sides, Arthur sincerely advised both sides to remain rational and settle the dispute at the negotiating table.

In any case, let's put up a neutral torii first. Otherwise, there are many dilemmas like this, and the slightest carelessness will give Australasia a reputation as a wall-to-wall grass.

In order to show that he really wants to be neutral, starting in December, Arthur asked the government to keep a low profile internationally and avoid paying more attention to Australasia.

In mid-December 1911, the Conference of the Central Powers was officially convened in Berlin, with the participation of members of the three Central Powers of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, and the Kingdom of Italy, as well as several small European countries that were friendly with Germany.

Although the contents of the meeting between the two sides were kept strictly secret to the outside world, the Europeans could see that the smell of gunpowder in Europe was extremely strong, and it seemed that it would explode at the slightest moment.

In January 1912, with Kent returning to Australasia, Arthur finally understood what the Entente Conference was talking about.

In fact, Kent had only heard some rumors. The real core of the Entente Conference was attended only by Britain, France, and Russia.

And other small countries can only hear some rumors, and all they can hear is what the British are willing to hear.

After this meeting, the Triple Entente, which could be expected, became even closer.

The previous Triple Entente was established on the basis of the Franco-Russian Entente, with the addition of the Anglo-French Entente and the Anglo-Russian Entente.

But the main stipend of such an entente was that France and Russia would oppose Germany, and Britain would assist France and Russia.

But with this meeting, such a situation no longer exists, and Britain also bears military responsibility.

In fact, this is also a helpless thing, if Britain does not assume military responsibility, the attitude of the Russians towards the Entente is somewhat unpredictable.

You can't rely on the French to resist Germany, such a result has been seen decades ago, and the Germans have stepped on the French to reach the top of the continent.

If the British did not bear certain military responsibility, I am afraid that the Anglo-French Entente, which led to the establishment of the Entente, could directly be annulled.

After the Entente ceased to exist, there was really no force that could stop the rise of the German Empire.

According to Kent, Britain, France, and Russia re-signed a Triple Entente, which replaced the previously loose Anglo-French, Anglo-Russian, and Franco-Russian Entente, and truly united the three countries that had concluded the Entente.

Although it is not clear what changes this new Entente brought to the Entente countries, it is clear that the attitude of the French and Russians towards the Entente has changed considerably, and their attitude towards resistance to Germany has also become firm.

In addition to this new treaty, the three countries also signed a new naval treaty. The naval treaty is also open to the small countries participating in the conference, but it also requires them not to be made public.

According to this naval treaty, the British were to protect the interests and areas of France on the Atlantic coast, and the French were to protect the interests of the British colonies in the Mediterranean.

At the same time, if war broke out, the Russian Black Sea Fleet and the French Mediterranean Fleet would block the Strait of Otranto as soon as possible to prevent the Allied navies from converging.

Located between Italy and Albania, the Strait of Otranto was the only access to the sea for the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

After the blockade of the Strait of Otranto, the Austro-Hungarian navy was useless and could only be trapped offshore.

If you look closely at the three Central powers, Germany's High Seas Fleet, Italy's navy and Austria-Hungary's navy, they all have one thing in common, that is, the navies of these three countries are confined to a certain ocean, and the exit into the Atlantic is extremely easy to block.

Needless to say, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was able to make the Austro-Hungarian navy a turtle in the middle of a dragon.

Although the Italian navy is located in the huge sea of the Mediterranean, it has the Strait of Gibraltar on the west side and the Suez Canal on the east side, both of which are occupied by the British.

This also meant that if the Italian fleet could not defeat the British fleet, their navy would only be able to sail in the Mediterranean, and could not go out of the Atlantic or Indian Oceans at all.

Finally, there was the navy of the Germans. Before the construction of the Kiel Canal, Germany's east-west sea route had to bypass Denmark, which not only added many trips, but also ceded the main sea route to Denmark.

After the Germans built the Kiel Canal, they successfully connected the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, which not only greatly shortened the distance between the east and west sea navigation, but also made the communication arteries connecting the North Sea and the Baltic Sea in their own hands.

But that doesn't mean the problem is gone. Needless to say, the Baltic Sea, apart from Denmark, is the only one that connects the Baltic Sea to the outside world.

But the problem is that beyond the Baltic Sea there is the North Sea, and the two ways to get the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean are through the English Channel on the border between Britain and France and the northern part of the North Sea on the border between Britain and Norway.

The two regions were also under the control of the British Empire's navy, which meant that the navies of the three Allied powers would have to break through the navies of France and Britain in order to converge.

But herein lies the problem. The British Empire is currently the world's number one naval power, and it is impossible for the navy of a single Allied country to compete with the navy of the British Empire.

If the navies of the three Allied countries did not converge, the naval threat to Britain would not be so great.

But if it were not for the strength of the British navy, it would be almost impossible for the navies of the three Allied powers to converge.

This seems to be stuck in an endless circle, even though the three Allied countries have been vigorously developing their navies, they still have not caught up with the trend of the British Imperial Navy.

What's more, the British Empire, with its extensive colonies and large population, was much stronger than Germany's.

It was Germany that suffered more from the naval race, which greatly reduced the likelihood that the Allied navy would overtake the Allied navy.

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(End of chapter)