On April 14, 1936, in the presence of Prime Minister Baldwin, the Duke of York, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Duke of Kent, King Edward VIII of Great Britain signed an abdication document sent to the Dominion Governments at Belverde Castle, officially announcing his renunciation of the British throne.

On April 15, Edward VIII, for the last time as King of England, read the Decree of Abdication to all the British people by means of a national broadcast, and at the end he said affectionately and silently: "I do not think that without the help and support of this woman whom I love, it is impossible to fulfill my duties and duties as king."

For the sake of the subsequent development of the British Empire, and for the sake of my love and mine, I will voluntarily renounce the British throne, and my descendants will no longer have the right to inherit the British throne. ”

The abdication of Edward VIII was the biggest news for the British Empire. Edward VIII was not only the first king in English history to voluntarily give up the throne for love, he also ruled one of the shortest of the British monarchs.

From the death of the previous British King George V to the present, the abdication of Edward VIII has actually passed less than two months.

These two months have had a profound impact on the British government, and it has also created a very serious situation that the British government is now facing.

In addition to marveling at Edward VIII's willingness to give up the throne for love, the people are also looking forward to whether the new king, Duke Albert, can sweep away the decline brought by Edward VIII and bring LinkedIn back to its former glory?

Beginning on 16 April, Britain officially entered the era of Duke Albert's rule.

In order to stabilize the British government and people, the Duke of Albert decided to continue his father's name. He dropped Albert's name and changed it to George. Because of this, Duke Albert became the sixth king of England named George, also known as George VI.

Because of the urgency of the situation, George VI immediately turned his attention to the crisis that Britain was currently facing.

At the new Cabinet meeting to pledge allegiance to George VI, George VI pointed out: "At a time when the British Empire is suffering from a major crisis comparable to that of 20 years ago, we can only work together to bring LinkedIn out of the crisis and restore its former glory." ”

George VI showed a very strong attitude towards the main battle. On 17 April, George VI met with Minister Roman, the representative of France, and the two sides had a long confidential conversation.

It was also on the same day that George VI signed the British General Mobilization Order. This order would mobilize the entire British army, navy, and air force to bring the British Empire into a state of total war.

On April 18, Britain and France jointly issued an ultimatum to Germany. The two countries demanded that Germany immediately cease its military operations in Austria and that all its troops be withdrawn from Austria and that the pre-war situation be restored.

The ultimatum was urgently translated by the German Foreign Service and reported to the German Government and General Staff.

At 11:15 p.m. on 19 April, the British and French ambassadors to Germany asked for a final reply. Germany also gave a final reply, which was to reject the British and French proposals, and to demand that the British and French governments assume responsibility for starting the war.

With the support of Britain, France also took a rare toughness.

At 3:22 p.m. on April 19, the French ambassador Coolnd sent a note to the German government: "Because of your country's unwarranted declaration of war and refusal to back down, you must bear the responsibility for waging war. As an ally of the Austrian Empire, I declare on behalf of the French Government that we will fulfill our obligations as an ally with the Austrian Empire, and consider it to be in a state of war with you. ”

At 5:25 p.m. on 19 April, British Foreign Secretary Halifax summoned the German ambassador to London and said in a tough manner: "On the instructions of His Majesty the King, I hereby inform your Government that, as the defender of the European order, I have the honour to inform you that we will be in a state of war with your country from this time onwards. ”

The German government was stunned, they did not expect that England, which had changed its king, would soon turn into a main war faction, and reached an agreement with the French to directly declare war against Germany.

But by this time the Germans had no time to go in a daze. What they had to do was to defeat the Austrian Empire as much as possible before Britain and France could complete their mobilization, and create a significant advantage for this large-scale war.

At 8:12 a.m. on April 20, Italy declared war on the Austrian Empire, France, and Great Britain, in accordance with its alliance with the German Empire.

Later that day, the Austrian Empire, France, and Great Britain declared war on Italy, and a great war broke out that spread across the five powers and affected all of Europe and the world.

However, although war was declared, this did not mean that the British and French armies could arrive at the battlefield at the first time.

Although the British and French armies were in the millions, a considerable number of these troops came from the colonies. Britain and France, as old colonial powers, have colonies all over the world, and it is difficult to bring together these colonial armies in a short period of time.

As a result, Britain and France needed a longer preparation time than other countries to bring most of their armies into the war.

Especially the UK. Although the British Empire is the world hegemon, the world hegemon does not have any bonus in amassing troops.

As an empire on which the sun never sets, Britain has colonies all over the world. To transport all these colonial armies to Europe requires not only a large transport fleet, but also a lot of time.

The German General Staff made estimates based on the respective circumstances of Britain and France. Within three months, the French had only about 1 million troops at most, and the British had only 500,000.

On the German side, they have already gathered more than 2 million troops, plus the millions of troops that Italy is poised to attack, they can blitz the Austrian Empire like Poland in three months.

After the fall of Austria, the situation became Anglo-French VS German-Italian. Although Britain and France have a stronger heritage, in terms of military combat effectiveness, it is obviously stronger than Germany and Italy.

Of course, the combat effectiveness of the German army played a decisive role in this. As for the Italian army, as long as they do not lag behind, it will be the greatest help to Germany.

While pinning its hopes on a quick defeat of the Austrian Empire, Germany had begun to seek the help of its other ally, the island nation.

The location of the island nation was still important, and they were able to threaten the most important area of the British, which was India.

Once India is in danger, the British government will certainly not be able to give up its India for the sake of France, no matter how much it fights.

As long as a part of the pressure of the British army was shared, the German army could easily crush the French army in a frontal battle.

But it is clear that the islanders are definitely not fools either. While it is true that the island nation can pose a certain threat to India, it must pass through Australasia's sphere of influence.

Facing Australasia alone has already put pressure on the islanders, and if they completely offend the British, the islands will have no chance of winning in the battle for hegemony in the Pacific.

As an island nation, a strong navy is crucial if the island nation wants to maintain its position. But Britain is the most powerful country in the navy at this time, if it offends the British, the navy of the island country will be completely blocked by the British, and no matter how strong the army of the island country is, it will be useless if it can't get out of the island.

After the British Empire declared war on Germany and Italy, India, Canada, and South Africa, members of the British Commonwealth, also declared war on Germany and Italy.

While the war may seem enormous, it is somewhat peculiar that by April 25, the day of the full-scale declaration of war by the Commonwealth, the main battlefield was still in Austria.

Despite the outbreak of war between Germany and France, there were still no large-scale battles and conflicts on the German-French border.

This can be regarded as a tacit understanding between the German and French governments. Germany did not intend to waste its forces on the attack on France too soon, after all, it was more important to defeat the Austrian Empire as soon as possible.

The French, on the other hand, had already decided to enter the war, but their preparations for war were not yet complete, and they did not intend to put their main forces into the battlefield too soon before the arrival of the British army.

And what about the British? George VI was indeed the main war faction, but this still did not change the fact that Britain was unprepared for war before George VI ascended the throne.

The British prepared for war much longer than the French. According to the calculations of the British Cabinet, the first troops to arrive in France would land on French shores half a month later at the earliest.

But these troops were only standing forces of the British, and their numbers were not destined to be too many. According to the plan of the British Cabinet, within two months, Britain would not devote more than 200,000 troops to the European theater.

This is obviously a drop in the bucket compared to Germany and Italy, which have millions of troops at every turn.

But there's no way around it. The British government was really little prepared for war, and the current size of the British army was less than 600,000 men.

Because of the hasty entry into the war, the British people were obviously unprepared for this war, and the general mobilization of the British government was also very slow.

Nor did the colonies have to be counted on. Britain's larger colonies, most recently Canada and South Africa, were separated by an ocean or a continent.

The main source of British colonial forces, India was even separated from the British mainland by the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean, and the European continent.

It also took at least 3 to 4 months for these colonial governments to go from declaring war to mobilizing and sending troops to Europe.

This also means that in the first three months of the war, it was actually a Franco-Austrian war with Germany and Italy. If the Austrian army had been able to hold back Germany and Italy and buy enough time for Britain and France, the situation would have been much better for Britain and France.

But if the Austrian Empire were as fragile as Poland, I am afraid that in the next few months the situation would have become France alone against Germany and Italy.

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

(End of chapter)