The Rise of Australasia

The news of the British-Australian Re-alliance Treaty quickly spread throughout Paris, causing many European countries to take notice.

After the Four Great Powers of the Allies became the largest force in the world, the fact that the United Kingdom formed a new alliance only with Australasia seemed quite significant.

Before the European media could cover this extensively, another piece of news immediately topped European newspapers.

In April 1918, after friendly consultations between multiple countries, all countries that signed the Treaty of Versailles joined the newly-established World Alliance.

Many European media outlets even regarded the establishment of the World Alliance as the signal to end the war, because from then on, there would be no more wars in the world, and all conflicts would be mediated by the World Alliance.

Unsurprisingly, the Four Great Powers of the Allies became permanent members of the World Alliance, with a right named one-vote veto power.

Many Allied countries, including Italy, were ordinary member states, with only the most basic voting rights.

To accommodate the feelings of countries like Italy, the World Alliance also had a special position apart from the permanent members, called the elected member state.

As the name suggests, the World Alliance would hold elections among the non-permanent members, and the state with the highest number of votes would become the elected member state for a term of two years, responsible for assisting the four permanent members in handling World Alliance affairs.

Although they didn’t have the most powerful one-vote veto right, the elected member state still held a significantly higher power and status than ordinary member states.

Of course, this was only possible with the recognition of the permanent member states. The permanent members with one-vote veto power could effectively veto the elected member state.

This also meant that the so-called World Alliance was still under the control of the Four Great Powers of the Allies, which was the most satisfactory outcome for Britain, France, Russia, and Australia.

As a result, although the headquarters of the World Alliance was located in Geneva, Switzerland, the famous location where the Geneva Convention was signed, the overall world situation did not change due to the control of the Four Great Powers of the Allies.

And the United States, which first proposed a system similar to the World Alliance, did not join the World Alliance because the United States Congress did not recognize the Treaty of Versailles.

This caused the only country that had a competitive chance with the Four Great Powers of the Allies to lose its competitive rights within the World Alliance, leaving no room for resistance from other small and medium-sized countries within the Alliance.

After all, if they joined the World Alliance, the British and French might show more fairness on the surface.

However, if they were not members of the World Alliance, even if they were invaded by any of the Great Powers, they could only accept their fate.

With the establishment of the World Alliance, representatives of various countries returned from Paris. According to the World Alliance agreement, all member states must hold a meeting in Geneva every three months, and they must attend unless there are exceptional circumstances.

This led Prime Minister Kent to immediately decide to send a diplomatic team to be permanently stationed in Geneva in order to participate in the meetings held there at any time.

After all, the distance between Australasia and Geneva was not short, and a round trip would take at least more than two months.

If they were to travel from Australasia to Geneva, they might only participate in the meeting or be on their way there.

During the Paris Peace Conference, preparations for the ennobling ceremony and victory parade were also being made simultaneously in Australasia.

To celebrate the victory of the war, the government and the royal family would also hold numerous events and distribute free supplies to achieve the effect of nationwide celebration.

Once Prime Minister Kent’s diplomatic team returned to Australasia, it would be time for the ennobling ceremony and activities to officially take place.

Perhaps this would be the last event held in Sydney as the capital, and with the victory of the war, it was also decided to advance the relocation plan as soon as possible and develop the Mure River Basin earlier to benefit Australasia’s development.

At present, the environment of the Mure River Basin was much better compared to a hundred years later, making it the last opportunity to develop the region.

If delayed any further, the difficulty of developing the area would only increase, and the consumption of government resources, labor, and supplies would become more severe.

In May 1918, as Prime Minister Kent’s diplomatic team was about to arrive in Sydney, the ennobling ceremony was in the final stages of tense preparation.

On May 15th, Prime Minister Kent arrived in Sydney and immediately reported the results of the war to Arthur in person.

Just three days later, on May 18th, 1918, the ennoblement ceremony for the Australasian nobility and the war victory celebration officially began.

"To all my citizens, I am happy to stand here and celebrate the victory of this war with you.

All of you have made tremendous contributions to this war. After more than three years of hard work, we have finally achieved this great victory.

And you, my beloved citizens, are the greatest heroes of this victory, and Australasia is proud of you!"

After expressing his emotions about the victory of the war and the sacrifices made during the war, the ceremony reached its climax – the ennobling of all those who made significant contributions.

Unlike the traditional old nobility ennobling ceremonies, which were complicated and luxurious, the ennobling ceremony for new Australasian nobility was simple and public.

Arthur’s purpose was to let everyone witness the enfeoffment of new nobility, not only to inspire confidence in the new nobility, but also to make those watching become fervent.

As for whether the overly simple enfeoffment ceremony would cause dissatisfaction among the ennobled, Arthur laughed and said it was an overthinking.

The majority of those ennobled were commoners or the middle class, and becoming the new nobility was already a cause for overwhelming joy, let alone being enfeoffed by Arthur himself in front of tens of thousands of commoners.

As for those old nobles who value tradition and ceremony, well, except for Arthur, there don’t seem to be any in Australasia.

"In recognition of your significant contribution to the nation and the royal family, I hereby declare, the granting of the title of Sir to Ludwig Korr, Hunter, Andrew... You will become the glorious knights of Australasia, guarding this nation with your new identity.

Your courage and honor will serve as an example to all, and you will become the heroes of our nation." The title of Sir, as the lowest and non-heritable noble title, also has the lowest threshold among all noble titles.

According to statistics, the number of people granted the title of Sir was nearly two hundred, which shows how exaggerated the scale of this enfeoffment ceremony was.

Of course, this was due to Arthur’s urgency in expanding the scale of the Australasian nobility. If it weren’t for the small scale of the Australasian nobility, Arthur wouldn’t have exaggeratedly enfeoffed over 200 knights at once.

"I will fight for Your Majesty and the royal family, for the nation, and for the people. May God witness my vow, I am willing to dedicate my life to Your Majesty and the royal family, forging the glory of knighthood with the sword and blood!"

All those who were enfeoffed took the initiative to step forward, knelt on one knee in front of Arthur, and recited their oaths in a fairly neat manner.

The title of Sir is unique to Australasia and represents the new Australasian nobility.

Therefore, the special oath for the title of Sir, which was adapted by Archbishop Steed from the medieval knight’s oath, is also in line with the factors of the Australasian title of Sir.

Arthur’s gift to these new nobles was a specially made short sword, with one side engraved with the name of each noble knight, as well as the time when they were granted the title of Sir.

The other side was engraved with the words loyalty, courage, passion, fearlessness, and justice, which were Arthur’s expectations of these new nobles.

After the title of Sir, the higher-ranking title of Baron was next.

Although, in theory, the title of Baron is only the lowest rank of the true hereditary nobility in Australasia, there were not many people who received the title of Baron this time, totaling only about ten people.

Director Theodore, who was responsible for the development of airplanes, and Disel, the head of the engine factory, were also granted the title of Baron, which is the highest title currently available for researchers.

Of course, many scientists and researchers who have made contributions to Australasia, such as Benson and Ludwig, were also awarded the title of Sir.

Nearly 200 people were ennobled as knights, and more than 30 of them were researchers, showing Arthur’s emphasis on research work.

In fact, this has indeed won the gratitude and enthusiasm of many researchers. After all, being able to obtain a noble title for one’s research is something that many people can’t even dream of.

In addition to these researchers, several division leaders, Arthur’s three Prime Ministers since becoming the monarch, and the six colonial governors during the Australian colonial period, were all granted the title of Baron.

The several division leaders had also successively served as the commander-in-chief of the Australasian Expeditionary Force, and their performance during their tenure was relatively good, providing hope for military promotion.

As for the three Prime Ministers, it goes without saying that they have made indelible contributions to Australasia’s development over the past decade or more, and it is only natural that they would be rewarded with a noble title.

As for the remaining few colonial-era governors, granting them titles is also a way of appeasing them. After all, the fact that they could give up the opportunity to return to the British Empire and stay in Australasia could be considered a show of trust in Arthur.

Moreover, to this day, these six governors (including Prime Minister Evan) have not caused any trouble for Arthur and have carried out Arthur’s orders very seriously, whether openly or behind the scenes.

Awarding these people with the title of Baron also gives hope to those with a seniority background that as long as they remain loyal to the royal family and the nation, dedicating their lives to hard work, Arthur and the royal family will never forget their efforts.

Aside from the titles of Sir and Baron, there were no higher-ranking titles, such as Earl, granted at this time. After all, Australasia’s performance in World War I was not impressive, and no one had achieved enough merit to warrant the rank of Earl.

Of course, there is another important reason - the title of Earl is almost at the top for non-noble commoners.

In theory, a commoner could also be promoted to the rank of Duke, but this level of difficulty is extremely high and is nearly impossible without Arthur’s appreciation.

Unless one can bring Australasia a large amount of unexpected territory or save the country from the crisis of annihilation, but these two requirements are currently unrealistic.

The only direction Australasia can currently expand is the Arabian Desert in the Middle East and the remaining Dutch East Indies.

It is not difficult to occupy these two regions, but it is laborious and not in line with Arthur’s current development plan.

Moreover, Australasia’s rule is very stable and there is no crisis of annihilation.

At present, it seems that one can only make considerable contributions to the field of technology or wait for World War II in the future.

Before that, it wouldn’t be easy to become a Duke through meritorious service.

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