Chapter Summaries

Mussolini used crackdowns on organized crime and transportation improvements to win public support and strengthen his authority in Italy. He then pushed through army reforms and military expansion, aiming to build a force capable of securing the resources Italy lacked.

• Mussolini sent the Blackshirts to suppress the Mafia, driving most Italian gangs out of the cities and pushing many Mafia members to flee abroad.
• Mussolini improved Italy’s transportation system and gained authority in government and support among the public.
• Mussolini sought to change the electoral law so the National Fascist Party could secure at least two-thirds of parliament’s seats, which required King Victor Emmanuel III’s consent.
• Mussolini identified Italy’s lack of coal and iron as a major obstacle to industrial growth and planned to seek resource-rich territory through future expansion.
• Mussolini won parliamentary approval for army reforms, expanded the Blackshirts, and planned to buy military aircraft from Australasia while investing in tanks and airplanes.

Arthur reviewed the growing number of overseas students in Australasia and the policies used to limit Japanese students’ access to important fields. Meanwhile, several Chinese students touring Sydney’s industrial district discussed learning from Western technology and rebuilding their nation, then arranged to meet again.

• Arthur reviewed figures showing that overseas students in Australasia had grown to nearly 2,000, most of them from Asia.
• Arthur’s government denied Japanese students scholarships and restricted their access to military schools and other important fields.
• Several Asian-looking men praised Australasia’s rapid development and argued that their nation could learn from its industry and Western knowledge.
• The men debated Japan as a common threat and considered whether Australasia could become their ally, while worrying about the cost of such support.
• On their taxi ride back, the men discussed transport, weapons, and the need to build their own industries, airplanes, and cannons.
• The men returned to their schools after agreeing to meet again.

In October 1920, Arthur planned a family journey across Australasia to give his children firsthand experience of the country and bring the royal family closer to the public. As preparations reached completion, Butler Kent defended the large traveling party and explained the royal butler’s trusted, hereditary role.

• Arthur invited his family on a journey through Australasia, but Princess Louise declined because of her age.
• Arthur’s children chose to travel by plane, but Arthur ruled out flying and planned to use trains for safety.
• Butler Kent prepared for a journey involving more than seven hundred travelers, including the royal family, staff, and security personnel.
• Arthur questioned whether so many guards were necessary, but Butler Kent refused to reduce the security or servants.
• Arthur reflected on Butler Kent’s long service and learned that Hunter was expected to succeed Prime Minister Kent and eventually serve as Royal Butler.

Arthur traveled from Sydney to Melbourne, where he discussed foreign laborers with Victoria's governor and inspected the Melbourne Royal Shipyard. He learned that the shipyard had designed the R107 battleship, a powerful new vessel that left Australasia poised to expand its naval strength.

• Arthur arranged for Prime Minister Kent to handle routine government affairs while he traveled, then boarded a special train for Melbourne.
• Arthur inspected Melbourne's port and discussed the city's development with Governor Georg and Mayor George Nugent Temple Grenville.
• Governor Georg reported that Victoria had nearly 50,000 foreign laborers, and Arthur chose not to exclude them while encouraging skilled workers to become citizens.
• Arthur visited the Melbourne Royal Shipyard and learned that Australasia's three Royal Shipyards had cooperated on the R107 battleship design.
• Arthur reviewed the R107's specifications, including three triple-mounted 16-inch guns, powerful anti-aircraft weapons, and a range of 15,000 nautical miles.

Arthur reviewed the R108 battleship design, a heavily armored 45,300-ton ship armed with 18-inch guns, and ordered three to be built before the Naval Limitation Treaty took effect. The chapter ended with Arthur planning to conceal the ships’ true specifications if necessary and hoping to launch them before the treaty was signed.

• Arthur asked Richard Harding Davis why Australasia’s battleship designs were limited to around 30,000 tons, and Richard showed him the 45,300-ton R108 backup design.
• Arthur compared the R108’s armor, 18-inch guns, and estimated speed with the R107 and Japan’s Nagato-class battleship.
• Arthur decided to retain both designs, prioritize the R108, and begin construction before the Naval Limitation Treaty was signed.
• Richard estimated that three R108 battleships could be launched before mid-1922 if shipyard resources were prioritized.
• Arthur appointed Richard chief builder and ordered three R108 battleships to be built at the Sydney Royal Shipyard.
• Arthur considered using the R107 specifications to disguise the R108 ships’ capabilities if the treaty took effect before their completion.

Arthur returned to Sydney for Christmas and launched Australasia’s first nationwide wireless broadcast test, delivering a speech heard across Sydney and Melbourne. The successful broadcast drew public interest in radios, and the chapter ended with Christmas celebrations underway across the country.

• Arthur ordered funding and workers assembled in Sydney to build three R108-class battleships before the Naval Limitation Treaty was signed.
• After touring Adelaide and other regions with his family, Arthur returned to Sydney shortly before Christmas.
• On December 23, Sydney Radio Station tested wireless broadcasts in Sydney and Melbourne, and residents bought radios to hear Arthur’s Christmas speech.
• On Christmas Day, Arthur delivered a live speech thanking Australasians and urging them to work for the nation.
• The palace distributed Christmas cards and held a fireworks celebration as people across Australasia began their holiday festivities.

The chapter described Australasia’s growing tourism and agricultural industries, rising income, and the opening of the Sydney Royal Academy to educate the children of nobles and other elites. It ended with an overview of Australasia’s practical, military-focused university education and the limits on quickly raising the population’s average education level.

• Australasia’s tourism industry recorded 37.352 million visits in 1920, earning 44.8733 million Australian pounds in revenue and 3.879 million in tax.
• Australasia’s arable land reached 39.77 million acres and grain output rose to 19.2 million tons, meeting the Four-Year Plan’s target.
• New nobles established farms on their fiefs, and Arthur welcomed their contribution to grain production and his influence.
• Arthur’s Sydney Royal Academy opened to educate noble children and selected offspring of officials and prominent researchers in politics and military affairs.
• Australasia’s universities emphasized practical skills and held annual military training, while immigration made it difficult to raise average education beyond junior high school.

During Australasia’s National Day celebrations, Japanese students Inoshita and Murakami provoked a crowd after Inoshita vomited on and discarded the national flag. Arthur pardoned the Australasians who beat them and rewarded each man, leaving the incident as a diplomatic clash that strengthened popular support for the monarch.

• Inoshita drunkenly spoke of Japan conquering Australasia before vomiting on the fallen national flag and throwing it into a trash can.
• Murakami tried to stop Inoshita, but Australasians surrounded and beat both Japanese students for desecrating the flag.
• Police took the injured students and the Australasians involved to the station, preserving the dirty flag as evidence.
• Arthur ordered the Royal Guards to announce the Australasians’ acquittal and awarded each participant fifty Australian dollars.

Arthur ordered severe sentences for two Japanese students who trampled Australasia’s flag, then inspected the construction of the secret R108 battleships and directed the government to accelerate 18-inch gun research. After reviewing Sydney’s farms, he instructed the Agriculture Ministry to develop a plan to mechanize farming and shift at least one million workers into other industries.

• Arthur ordered officials to treat the Japanese students’ repeated trampling of Australasia’s flag as a serious provocation, and Inoshita and Murakami received prison sentences and penal labor.
• Arthur urged Minister Raul to accelerate development of 18-inch guns and maintain strict secrecy around the R108 battleships under construction.
• Arthur reassured shipyard workers and technical experts that they would receive rewards for completing the battleships while observing confidentiality rules.
• Arthur asked Agriculture Minister Robert Swift about the size of Australasia’s agricultural population and learned that it exceeded 3.21 million.
• Arthur directed Robert to devise a mechanization plan, including subsidies and interest-free financing, to free at least one million agricultural workers for other industries.

Australasia’s agricultural machinery subsidies drove a surge in farm purchases, while Arthur and the Agricultural Department considered how to teach farmers to use the equipment and consolidate small farms. The machinery boom began freeing workers for other industries, but full agricultural mechanization remained a long-term project.

• The government introduced subsidies of 10% to 15% for agricultural machinery, and Kevin persuaded Henderson that borrowing to buy equipment would pay off through labor savings.
• Arthur received a report that more than twenty thousand machines had sold in a week, with sales concentrated near major cities and the machinery expected to displace at least one hundred thousand agricultural workers.
• The Agricultural Department proposed training machinery buyers and encouraging small farms to merge into joint-stock companies or consolidate scattered plots through land swaps.
• The Machinery Factory adopted three shifts to handle a flood of orders, and newly displaced farm workers began seeking jobs in Sydney.

In March 1921, Tom Barry and the West Cork IRA ambushed a much larger British regiment, then Irish Republican forces escalated their attacks across Ireland. Britain struggled to suppress the guerrilla campaign and tried to exploit divisions between northern and southern Irish forces, while British atrocities and the Pope’s appeal for negotiations drew criticism; the conflict remained unresolved.

• Tom Barry led fewer than 100 West Cork IRA soldiers against a British regiment of more than 1,200, suffering nearly 50 casualties while killing more than 20 British soldiers.
• The IRA carried out further attacks at Headford crossing and Millstreet, while its attacks at Upton and Colomane ended in failure and heavy losses.
• Hundreds of Republican soldiers occupied central Dublin and burned the Custom House, a symbol of British rule in Ireland.
• The British Government tried to divide Irish forces by encouraging Protestant royalists to oppose the IRA, while northern Republicans remained largely out of armed conflict with Britain.
• Winston Churchill argued against crushing Ireland through mass violence, and the exposure of British atrocities brought international criticism.
• Pope Benedict XV urged Britain and Ireland to reach an agreement, angering the British Government, which had wanted him to condemn the rebellion.

Arthur advanced Australasia’s wine industry by planning new estates and a wine-industry park, while films and wireless radio helped promote Australasian products and influence audiences overseas. The national radio station expanded its reach and began earning revenue from advertisements as private stations prepared to enter the industry.

• Arthur planned to expand the royal winery’s high-end production and establish a wine-industry park in South Australia for smaller wine brands and grape growers.
• The Three Major Film Studios promoted Australasian wine, tourism, and policies through films, despite losing money because piracy remained widespread.
• Australasia’s film studios developed popular genres, especially realistic horror films, and built a film and television base outside Sydney.
• The national radio station extended coverage to more than nine million people and planned to reach the capitals of nearly every Australian administrative division by Christmas.
• State and city governments launched radio programs, while private broadcasters sought approval to establish stations and companies paid to advertise on the national station.

The chapter described the United States’ political and social crises under President Wilson, which left its two divisions in Manila unwilling to pursue the Philippine War actively. Arthur considered the Philippine stalemate useful to Australasia and planned to help Britain gain diplomatic support over Ireland, strengthening ties between the two countries.

• The Philippine independence forces, backed by Australasia, outnumbered the two American divisions stationed in Manila and retained the advantage in the war.
• President Wilson’s racial segregation policies and broken promises alienated Black voters, while the influenza epidemic, ethnic grievances, labor unrest, and his declining health weakened his government.
• American troops in Manila stalled after landing, and their lack of pay and poor treatment of veterans further delayed the war effort.
• Arthur welcomed the stalemate because it kept most of the Philippines beyond American control while forcing the United States to spend heavily on supplies across the Pacific.
• Arthur concluded that Ireland had to be settled before the Philippine problem could be resolved and planned to use Australasia’s diplomatic influence to support Britain.

Arthur supported the British Empire’s campaign in Ireland and helped Britain win diplomatic and public-opinion support. After Irish Republican Army attacks prompted a British military offensive, British forces gained control of Ireland and weakened civilian support for the Republicans, though the country’s postwar future remained unsettled.

• Arthur publicly backed Britain’s actions in Ireland, and Australasian institutions launched a public-opinion campaign while Australasian agents were ordered to target Irish Republican Army leaders.
• The Irish Republican Army attacked Dublin, killing British soldiers, police officers, and civilians, then carried out further attacks in Glasgow and Liverpool that intensified British public anger.
• George V ordered a full-scale offensive, and British troops entered Ireland as the Royal Navy blockaded its ports.
• On May 17, the British Government imposed military control over Ireland and promised civilians food supplies, while British forces seized the Republic of Ireland’s government and defeated scattered Republican units.
• George V condemned the Black and Tan forces’ past brutality and promised Ireland greater authority within the Empire, leading some Irish civilians to withdraw their support from the Republicans.

Australasia began a public and parliamentary process to redraw the Australian region’s administrative divisions, and Arthur reviewed the proposal selected by the House of Representatives and Cabinet Government. The plan created North Australian State and a Capital Special Zone while reorganizing several existing states, and Arthur was satisfied with its potential to ease administration and balance development.

• Arthur and the government announced a five-month process for collecting and reviewing proposals to redraw the Australian region’s administrative divisions.
• Arthur assigned William to design a plan, and William proposed a new Capital Territory near Saint Arthur's Fort, a renamed Sydney Territory, and a new state between New South Wales and Victoria.
• Davis and Mike found a public proposal featuring a Capital Special Zone and North Australian State and submitted it for consideration.
• The House of Representatives selected two proposals with more than seventy percent support, and the Cabinet Government sent the proposal favored by Davis and Mike to Arthur for a final decision.
• In June 1921, Arthur approved the broad plan to divide Western Australian State and South Australian State into three regions and reorganize eastern Australia around the Capital Special Zone, Sydney Territory, and other states.

Arthur reviewed Australasia’s electrical industry and inspected Christie Electrical Company, where he learned about smaller, quieter household appliances under development. He left the company’s air-conditioner costs and military applications as an open concern.

• Arthur approved public voting on Australasia’s proposed administrative divisions, with a September 1 deadline and a seventy-percent support threshold.
• Arthur shifted his attention to Australasia’s electrical industry, noting its high electrification and expanding power generation.
• Arthur visited Christie Electrical Company on July 31 and heard John Workup Christie report healthy revenue and profits.
• Christie showed Arthur a redesigned washing machine that was smaller, electrically driven, and cheaper to manufacture.
• Christie described quieter, smaller air conditioners fitted with ventilation ducts, and Arthur asked how much they would cost.

The Irish Civil War ended with a treaty that kept Ireland within the British Empire while granting Southern Ireland autonomy under strict British control. With Britain no longer tied down by the crisis, Arthur hoped it could help Australasia resolve the Philippine Civil War and strengthen its influence in the region.

• By August 1921, British purges had captured or scattered the Irish Republican Army, restoring British control across Ireland.
• George V and the Irish Parliament announced a peace treaty on August 5, establishing the autonomous Irish Free State in Southern Ireland while Northern Ireland remained under British rule.
• The treaty limited the Irish Free State’s military and foreign-policy independence, while granting it authority over domestic administration and finances.
• Arthur welcomed the end of the Irish crisis because Britain could now assist Australasia in the Philippine Civil War.
• Arthur viewed the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies as potential Australasia-aligned forces that could protect its northern flank and spare Australasia from costly direct wars.

The Australasian Government finalized new administrative divisions, established the Capital Special Zone, North Australian State, and Timor Direct-Administered State, and began setting up their governments. Arthur reassured Sydney’s residents while construction of Saint Arthur’s Fort continued, with the capital’s eventual relocation expected around 1926.

• On September 1, the administrative-division vote ended with more than 79.4 percent support, and the government designated the plan as official.
• On September 2, Arthur announced the Capital Special Zone and North Australian State, renamed the Capital Territory the Sydney Territory, and renamed the Australian Timor Colony the Timor Direct-Administered State.
• The government chose Broken Hill as the temporary capital of the Capital Special Zone, and Arthur attended the founding and assembly-election ceremonies for the three new state-level districts.
• Arthur promised Sydney’s residents that the city would retain its welfare policies and importance, calming opposition to its loss of capital status.
• The government planned a first wave of about 100,000 residents for Saint Arthur’s Fort and expected the Government Affairs Court to be completed around 1923 and the New Royal Palace around 1925.
• Arthur kept Saint Arthur’s Fort’s population target below 300,000 and separated the capital from industry to protect its environment.

The Rif rebellion drove France and Spain into crisis as public opposition made military suppression harder. At a secret five-power conference in London, the nations agreed on Pacific consultations and then deadlocked over naval limits, with Australasia backing a ratio that matched Britain’s proposal.

• Abd al-Karim united Rif tribes, and the Rif army defeated Spanish forces and liberated nearly half of Spanish Morocco, prompting Spain to seek a military alliance with France.
• French and European demonstrators backed Rif independence, while some French soldiers refused to fire on Moroccans and fraternized with the Rif army.
• Britain, the United States, Australasia, France, and Japan met secretly in London on October 25, 1921, and signed a treaty to respect their Pacific island possessions and consult over disputes.
• The five powers began naval limitation talks on November 4, and the United States proposed a 5:5:3:3:3 capital-ship tonnage ratio.
• Britain, France, Japan, and Australasia rejected the American proposal and put forward competing naval ratios, leaving the conference in heated disagreement.

After more than a month of negotiations, the five major powers agreed on preliminary capital-ship tonnage limits, while disputes over submarines and other warships stalled the Naval Limitation Treaty. Australasia used the delay to give its nearly completed R108 battleships time to finish, and the countries quickly agreed on a separate ban on new Pacific island fortifications.

• Britain and the United States threatened to build four capital ships for every one built by the island nation, forcing it to yield on the naval ratio dispute.
• Thomas won Tirek’s support by backing France’s efforts in Morocco and accepting France’s demand for a naval share equal to Australasia’s and higher than the island nation’s.
• France supported Britain and Australasia at the next meeting, and the five nations set preliminary capital-ship limits of 600,000 tons for Britain, 550,000 for the United States, 350,000 each for France and Australasia, and 300,000 for the island nation.
• The five nations rejected Italy’s demand for 350,000 tons and capped its capital-ship tonnage at 175,000.
• Disputes over submarines, auxiliary warships, capital-ship displacement, and aircraft-carrier limits stalled the Naval Limitation Treaty, while Arthur instructed Australasia’s representative to prolong the talks so the three R108 battleships could be completed.
• The countries finalized a supplementary treaty barring new naval bases and fortifications on Pacific islands outside their legal territories.