Chapter 2716 Disarmament, disarmament, or disarmament
Influenced by Rock, Arthur didn't like living in noisy urban areas. The last time he moved, he didn't move far enough. With the influx of a large number of new immigrants, the city expanded rapidly, and Arthur couldn't bear it. His new home was a short distance from East Cape.
A full 50 kilometers.
The environment is really good, surrounded by green mountains, by the small lake, with green trees, flowers blooming all over the hillside, and a doe and a fawn strolling there, carefree.
There is a checkpoint at the intersection leading to the main road, and the nearest neighbor is ten kilometers away. There is also a military camp nearby where Arthur's personal guards are stationed, so there is no need to worry about safety.
When he came to Cyprus, what Rock was most concerned about was definitely Russia.
Russia did not have planned disarmament after the end of the world war like southern Africa, but still maintained a large army. In East Asia and North Africa, Russia has shown strong aggression. Rock and Winston blocked Russia in Europe.
The plan for the Asian continent has failed to a certain extent.
This is not Roque's problem, because the relationship between Yugoslavia and Russia has made it impossible to completely lock Russia away. Roque can only hope that Yugoslavia's leader Walter can withstand Russian pressure and not completely fall to Russia.
"The relationship between Eastern European countries and Russia has always been close. Our democratic plan in Eastern Europe has encountered unprecedented difficulties. The Communist International has gained absolute advantage in this region. Our most important thing now is to ensure the safety of the Black Sea outlet." Arthur.
Faced with the current situation, they are helpless. The bourgeoisie in Eastern European countries are too disappointed.
World War II was a complete reshuffle for Eastern European countries. With France at the forefront, and under the strong deterrence of the Axis powers, Eastern European countries joined the Axis camp one after another. Romania alone suffered losses in the war with Russia.
40,000 people.
Due to mistakes in decision-making by the Allied forces on the Western Front, the war in Eastern Europe was mainly led by Russia. This resulted in the pro-Russian forces in these countries gaining an absolute advantage after the war.
The weakness of the ruling class and the bourgeoisie was fully exposed in this war.
The ruling class and the capitalists were both wealthy and cherished their lives. They did not have the consciousness to live or die with the country, so when the war approached, they fled their homeland one after another.
When the war ended and these people wanted to return home to receive the fruits of victory, they found that the entire country had changed. Even if a provisional coalition government was formed, after the transition period was over, the entire country's power was taken away by pro-Russian forces.
The Hungarian Republican Army, which Roque had placed high hopes on, failed to withstand the counterattack of pro-Russian forces and was completely defeated in the first post-war general election. The materials and weapons and equipment that Southern Africa supported Hungary during the war have now become Russian
of trophies.
"I've said before that nothing can be done with these guys." Winston said in hindsight that this was also an allusion to Attlee.
From this point of view, it is fortunate that Winston lost the election. At least he does not need to be responsible for the current embarrassing situation. After all, these things happened after Attlee became prime minister.
"How is the situation in the Ottomans?" Rock originally didn't have much hope for those people in Eastern Europe.
Eastern European countries are dominated by Slavs, have long been under high-pressure deterrence from Russia, and are greatly influenced by Russia.
Countries such as Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria were able to gain independence from the Ottoman Empire because of the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, so they naturally have a favorable impression of Russia.
During the World War, the Allies on the Western Front delayed in every possible way and watched Russia and Germany consume each other. As a result, Russia once again became the liberator of the Eastern European countries. How could the Eastern European countries have a good impression of the Allies on the Western Front under such circumstances?
Russia does not pose much of a threat to southern Africa because Russia is too far away from southern Africa.
If Russia borders southern Africa, then I'm afraid Roark won't be able to sleep at night.
"The Ottoman situation is not bad. We have given Russian civilian ships the right to freely enter and exit the Black Sea in peacetime. Military ships need to apply in advance and strictly follow our requirements before they can pass." Arthur also has no way to control the Black Sea.
Haikou was completely blocked, and the Ottomans would not agree.
For the Ottomans, who were at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, tolls were one of the most stable sources of income. Goods traveling between Eurasia and Russian merchant ships were heavily taxed by the Ottomans. This situation was not alleviated until the opening of the Suez Canal.
.
It was also after the opening of the Suez Canal that the Ottoman Empire's situation deteriorated and eventually fell apart in World War I.
It is impossible to completely ban the passage of Russian military ships, and the relationship between Russia and the Western camp has not been completely broken yet.
Even if there is a breakup, Europe will still need to import a large amount of resources from Russia. This is an unchangeable reality.
Southern Africa and the United States are still too far for Europe, and distance plays a key role, especially in bulk commodity trade. It is difficult for European countries to reject relatively low-priced Russian goods.
Therefore, even if Russia does not make a request, the Black Sea outlet must be open to Russian civilian ships, otherwise Europeans will go hungry. This is not an exaggeration at all.
It is hard to imagine that for a country like the United Kingdom that relies heavily on colonial material supplies, the cost of food requisitioned from India is actually higher than that imported from Russia. It is no wonder that the voice in the United Kingdom of allowing Indian autonomy has become louder and louder recently.
Gandhi's non-violent disobedience was essentially a lie. The cost of colonization soared, and the British had begun to consider releasing India.
India's greatest value to the UK is its nearly inexhaustible human resources.
After Gandhi launched the non-violent non-cooperation movement, Indians were no longer willing to work for the British. Coupled with the poor performance of the British-Indian troops in the two world wars, India's status in the Commonwealth plummeted.
If it cannot provide Britain with a large number of low-cost human resources, India will become a complete burden to Britain. Southern Africa, which has spent hundreds of millions of pounds to conquer, can be allowed autonomy, and it is not unacceptable to release India.
After two world wars, everyone has deeply realized the destructiveness of war. Now even the most bellicose people dare not easily provoke a war. Britain's defense pressure has been greatly reduced, which also prompted Britain to abandon India.
The deeper reason is that Britain's current strength is significantly weaker than that of southern Africa and the United States. Even if there is another world war in the future, southern Africa and the United States will be the main ones. Britain only needs to make plans to move its capital at any time.
"Does Russia still have warships now?" Winston did not miss any opportunity to laugh at Russia.
Although Britain's strength is declining and a skinny camel is bigger than a horse, the Royal Navy can still show off its strength.
Russia is a country with traditional land power. It has only a handful of naval warships. However, it fell into disrepair during the Russo-Japanese War and has not yet regained its strength.
However, given the bearded character, this situation will not last long. If Russia goes all out, not to mention building a navy comparable to southern Africa and the United States, it will be easy to surpass the United Kingdom.
Just as Roque and his party were on their way to Cyprus, the Attlee cabinet finally came up with the second version of the disarmament plan despite repeated calls.
After the Potsdam Conference, Attlee only did three things: disarmament, disarmament, and disarmament.
In 1944, the British army reached its peak, with a total strength of 4.5 million.
Such a large number of troops could not be maintained for too long. Late in Winston's term, the British government had already begun to formulate a disarmament plan.
Winston was kicked out of the Prime Minister's Office before disarmament could begin. Attlee took over the job and Winston escaped.
Disarmament is inevitable, but anyone who proposes it will be scolded, and Attlee is no exception.
When Winston left office, he also dug a hole for Attlee.
During World War II, the United Kingdom devoted all its efforts to shipbuilding. It built a total of 8 fleet aircraft carriers and 24 light aircraft carriers. Compared with southern African and American aircraft carriers, British aircraft carriers have fewer aircraft, backward performance, and low efficiency, which seriously do not meet the requirements of the Royal Navy.
, the Royal Navy repeatedly requested the British government to start building new aircraft carriers during the war.
The requirements of the Royal Navy are not high either. The new aircraft carrier should not only surpass the aircraft carriers of Southern Africa and the United States, but at least its comprehensive combat capabilities should be on par with the latest aircraft carriers of Southern Africa and the United States.
During World War II, Britain owed a total of 4.5 billion pounds in foreign debt. Winston could not find the money to build an aircraft carrier, so he had to make do with fleet aircraft carriers and light aircraft carriers.
It would have been fine if this could be done once and for all, but just before leaving Downing Street, Winston approved the plan to build a new aircraft carrier for the Navy, secretly digging a big hole for Attlee.
Attlee probably hates Winston now.
The new aircraft carrier approved by Winston has a full load displacement of 80,000 tons, a flight deck length of 280 meters, a maximum speed of 33 knots, a carrying capacity of 80 aircraft, and a cruising range of 30,000 kilometers. All data are compared with various types of aircraft carriers currently in use in the UK.
Big improvement.
The cost of the new aircraft carrier is 25 million pounds, and Winston plans to build four.
Attlee does not want to build even one, let alone four ships, and also wants to decommission all battleships and aircraft carriers currently in service.
The first version of the disarmament plan formulated by Attlee's cabinet faithfully reflected this idea.
In the plan, Attlee only retained one aircraft carrier as a symbolic training ship for the Royal Navy, and all other aircraft carriers and battleships were dismantled and sold.
Note that it is being dismantled and sold, not sealed. It is a direct cut into the lifeblood of the Royal Navy.
Needless to say, Attlee's plan was strongly opposed by the British government and opposition parties.
Not only is the Royal Navy firmly opposed to Attlee's plan, but members of Congress also said that if the disarmament is carried out according to Attlee's plan, the strength of the British army after disarmament will not be enough to ensure British security.
This is disarmament, not suicide!
In fact, Attlee also knew that this version of his plan would not be passed, and he was just asking for advice. However, he did not expect that after the disarmament plan was announced, public opinion would be so loud that even the king would be alarmed.
Attlee's second version of the disarmament plan was still tampered with.
The reason why the Royal Navy has a fierce attitude is not only because Attlee wants to retire all aircraft carriers and battleships, but also because Attlee has rejected the shipbuilding plan that Winston has approved.
The UK is now facing a comprehensive post-war reconstruction, which is expected to require approximately 6 billion pounds of reconstruction funds.
At present, the UK cannot provide even 60 million, let alone 6 billion. The Attlee cabinet is discussing with Southern Africa and the United States, hoping to obtain loans from Southern Africa and the United States.
If we can't get the money for reconstruction, where can we get the money to build a new aircraft carrier?
In the second version of the disarmament plan, Attlee agreed to continue the shipbuilding plan, but postponed the start of the shipbuilding plan until after 1950.
From August to now, Attlee has been Prime Minister for less than half a year. He is mentally and physically exhausted. It is hard to say whether he can survive until 1950.
Regardless of whether the project would start as scheduled by 1950, Attlee's decision still gave hope to the Royal Navy and temporarily appeased the mood of the marshals.
Attlee's attitude towards active warships has not changed. Those that should be retired must be retired. In the future, the Royal Navy will mainly focus on frigates, and its main task is to protect the safety of the Atlantic waterways.
Protecting the safety of waterways is the responsibility of the Royal Navy, and the Royal Navy has no shirk.
But with only frigates, how can they complete the task of protecting the waterway?
In 1588, the British Navy defeated the Spanish Armada. Since then, the term "the most powerful fleet in the world" has become exclusive to the Royal Navy.
A fleet composed entirely of frigates does not matter how powerful it is.
Even France and Italy have new aircraft carrier plans, but Britain is gradually falling behind. This makes the generals and marshals of the Royal Navy extremely angry.
France and Italy are planning to purchase new aircraft carriers from Southern Africa, which will renovate the "City" class aircraft carriers currently in service and sell them to France and Italy.
The frustrated admirals were unable to influence Attlee's decision, so they cried to the king, hoping that the king would come forward and make Attlee change his mind. Not only to build more warships, but at least to retain a few more large warships for the Royal Navy.
The king was actually depressed too.
Attlee was stingy not only towards the navy, but also towards the royal family. While disarmament, he hoped that the king would set an example and take the initiative to reduce the annual financial allocation to reduce the pressure on the British government.
When Attlee first came to power, King George VI had high hopes for Attlee. Unexpectedly, Attlee began to attack the royal family not long after he came to power.
This actually makes sense, because the British royal family not only has financial allocations every year, but also has a large amount of territorial income and investment income, so the British king is the richest person in the UK.
The key point is that no one knows how much wealth the British king has.
The British royal family are smart people. They will not stupidly deposit money in the bank to earn interest. Instead, they will make various investments to make money. This habit has been going on for hundreds of years. The wealth owned by the royal family has expanded to the point where they need a wealth management agency.
The extent to which it is managed.
This is wealth on the surface, but no one knows how many company shares the royal family owns.
This does not include the value of the royal collection.
