War Preparations

As time entered the 1930s, Arthur could not help feeling somewhat tense.

Although the United States had already been split apart, the world situation had not calmed down because of it. Leaving aside the war in Eastern Europe, the situation in Germany was also extremely chaotic.

Moreover, the French people had recently been making one move after another, and even seemed intent on stirring up another naval arms race.

The island nation in Asia was far from peaceful as well. Not only was it frantically building up its navy, but it was also repeatedly expanding its army.

All these signs already indicated that war might well break out in the 1930s. Although it was unclear exactly which year it would happen, making preparations in advance was certainly necessary.

To ensure Australasia's superiority on land, at sea, and in the air, Arthur decided to launch a new round of military expansion, increasing the size of its forces in all three domains and securing Australasia a firm place among the world's top three military powers.

First was the size of the army.

At present, Australasia possessed fifteen Conventional Infantry Divisions, two Guards Infantry Divisions, four Conventional Cavalry Divisions, one Guards Cavalry Division, six Conventional Artillery Divisions, and three Conventional Tank Divisions. The combined number of soldiers in the Regular Army and Guard Army exceeded four hundred thousand.

Judging solely by troop numbers, Australasia's army was already quite substantial, roughly on the same level as France and the Japanese.

However, the territory Australasia had to defend was simply too vast, invisibly consuming the number of troops that could actually be mobilized.

If war broke out, Arthur could mobilize at most three hundred thousand soldiers. Against a large-scale war, that number would be little more than a cup of water tossed onto a blazing