Chapter 390

  Time flew by, and soon came the year after the war, in 1915.

  Although the Australasian army arrived on the battlefield in October last year, despite the great success of the Anglo-French forces at the Battle of the Marne, and although Germany had just experienced a crushing defeat, the war on the Western Front was still in a war of attrition, and even if Germany had shown its decline, it was still not easy to defeat him.

  War is a vast war of attrition, and this is true in all ages.

  Although the Australasian Expeditionary Force had only been in Europe for two months, the Colonial Army had suffered more than 82,000 casualties and the Fourth Division had suffered more than 3,000 casualties, proving the brutality of the war.

  Thanks to the more exaggerated equipment of the Australasian army, the actual consumption of weapons and ammunition is even more exaggerated.

  However, half of the military expenses of the expeditionary force to Europe were borne by the British, so the burden caused by Australasia was not too great, at least for the time being, and it was fully acceptable.

  According to the public and semi-public war reports in various places, the current war in Europe has cost nearly 8 million troops.

  In particular, the main countries, led by France and Germany, have now expanded their armies to more than one million people.

  The total number of land forces and casualties of the participating European countries is as follows:

  Germany now has 1.91 million troops, 114,000 killed and 227,000 wounded.

  France has 1.75 million troops, 198,000 dead and 352,000 wounded.

  The Austro-Hungarian Empire had 1,290,000 troops, 78,000 killed and 115,000 wounded.

  The Tsarist Empire had 1,938,000 troops, 172,000 killed and 255,000 wounded.

  The British Empire now has 872,000 troops, with 58,000 killed and 112,000 wounded.

  Australasia has 478,000 troops, with 33,000 killed and 52,000 wounded.

  In just over four months in 1914, the war killed more than 600,000 people and wounded nearly 1.1 million.

  What is even more exaggerated is that this figure is limited to the number of casualties counted by the military of various countries, and does not count the civilians affected by the war.

  If civilians were to be counted, a conservative estimate would have at least tripled the list of casualties.

  Moreover, the four months of 1914 were not excessively cruel compared to the following year.

  Although the armies of various countries have multiplied several times, they can still recruit more troops to join the war, which also represents more casualties and attrition.

  It is to be expected that in the coming year, the war will only become more brutal, because all nations have no way back, either win this war or be destroyed in the war.

  No one would hope that the enemy would spare him after the defeat, and the casualties of this war were already very heavy, and under the shroud of this hatred, the Entente and the Central Powers were already in a state of either you die or I die.

  On 1 January 1915, the annual report meeting of the Australasian Cabinet Government was officially held.

  The reason why the meeting was delayed by a day was due to the delay in counting casualties at the front, and it was not until close to the early hours of the morning that a casualty report from Europe was received.

  At the meeting, Arthur looked at the Minister of National Defense, Raul, and asked with a serious face: "Minister Raul, tell me about the current casualties of our expeditionary force!" ”

  Defense Minister Raul nodded, looked at everyone, and said with a heavy face: "Your Majesty, everyone. So far, our 316,000 expeditionary force has only 217,000 combatable soldiers. The casualties of the Fourth Division were also relatively heavy, and only about 13,000 men were currently in combat capability. ”

  When the ministers heard the news of such tragic casualties, they all looked at Defense Minister Raul.

  You know, the total number of Australasian expeditionary forces was only 316,000, and nearly a third of it was lost in just two months.

  Doesn't this mean that in the new year, Australasia will need to send a certain number of colonial troops to maintain the size of the expeditionary force in Europe.

  Although most of the dead were indigenous, they were not so distressed. But it costs a lot to train an indigenous soldier into a barely qualified soldier.

  Therefore, the best-case scenario would be to have fewer Aboriginal casualties, at least without the need for Australasia's frequent transport of Aborigines to the European battlefield.

  "The French side is already asking, when will we be able to send the second expeditionary force to Europe?" Minister Raul glanced at Arthur's reaction before continuing.

  In fact, it was normal for the French to ask such questions, after all, according to the agreement at that time, Australasia needed to try its best to maintain the total number of troops fighting in Europe of more than 300,000, including at least one division of the main force.

  But if you don't know that firewood, rice, oil and salt are expensive, Arthur has only one idea now, that is, the later he sends the army, the better.

  "Back to France, it will take some time for our troops to train, and coupled with the long journey to Europe, at least for three months, Australasia will not have any reinforcements, and can only provide some material support." Arthur thought for a moment before speaking.

  Although it is true that Australasia also needs to make a certain contribution to the war in exchange for the distribution of benefits after the war.

  But it was not Arthur's plan to give his own blood in support of the French.

  It seems that the casualties of the colonial army were not much to Australasia, but in fact, the cost of training of these indigenous soldiers, as well as their weapons and equipment, brought Australasia a considerable burden on military spending.

  After all, the British only provided half of the military expenses of these armies, and would not provide the weapons and equipment of these indigenous soldiers when the colonial army was formed.

  Minister Raul nodded, indicating that he understood.

  After the hiccup of the Ministry of Defense, the 1914 Annual Report Summary Meeting officially began.

  According to the Ministry of People's Livelihood, by the end of 1914, the total population of Australasia had successfully exceeded 15 million, reaching 15.37 million.

  This is no small milestone for Australasia, which has reached a new number after surpassing 10 million three years ago.

  Of course, the bad news is that the number of immigrants in Australasia has plummeted since the outbreak of the Great War in Europe.

  Throughout 1914, Australasia's population grew by around 1.44 million people.

  Although it may seem like a lot, the number of newborn babies has reached 378,000. This also means that the number of immigrants in 1914 was only 1.062 million, of which more than 800,000 were Russian immigrants, accounting for nearly eighty percent of the new immigrants in Australasia.

  The number of immigrants fell by almost 300,000 by the previous year, a significant number of whom were British and German immigrants.

  Even if Australasia and Britain had good relations, Britain would close immigration routes in times of war to minimize the outflow of migrants.

  After all, most civilians do not like war, and if immigration is not restricted during special periods, I am afraid that a large number of migrants will take refuge abroad before the war is over.

And this loss of national strength in times of war is something that the major European powers do not want to see.

  Not only Britain, but all the European powers that participated in the war enacted certain immigration restrictions, which also caused the number of immigrants to leave Europe in 1914 almost halved.

  Fortunately, Australasia also has a good brother named Russia, who can support Australasian immigrants at any time.

  After all, in order to attract more Russian immigrants, Australasia bribed all the Russians, and Russia gave Australasian immigrants a green light all the way, so they had to send the immigrants to Australasia's borders in person.

  More importantly, because Australasia frequently transported supplies to Russia, the relationship between Australasia and Russia also entered a long honeymoon period.

  Coupled with the marriage relationship between the royal families of the two countries, Russian immigrants are indeed the best source of immigrants during this period, without counting some revolutionaries of Russian immigrants.

  Due to the possible future crisis in Tsarist Russia, Arthur has also made advance arrangements.

  First of all, through the screening of all Russian immigrants, thousands of Russian immigrants who recognized and were willing to pledge allegiance to Australasia were selected, and after a certain amount of training, they were sent back to Russia to carry out secret undercover missions.

  Their probable task was to get into the hearts of some revolutionaries and Russian rebels and find out more about Arthur.

  No matter how corrupt Russia is, the Russian royal family still has to save it. Even if the ruler is not the current tsar, at least a close relative of the Romanovs.

  This is not only the good relationship between the Australasian royal family and the Russian royal family, but also the geographical location of Russia.

  As long as Russia exists, at least in the Far East, he will be an ally of Australasia and share the pressure from the island nation and the United States.

  However, Russia is currently in a state of relative chaos, and it is also questionable whether the more than 1,000 trained Russian immigrants can penetrate into the interior of those people.

  It is worth mentioning that some Russian lawbreakers have already fled to Australasia by taking the opportunity of immigration.

  But Arthur had been prepared for this, and Australasian customs were strict in their inspections of all immigrants.

  Not only are they forbidden to carry weapons, but too many migrants from the same area are not allowed to congregate into one area.

  These immigrants from all over Russia were also dispersed to various parts of Australasia, including New Zealand and all the colonies.

  Of course, they can also not accept the government's allocation, at the cost of losing the government's welfare policies.

  Although such a rule is somewhat tough, it is not unacceptable for civilians who just want to come to Australasia to live a bland and happy life.

  After all, Australasia's current immigration policy is also very generous. As long as you pass the immigration assessment for about half a year to a year, you can successfully obtain Australasian citizenship, obtain 4 to 8 acres of land (depending on the location and fertility of the land), and have the opportunity to work in major factories in Australasia.

  You must know that with the growth of Australasia's per capita income, the salaries offered by major factories are also very generous.

  Although the income level is not as high as that of the top powers such as Britain, France and Germany, the consumption level of Australasia is also relatively low, especially in terms of beef and mutton and grain, and the price is much lower than that of Europeans, which also brings the living standards of Europeans and Australasian people closer.

  According to statistics, in terms of beef and mutton and grain consumption, Australasia's per capita consumption even exceeds that of some parts of Europe, including some major countries.

  In addition, the eight-hour working week is strictly implemented in Australasia, and there are corresponding subsidies and overtime pay for overtime, and the salary is also guaranteed.

  As a result, Australasia's factories have attracted a large number of citizens and immigrants, allowing Australasia to develop rapidly in all walks of life.

  Although more than 1 million immigrants are added every year, these people are dispersed into agriculture, industry, etc., which also causes the unemployment rate in Aralasia to be not affected much.

  According to the statistics of the Ministry of People's Livelihood, by the end of 1914, the per capita income of Australasia was 52.7 Australian dollars, which was still in a relatively stable state of growth.

  Economic growth can be seen in the gross national product.

  Throughout 1914, Australasia's GDP reached US$1.677 billion, equivalent to £335 million, or A$670 million, with a growth rate of about 6%.

  Although the rate of growth had slowed down compared to the previous year, the war broke out in the second half of 1914, and such a rate of growth was already good.

  If Arthur guessed correctly, the economic growth of the major European powers involved in the war, especially France, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia, was absolutely negative.

  You must know that the cost of war to a country is very huge. In order to better enter the state of war, these countries have mobilized some civilian factories into military production, and those who have technology to produce more complex military equipment and weapons, and those who do not have technology to produce relatively simple military uniforms and helmets.

  Although it has greatly alleviated the pressure on military supplies on the front line, it has also caused a huge impact on the civilian economy, and the country's economic growth has been slow, or even fallen into negative growth.

  The situation in Britain was relatively better, as the country was not affected by the war. But after all, in Europe, the impact must be there, at least much greater than in Australasia.

  In terms of government revenue, Australasia's government revenue in 1914 was $107.2 million, an increase of about 5.6% over the previous year.

  Australasia's economy was not affected much, and even made a small profit because of the large number of goods exported to Europe.

  In terms of financial expenditure, because half of the military expenditure of the expeditionary force was borne by the United Kingdom, the military expenditure of Australasia fell to just over 38 million Australian dollars.

  The Australasian government's total fiscal expenditure was $98.71 million, and the fiscal surplus increased from the previous year to about $8.5 million.

  Although military spending has been reduced a lot, the government's total fiscal expenditure has not been reduced much.

  After all, in the midst of the war, it would cost more to bring in immigrants from Russia, and at the same time, in order to stabilize domestic production, a certain amount of payment was inevitable.

  However, these efforts were also destined to be recouped by the Entente. But as the war becomes more and more fierce in the new year, the Entente countries will really lack weapons, equipment and materials.

  And that time was also the time when Australia made a lot of money. The trade in food and weapons alone was enough for the royal family and the Australasian government to make a lot of money, not only to pay off all the government's debts, but also to make a small profit.

  If it weren't for the previous war between Argentina and Chile, which led to a decline in relations between Australasia and the United States.

  Arthur even wanted to borrow a large sum of money from the United States, either in francs or marks.

  Today's one shift, it's a leave, and two shifts tomorrow.

(End of chapter)