Time passed, and soon came to 1934.

The first good news is that Arthur's nationwide census of Australasia has finally been successfully completed, and Australasia's population data and size have been completely updated.

According to the results of the first census, as of January 1, 1934, Australasia had a total population of more than 42.379 million, ranking sixth in the world (only counting the mainland of the great powers), and had surpassed Italy's 41.57 million people.

It is worth mentioning that France is also a country whose population remains at this level. Although the specific population of France is not known, according to the population growth data of France in recent years and the situation of newborn babies, the population of France should be between 42.5 million and 43 million.

With a population of 42.37 million, it was good news for Arthur. In the case of imminent war, the greater the population, the greater the war potential of the country.

Australasia's next goal is to surpass France in terms of population figures, ideally reaching a population of more than 45 million before the war.

After all, the casualties caused by the war to the country are immeasurable, and only by having a larger population can the major damage caused by the war to the country be avoided.

The good news is that people are not averse to having more children. After all, the government is basically responsible for the tuition fees of children from multi-child families, and the government has corresponding encouragement for multi-child families, which has greatly reduced the cost of multi-child families in newborns.

Arthur was more concerned with the proportion and distribution of the various ethnic groups than the size of the population, which was the real purpose of the census.

According to the results of the population survey, among the 42.379 million people in Australasia, 56.4% are of British blood, totaling more than 23.9 million.

Russian blood accounts for 21.7%, totaling more than 9.2 million people. German blood accounts for 7.7%, with a total of more than 3.26 million people.

U.S. immigrants accounted for 4.7 percent, or more than 1.99 million people, and the rest of the European immigrants accounted for 8.1 percent, or about 3.43 million.

The remaining 1.4 per cent are all Asian immigrants. These Asian immigrants came from all over East Asia, including the Australasian Philippines.

I have to admit that at this time, all countries in the world are naturally pursuing the very advanced and developed Western civilization.

Australasia, as the closest Western power to Asia, naturally attracts a large number of Asian curiosity.

There are people who want to come to Australasia to learn knowledge and serve the country, and there are naturally people who want to join Australasia.

However, because of the general sense of racial superiority among Europeans, Arthur did not advocate attracting Asian immigrants.

The first is that it will create racial antagonisms, and the second is that these Asian immigrants will come to Australasia and they will be subjected to more serious discrimination, which is somewhat unnecessary.

However, for some Asians who want to come to Australasia desperately, Arthur will naturally not object.

If they can survive in racist Australasia, that's what they can do.

As the year 1934 progressed, Arthur had to refocus his attention on the situation in Europe.

To be honest, Europe at this time is as if it was before World War I. The Franco-Austrian alliance and the German-Italian pact are reminiscent of the massive war of 20 years ago.

For Germany and Italy, two ambitious countries, after testing the appeasement policy of Britain and France, they will definitely not be satisfied with temporary gains.

Sure enough, after expanding the size of the army to 250,000, the German army did not stop expanding.

In just half a year, most of the SS was dismantled and reorganized into the German Army.

This also allowed the German army to rapidly expand from the original estimate of 250,000 to 400,000, and the size of the army was once again in the ranks of the great powers.

Did Britain and France discover these little moves of Germany?

To say that you didn't find it is completely impossible. But the question is, even if these small actions are discovered, how can Britain and France respond to them?

For the British, there was not much difference between 250,000 German troops and 400,000 German troops. In any case, France's army remains at more than 400,000, and France has an even more powerful navy.

Although it has been proven in previous wars that the German army is indeed stronger than the French army.

But with their naval superiority, France and Germany should remain at the same level of military strength, and even France is slightly ahead.

Although the size of Italy's army is huge, the individual combat capability of soldiers is extremely worrisome. Italy and the crippled Austrian Empire were on the same level, and it was a perfectly balanced internal strife.

It was precisely because of this idea that although the British government was aware of Germany's small moves, it did not take more radical measures to sanction Germany.

After all, most of the light weapons of Germany's 400,000 troops were purchased from Britain, which in the eyes of the British, it was obvious that Germany had proved its sincerity to Britain.

It's just that Britain is obviously not happy about this, and France is obviously not happy. With 250,000 German troops facing nearly 500,000 French troops, the French were not at all worried.

But if the German army expands to 400,000, it is really difficult to say who is superior and who is inferior. Strictly speaking, the French were not afraid of Germany, but of another great harm caused by a war with Germany.

But it doesn't really make a difference anymore. The German army has really expanded to 400,000, and if a war is started, even if Germany can be won, it will definitely be a war of attrition.

The French eventually backed down, but they also made their own demand, which was to allow the Austrian Empire to abolish the previous land restrictions.

As a defeated country, the size of the Austrian Empire's army was also limited to 100,000 men. After the massive expansion of the German army, the French provided Austria with a large number of loans and weapons, and succeeded in bringing the Austrian army to the threshold of 300,000 legally.

If the previous arms race was only a good show for the British and French island countries and Australasia, then the current arms race has become a big drama in which all the great powers participate.

After the German and Austrian empires expanded their armies, would the other countries not expand their armies?

Obviously impossible.

In February 1934, France promulgated a new conscription law, saying that in the next six months, the size of the French army would be expanded from 500,000 to 650,000, and the new 150,000 troops would be deployed on the border with Germany, that is, the famous fortified fortress, the Maginot Line.

The French did this, and Italy was not happy.

After all, Italy was an ally of Germany and a potential enemy of France. The French conscription was clearly directed towards Germany, and there was no intention of taking Italy into account at all.

In the eyes of Mussolini, who was very arrogant at heart, it was obvious that he looked down on himself and his own Italy.

Enraged, Mussolini ordered the Italian First Army, with more than 150,000 troops, to take over the task of garrisoning troops in the north, to be deployed along the border with France.

Such an Italian move did not wait for the reaction of the French to cause discontent in Serbia, to the east of Italy.

At this time, Serbia was already a giant country in the Balkans, and its territory had spread all over Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia and Montenegro.

Of course, it also has a completely new domineering name, which is the Federal Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

This Yugoslavia is still somewhat different from the historical Yugoslavia. The original Austrian Empire did not lose Croatia and Slovenia.

However, in the midst of the economic crisis, the Austrian Empire did not control its territory well, which also gave Serbia, which had already annexed Bosnia, an opportunity.

At that time, the Balkans were very chaotic. Russia, which originally controlled the Balkan Peninsula, has lost control of the Balkan Peninsula due to its own reasons.

It was at that time that Italy welcomed Mussolini to power, and Mussolini's ambitions for the Balkans were already well known.

In order to guarantee their independence, the Kingdom of Serbia and Montenegro established the United Kingdom of Serbia and Montenegro under the leadership of Serbia.

Subsequently, Croatia and Slovenia declared independence and soon joined the United Kingdom.

The Austrian Empire was clearly unable to cope with the united Balkan states, as Austria's army was strictly limited to 100,000 men.

Moreover, the economic crisis at that time was really serious, and the Austrian Empire did not have any ability to start a foreign war.

Thus, a regional power that occupies a small half of the Balkan Peninsula and is far more powerful than other Balkan countries was born.

As of today, Yugoslavia has a population of more than 14.5 million people, and there is no problem in saying that it is the most powerful country in the Balkans. (Romania is not as strong as it is in history)

As a neighbor of Italy, Yugoslavia was arguably the most wary of Italy outside of the Austrian Empire.

More importantly, Mussolini's First Italian Army was the main force in the invasion of the Abyssinian Empire.

The deployment of such an army on Italy's northern border, although it may seem directed against France, is also a rather serious threat to the other neighbors on Italy's northern border, the Austrian Empire and the United Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Although the territory of Yugoslavia is not much different from that of Italy, and it is also a European country.

But the gap between the two sides in terms of population is too great, and the economy and industry are completely at two levels.

No matter how weak Italy is, it is still a great power recognized by all countries. Faced with such a fairly powerful power, Yugoslavia, sensing the danger, immediately took its own action, that is, to seek help from France.

Why seek help from France? First of all, France and Italy are potential enemies and competitors.

Second, compared to Britain, which was separated from the two major military blocs, the United Kingdom of Yugoslavia saw France as the country that could really help itself.

3000 words for the first update, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

(End of chapter)