News of the critical illness of George V quickly spread to other European countries and regions.
Although the British tried to block the news, George V had not made a public appearance for a long time, which inevitably aroused the suspicions of other countries.
After all, George V was already seventy years old, and ultimately, such an age had indeed reached the point where the oil was running dry.
Unlike the British Government, which was more concerned with the succession to the throne, other European countries at this time were pondering whether the change in the British throne would have a major impact on the upcoming European situation.
Naturally, the ones paying the closest attention to this issue were the ambitiously massive German Empire and the Kingdom of Italy.
At this point, the urge to expand could no longer be restrained within these two ultra-nationalist countries wearing the cloaks of monarchy.
Following careful deliberation by Germany and Italy, they believed that during the period from the critical illness of George V to the accession of Crown Prince Edward, the British would basically not excessively participate in European situations and affairs.
Even if Germany and Italy stirred up trouble regarding the British royal succession, the British would be too busy with the throne crisis to attend to anything else.
However, just to be safe, Germany and Italy still decided to ensure that other countries, including the United Kingdom and Australasia, would not have sufficient energy to manage European affairs.
The best way to distract Australasia was naturally to have the Japanese create some border friction with Australasia in order to draw away Australasia's attention.
The Japanese had originally not intended to do this, but after being promised a large amount of material aid by Germany and Italy, especially assistance with industrial