In response to the British Empire's inquiry, Arthur responded with a positive attitude. Australasia was very interested in sending troops to Argentina, not only to maintain the status of the Entente, but also for the sake of Australasia's own interests.

The same is true of several other countries, including the Entente. It would be fine if the British Empire itself was threatened, but in order to protect the foreign interests of the British Empire, several other powers of the Entente were also prompted to follow suit, and other countries that did not have enough interests were unwilling.

However, for France and Russia, even if they jointly govern the whole of Argentina, the interests and interests are not too great.

Both France and Russia own large amounts of land and colonies, and Argentina is too far away from these two countries, and with the United States in the way, it is more than worth the loss to govern Argentina.

If France and Russia want to send troops together, I am afraid that the British Empire will have to cede some interests elsewhere to satisfy these two countries.

On July 23, 1913, a war of great scale began on the southern border between Argentina and Chile.

In this war, Argentina and Chile sent more than 100,000 troops, gathering almost all the troops of their respective countries.

In addition to the reserve forces that are still training, it is no exaggeration to say that most of the combatant troops of Chile and Argentina have been concentrated in this area.

The current state of the war is that Argentina is on the offensive and Chile is on the defensive.

Both sides are anxious about the current war, with Chile anxious to secure support from the British Empire and Argentina anxious to end the war before the powers react.

The top echelons of the Argentine government knew that if the war they wantonly provoked really alarmed the great powers, then the end would be unacceptable to them.

Only before the great powers acted, the rapid elimination of Chile's army made Chile's defeat a sure fact, even if it was condemned by the great powers after the war.

But if Chile cannot be defeated before the Great Powers act, even if it relies on the United States, the anger of the Great Powers will not be something that Argentina can afford.

The good news is that the world's eight major powers, with the exception of the United States, are separated from Chile by thousands of miles, and there is also the barrier of the ocean.

And the United States, the only one that is relatively close, is actually on the side of Argentina.

This also means that Argentina has every hope of taking advantage of the distance advantage and with the support of the United States, to end the war quickly.

The diplomatic relations between the British Empire and Chile are well known, but their diplomatic relations depend on the abundance of saltpeter in Chile.

As long as Argentina protects the saltpeter minerals of the British Empire from destruction, presumably the British Empire will not be too angry with Argentina, right? Probably not, right?

It is precisely because of this idea that the Argentine military has to speed up the pace of the offensive and strive to end the war as soon as possible, so as not to make the war a little more unexpected.

If according to a conservative calculation, the time for the reaction of the great powers plus the time for sending troops, Argentina has at least two or three months to end this war.

It is a pity that the development of events has somewhat exceeded the expectations of the Argentine government and military, and the war between the two major powers in South America has instead entered a rather strange stalemate.

However, this is actually normal, after all, to put it bluntly, Chile and Argentina are relatively close in terms of comprehensive strength, and their populations and economies are also about the same.

Both sides also have the support of their respective powers, and it is not surprising that the war has reached a stalemate in such a situation.

In particular, the first batch of weapons that the British Empire had sent to Chile had already been shipped from Australasia to Chile, which also gave the Chilean army sufficient weapons and ammunition to hold on to this war of attrition.

On the other hand, Argentina also has support from the United States, and it also has a huge amount of weapons and ammunition.

This also put the war between the two sides into a rather strange state, and the soldiers on both sides did not care about the consumption of ammunition at all, but the results achieved were very little.

If a reconnaissance plane takes a closer look at the battlefield at this time, it can find a rather strange phenomenon, that is, the soldiers on both sides basically sweep the shots indiscriminately, and the goal is not to kill or injure the enemy on the opposite side, but to consume all the ammunition of the weapons in their hands.

Except for the battlefield where high-ranking officers supervised the battle, all other secondary battlefields fell into this strange state.

Logistics officials in Argentina and Chile were surprised to find that since the start of this large-scale offensive and defensive battle, their consumption of weapons and supplies has increased a lot, but the results achieved have been minimal.

Even the casualties on their own side were less than before, except for the tragic casualties during the offensive and defensive battles, the casualties in other periods were not high.

This has led to a rather strange phenomenon, that is, in the first half of July, Argentina and Chile have killed and injured tens of thousands of people.

In the second half of July, the number of dead and wounded soldiers in Argentina and Chile was only more than 10,000, including the two offensive and defensive battles that had already been fought.

You must know that in the second half of the month, the two sides invested more than 100,000 troops and engaged in large-scale offensive and defensive battles on the southern border.

It stands to reason that not only the consumption of materials, but also the number of casualties will increase a lot.

But at present, apart from the frenzied consumption of ammunition, medical supplies and food, the casualties of both the own side and the enemy have not increased much.

However, this is a good thing for Chile, after all, Chile's goal is only to defend, and there is no idea of counterattacking.

For the Chilean side, their most important task was to hold the territory until British support arrived, and by the way, to protect the British minerals in Chile.

But for Argentina, the war is at a standstill, the last thing they want to see.

Once the war enters the phase of attrition, it will not only consume a lot of resources in Argentina, but most importantly, it will waste Argentina's time.

If the battle cannot be resolved quickly, the British have a chance of ending, will the Americans send troops to help Argentina?

If the opposite is Italy, maybe the Americans will. On the other side is the British Empire, the world's largest power, and even the German Empire will not be easily offended, not to mention the United States, which is regarded as an upstart by Europeans and generally looked down upon.

To be honest, the war at this time has made the two major countries in South America a little unbearable. If it weren't for the firm belief that both sides would have won, I'm afraid that the stage of seeking peace would have been reached by this time.

In order to win this war, the Argentines did not hesitate to spend money, and the United States purchased a large number of heavy machine guns and artillery in order to break through the Chilean defense line as soon as possible.

On July 29, 1913, near the end of July, the third offensive and defensive battle between Argentina and Chile officially began.

This time, Argentina played its cards to the fullest, adding 10,000 reservists to the front line, and supporting a large number of machine guns, artillery, weapons and ammunition, as well as medical supplies.

At present, on the front line, Argentina's equipment has surpassed Chile's, which is enough to see how much Argentina has paid for this war.

These weapons and strategic goods alone have left the Argentine Government in debt.

If the war reparations cannot be used to pay off this debt, I am afraid that Argentina's development will be greatly limited in the next ten years.

After all, this debt is owed to the Americans, and it is basically impossible to rely on the Americans' accounts not to pay them back.

The third offensive and defensive battle lasted for most of the day and ended with a major defeat on the part of the Chilean commander's negligence.

This offensive and defensive battle also changed the offensive and defensive balance between Chile and Argentina, so that the war evolved from a balanced state at the beginning to Argentina with a certain advantage.

The number of dead and wounded on both sides can be seen. Argentina committed more than 50,000 soldiers in this offensive and defensive battle, killing 3,024 and wounding 12,058.

On the Chilean side, there were also more than 40,000 combat soldiers, with 5,021 killed and 14,231 wounded.

In addition to the fact that Chile had more casualties than Argentina, due to the negligence of the Chilean commanders, the Chilean army lost its difficult and easy to defend positions, and the garrison was forced to retreat more than ten kilometers back.

This represents the official expansion of the Argentine army by more than ten kilometers, and the area of exchange of fire between the two sides has reached Chilean territory.

This was already a hundred thousand times urgent for Chile, and it also forced Chile to ask the British Empire for help again.

On August 2, 1913, after communicating with each other, the four major Allies announced their intervention in the Chilean and Argentine wars, and would form an expeditionary force to help Chile defend its homeland.

The four great powers jointly intervened in the war between two small countries, which also made the South American war instantly a topic of conversation in the world, and people were curious about what kind of magic this part of South America could attract the four great powers to send troops for it.

In fact, if it weren't for the United States hiding it too well, the people at this time would know that the war in South America involved more than the four major powers, and the United States, located in the Americas, had a total of five major powers.

If it were not for Germany's obsession with the development of naval armaments and its lack of interest in participating in this dispute, I am afraid that South America would have attracted not only the Entente but also the Central Powers.

Half a month has passed since the last time the British Empire sent a telegram to Arthur asking for help.

During this half-month period, the four major powers of the Entente held preliminary negotiations on the number of troops to be sent.

According to the agreement of the Entente, the proportions of the four major powers were 20,000 for Britain, 25,000 for France, 30,000 for Russia, and 16,000 for Australasia.

The total number of troops sent by the four major powers has exceeded 90,000, and with a strong navy to escort them, and the tens of thousands of Chilean troops that are currently left, there is absolutely no problem in quelling a small South American war.

In addition to ending the South American War and protecting British interests in South America, this war was also an important way for the four major Allied powers to demonstrate their military strength.

Therefore, according to the respective agreements of the four major powers, the expeditionary force will send elite troops of their own countries this time, and the combat capability of the expeditionary force must be guaranteed.

Arthur of other countries is not known, but Australasia is expected to send troops, the 4th Standing Division, which has been trained for a long time.

The Standing Division is the most luxurious and well-trained combat unit in Australasia except for the Guards Division.

Although the Fourth Division was the latest, it has been training for several years.

Taking this opportunity, it is still necessary for the soldiers of the fourth time to see the world and see blood.

After all, an elite army must go through many wars, large and small, before it can take shape.

It is impossible for a unit that relies on training to grow into an elite army. Only a soldier who has seen blood, a soldier who has been on the battlefield, is an excellent elite soldier.

The reason why the current number of Australasian expeditionary forces is 16,000 is because the number of a division in Australasia is exactly 16,000.

Although the four major powers together can easily gather a million troops, but just against a small country like Argentina, let alone a million troops, 100,000 troops are too large.

Even if it was all an army of the strength of the Australasian Standing Army, Arthur was confident that he would only need 30,000 men to wipe out the whole of Argentina.

Although the armies sent by the four great powers were collectively known as the Allied Expeditionary Force, the timing of their dispatch was not the same.

In order to reach the battlefield as soon as possible, according to the internal agreement of the Entente, Australasia, which is closest to here, will be the first to send soldiers.

The mission of the Australasian army was to go to Chile and help the Chilean army hold the territory.

Hold on until the Allied expeditionary force arrives in full, and then gather all the men and organize a counteroffensive.

By the way, you can also practice the degree of cooperation of all the forces of the Allied countries, so that in the future, when the war in Europe begins, the respective units of the four major powers of the Entente will cooperate in fighting.

On August 5, 1913, the Australasian Expeditionary Force, the 4th Regular Division, embarked on a transport ship on a journey to Chile.

In order to protect the transport fleet carrying the 4th Regular Division, the Australasian Navy dispatched an escort fleet led by a dreadnought, a battle cruiser.

Although the size of the escort fleet is not large, there are absolutely no rivals in the entire South American region.

Even if you look at the entire US region, I am afraid that the only one who can pose a threat to this escort fleet is the United States, which is one of the eight major powers.

But will the United States dare to attack the Australasian transport fleet in the open? Perhaps the Americans' naval strength was stronger than that of Australasia, and the actions of Australasia were jointly supported by the Allied powers, and the Americans also had to weigh the consequences of offending the Entente powers.

To put it bluntly, as long as the Americans jump on the battlefield now and oppose Austalasia, the four major Allied powers will send more expeditionary forces to land directly on American soil.

Unless the Central Powers also help the United States, the dignity of the four great powers of the Entente cannot be trampled on in this era.

You know, if you look at the world's powers, there are only eight of them. And the Entente directly concentrated half of the eight powers, which is enough to see the strength of the Entente.

From this point, in fact, we can also see the impact of the current confrontation between the two major military blocs in Europe on the world.

You must know that the two major military blocs in Europe, the Central Powers and the Entente, include seven of the world's eight great powers.

Except for the United States, which is far away in the Americas, which is not affected, all the great powers in the world are involved in the dispute between the two major military blocs.

It also represents the terrible fact that if a war breaks out between the two major military blocs, it will be a worldwide war that will affect at least seven powers and reach the whole world.

It is precisely because of this that both sides of the dispute have many fears and dare not wantonly trigger this world war.

If it were not for adequate preparations, the two major military blocs in Europe would not have erupted into too fierce disputes.

After all, because of the confrontation between the two major military blocs, the hatred among the European powers is already very high.

If disputes are provoked, the population is easily influenced to encourage the government to wage war against other countries.

At that time, even if the European countries have no intention of going to war for the time being, they will have to launch this war because of the boiling of public opinion.

Europe has developed rapidly because of the Industrial Revolution, but various revolutions can also be seen everywhere.

As a result, the opinions of the country are easily swayed by the people, after all, no one wants to be like France, where the government is overthrown or even overthrown at every turn.

The state can influence the opinions of the people, and the people can also influence the judgment of the state. For policymakers in European countries, it is also necessary to consider the opinions of the people.

Thanks for your support!

(End of chapter)