Compared to the conditions offered by the French, the conditions offered by the British were undoubtedly far more generous.
This actually also meant that Australasia would, in all likelihood, cooperate with the British, and the French were destined to confront Britain and Australasia alone in the competition for South America.
Although France was nominally the second great power of the world, this did not mean that everyone felt that way.
If one looked solely at the mainland, Australasia had long since surpassed France in industry and military aspects, and in terms of economy, due to the continuous depreciation of the franc, Australasia's economy was also somewhat better than that of mainland France.
If not for France's vast colonies, which made France's overall statistics look somewhat better, coupled with Arthur deliberately pushing the French toward the position of the second great power to avoid direct conflict with the British, the title of the world's second great power would probably belong to Australasia right now.
To Arthur, regardless of what rank he held in the world, it was nothing more than a title.
If he were to draw hostility from the British because of this title, or even prompt them to use all their might to guard against his rise, the losses would outweigh the gains.
Although the world's second and third powers appeared to have a massive gap in strength, only Arthur understood that current Australasia could crush France militarily, boasting a 100 percent chance of defeating it.
This was not pride or complacency on Arthur's part, but a conclusion drawn from a horizontal comparison between the Australasian Army and the French Army.
It was not just the French Army; many countries that had participated in World War I had already begun to fear war.
The heavy casualties and property losses