Chapter 960: Chapter 717: Nine Nations Stand Tall in Arica
Pri Minister Baldwin was naturally aware that reporting to King George V was rely a formality. Not to ntion Pri Minister Raul, even he himself didn’t always take King George V that seriously at tis.
Although the position of the British royal family might be secure, the power of the King of the United Kingdom had long since been dismantled. Regaining it was not an easy task.
Nevertheless, the attitude of the Australasians still alerted Pri Minister Baldwin to sothing unusual.
Perhaps from the mont Arica was defeated, the relationship between the United Kingdom and Australasia was no longer the sa as before.
The British were so powerful that they no longer had any rivals, or rather, all the remaining Powers were rivals of the British.
The dictates of global politics made it inevitable for Australasia and the United Kingdom to beco wary of each other, and even potentially confrontational in the future.
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Fortunately, the relations between countries have always been complex, and politicians found such changes easy to accept.
Once he had adjusted his mindset, Pri Minister Baldwin had soone bring a map of Arica, and he began to ticulously research the directions in which Britain could compromise and the directions in which it absolutely could not.
Regarding the partition of Arica, none of the Britain-France-Australia Three Nations wanted to annex Arica’s Native Land for their own.
The reason was simple. France and Britain were in Europe, Australasia in Oceania, with either the entire Atlantic Ocean or the entire Pacific Ocean separating them from Arica’s Native Land.
If the land in Arica’s Native Land were to beco their own, the managent issues alone could bring an entire governnt to its knees.
Moreover, the conflicts between Caucasians and Black People within Arica, the distrust Aricans held towards the countries that had defeated them, and issues with Arican capital were the real reasons Britain-France-Australia abandoned the idea of annexing Arica’s Native Land.
Since it was not feasible to annex Arica’s Native Land, the best thod was to support a country they could control, much like the Lone Star Republic that the Frenchn supported.
The British originally planned to establish a new country in the 13 Colonies. Because it inherited the most essential areas of Arica, the country established by the 13 Colonies would at least be a secondary power and could play a significant role for the British Empire.
Combined with Canada, this country would be the strongest force in North Arica and an important logistical support for the British Empire in tis of danger.
With the help of Canada and this country, the Atlantic would beco an inner sea of the British Empire, which would be very beneficial for the British Empire’s control over Europe.
Unfortunately, it was clear that the French would not agree to Britain’s plan. If the complete 13 Colonies were to be controlled by the British, any war that erupted between Britain and France would result in the French arrangents in Arica being instantly destroyed.
Although France had weakened considerably after World War I, this did not an that Frenchn no longer harbored ambitions of dominating Europe.
At the very least, the French were determined on the issue of the 13 Colonies. They did not want to see the complete 13 Colonies under British control, nor did they want to see them reestablished as an independent country.
Should they back down to the French over the issue of the 13 Colonies? That beca a question the British could not ignore.
While the British showed firm resolve in launching the war against Arica, a major reason was that the entire World Alliance stood behind them.
But should a conflict arise between Britain and France, without Australasia’s help, the British could only hope to achieve superiority at sea.
It’s best not to ntion the army; the British army invading and reaching the French capital, Paris, was completely out of the question.
This actually represented the current global situation, where competition was the main the, and war secondary.
No one wanted to start a war unless absolutely necessary, because war not only ant massive consumption of funds, but also represented significant casualty numbers.
Although World War I was over a decade ago, countries around the world had still not recovered from it.
France’s population remained at a low level for this reason, and in Europe at the ti, most countries were unwilling to see the outbreak of war unless it had a guaranteed outco.
How to reach a compromise with the French? This question also had to take into consideration the French perspective.
After much thought, Pri Minister Baldwin decided to contact the French after the negotiations the second day, hoping to reach a compromise with them. As for Australasia, they would be easier to deal with afterwards.
The second day’s negotiation still ended in deadlock, but it was clear that both British and French expressed the desire to compromise.
Dragging on the negotiations was not a solution, as it would only worsen the situation in Arica. This was undesirable for Britain and France, who were eager to reap substantial profits from the region. It also ant that eventually, Britain and France would still compromise.
What Pri Minister Raul did not expect was how quickly the British and French could reach a compromise.
On the fourth day of talks, which was January 18, 1929, the British and French had already agreed on certain aspects of the partition of Arica.
The only issue was with the state of Georgia, which was the southernmost territory of the 13 Colonies. The British wanted to bring it under their rule.
However, the French also wanted to bring this region of more than two million people under their rule, and ultimately it was the British who expressed a willingness to compromise.
Of course, the price for France’s acquisition of Georgia was that Michigan, which was originally supposed to be jointly managed as part of the Great Lakes Region, beca a territory of Canada.
It is worth ntioning that the British and French did not forget the interests of Australasia while making compromises with each other.
According to the division thod reached by the new compromise between Britain, France, and Australia, a whole Arica would be split into at least nine countries, with two more regions to be annexed by Canada in the north and xico in the south.
This was also a benefit for the two countries close to the United States, being able both to annex a part of the land into their own territory rather than establishing trust-based countries like Britain, France, and Australia did.
Following the reached compromises, the theoretical situation in Arica was as follows (Native Land):
Australasia took control of California State, Nevada, Washington State, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, and Utah.
France took control of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida State, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
Britain took control of Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia.
Canada annexed Michigan.
xico annexed New xico and Arizona.
The remaining Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio ford the Great Lakes Joint Administrative Region to be jointly managed by all belligerent countries.
Among them, the territories acquired by the Britain-France-Australia Three Nations (limited to the United States only) were not to be annexed as their Native Land and could not be rged into one country.
This also thwarted the British desire to re-establish the 13 Colonies, as the loss of Georgia turned the envisioned 12-state Colonial system into at least two countries instead.
Under the influence of the Britain-France-Australia Three Nations, the countries participating in the talks reached an agreent: because the Great Lakes Joint Administrative Region inherited Arica’s most important industry, the region would assu the debt of the United States.
What did this an?
Once the Great Lakes region was managed by the belligerent countries, a large portion of its annual tax revenue would be distributed evenly among all the countries involved. Only after the compensation was fully repaid would managent of the Great Lakes Joint Administrative Region conclude.
Although a large part of Arica’s debt had been paid off previously, the war had burdened the United States with an additional debt.
All these debts were transferred onto the Great Lakes Joint Administrative Region, which was why the British were so generous in giving up the remaining Great Lakes area, including Illinois with a population exceeding 7 million, to other small and dium-sized countries.
After totaling all debts, the Great Lakes area was to pay 8.5 billion pounds in compensation to the World Alliance.
The area of the Great Lakes Joint Administrative Region was approximately 1.28 million square kiloters, with a total population exceeding 30 million.
Even if only a third of Arica’s fiscal revenue was considered, the Great Lakes region could generate around 1 billion US dollars a year in revenue, which was equivalent to 258 million pounds.
This was before the economic crisis, and following the outbreak of the crisis, the industrial area of the Great Lakes had also suffered a devastating blow.
This ant that even with only 8.5 billion pounds in compensation, the industrial region of the Great Lakes would need over 50 years to repay the debt.
If a few more provinces were taken from the Great Lakes industrial region, it might take over 100 years to settle the debt.
Although they did not acquire any land, the countries were still pleased to have a stable Great Lakes region to repay the compensation.
Moreover, the Great Lakes region had nurous factories; while the countries could not blatantly relocate these factories, purchasing so industrial equipnt was not an issue.
Many countries saw this as an opportunity to develop their own industries, effectively leeching off the Arican people.
Getting a share of the bounty satisfied the small and midsize countries, and the plan to divide the United States received approval from most nations.
The remaining countries dared not overtly oppose the plan, which led to its smooth passage and public declaration of implentation.
In the peace talks, no one spoke out for the Arican Governnt, which had beco a military governnt. Indeed, it was just so; even if the United States had changed hands, it remained the losing party. The vanquished have no rights.
Nevertheless, the British magnanimously gave MacArthur, who considered himself the President of the Arica, a choice: to head to the Great Lakes region and beco its interim President.
Apart from the Great Lakes region, no other Arican areas would be connected to the United States in the near future.
Even the nominally joint-managed Great Lakes Industrial Area was essentially going to form a new republic and sever all ties with the United States.
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