The Rise Of Australasia

March 1932 arrived, and Arthur did not receive a visit from Nicholas II and his family, but instead, he received tragic news that a rare and catastrophic famine had broken out in the Ukraine region controlled by the Allied Army.

The Ukraine region is quite special among all Russian territories and is currently still under the control of the Allied Army.

Logically, Ukraine should still belong to the Tsardom of Russia, owing allegiance to Tsar Nicholas II.

However, in reality, the situation in Ukraine was far more chaotic than one might imagine. Since the failure of Tsar Nicholas II, Britain had known that Ukraine was bound to eventually fall back into the hands of the Russians.

For this reason, the control of the Allied Army over Ukraine had become exceedingly weak. There were two major powers in Ukraine at present, one being the Conservative faction consisting of native forces and nobility, and the other being the Revolutionaries influenced by Russia.

If there were no significant issues, Ukraine would actually be quite peaceful. After all, the stationed military was the Allied Army, and Russia would not brazenly provoke and attack the Allied Army.

However, after the outbreak of the famine, the internal situation in Ukraine became extremely chaotic and complex.

It was this famine that made the British determined to give up on Ukraine.

On the 7th March 1932, in a small town in Ukraine.

Although it was already spring for the Northern Hemisphere, the cold climate had not yet ended in Ukraine.

This year's winter was particularly dry, and such dry and cold weather was not conducive to plant growth, leading to an unimpressive grain harvest in Ukraine, which used to be Russia's grain-producing region.

Of course, the main reason was actually the somewhat chaotic environment within Ukraine.

As an important grain-producing region for Russia, Ukraine had a large number of peasants, who were key to ensuring the annual grain harvest.

But due to the onset of the war, many peasants had been conscripted to various factories for labor, severely delaying Ukraine's grain production.

And that wasn't all, even though it was under the control of the Allied Army, the war inevitably affected the region of Ukraine.

In 1930 alone, the Tsarist Government had requisitioned a large amount of grain from Ukraine. These requisitions accounted for more than 45% of the total grain requisitioned across the Tsardom of Russia, highlighting the severe exploitation of this area by the Tsar.

Under such circumstances, even slight changes in the environmental climate had a more significant impact on Ukraine.

In 1931, Ukraine's total grain production dropped to around 17 million tons, a decrease of 5 million tons compared to 1930.

At the same time, the amount of grain handed over to the Tsarist Government did not decrease at all, and the heavy burden caused many Ukrainians to flee their homeland, worsening Ukraine's problems.

By the beginning of this year, millions in Ukraine had been affected by the disaster, with the famine spreading to dozens of cities and encroaching on other urban areas.

It was also for this reason that grain prices in the Ukrainian area kept climbing, skyrocketing to several times their previous level within just a few months.

The Allied Army stationed here naturally realized the occurrence of the famine and quickly reported it to their respective government departments and the World Alliance.

Countries differed in their attitudes towards the famine in Ukraine, but the general consensus was, unequivocally, to withdraw troops from Ukraine.

To be honest, other than obtaining a large amount of cheap grain annually, there were no other benefits for the countries stationed in Ukraine.

The famine in Ukraine made it impossible to continue buying large amounts of cheap grain from the country.

Moreover, with Russia now unified, retaining Ukraine would only increase conflicts with Russia.

It was due to considerations like these that at a World Alliance meeting in mid-March, all countries unanimously agreed to withdraw their troops and hand over the whole of Ukraine to the current Russian Government.

The Russian Government was initially very pleased to accept the entire region of Ukraine. Although compared to the vast land area of Russia, Ukraine only made up a few percent.

But Ukraine was a very important grain-producing area, and it also had many harbors along the coast of the Black Sea.

If the entire Ukraine could be secured, Russia would be able to significantly strengthen its influence in the Black Sea and ensure the entire region's security.

But it wasn't long before Russia recognized something was wrong.

Because Russia had successfully taken over Ukraine, the famine in Ukraine also succeeded in spreading to other Russian cities.

Hungry Ukrainian people bought large amounts of grain from Russian cities nearby, causing grain prices in Russian towns adjacent to Ukraine to soar.

But that wasn't the end of it. Since Ukraine had now come under Russian rule, a large number of Ukrainian disaster victims fled to surrounding regions, frantically hunting wild animals in those areas.

This not only caused significant damage to the natural environment of the surrounding areas but also endangered the order of these regions.

In less than half a month, Ukraine and its nearby areas were completely thrown into chaos. The Russian Government had no choice but to transport large quantities of grain to Ukraine to try to stabilize the situation.

At the same time, they dispatched the army to take over from the Allied Army in Ukraine and imposed strict military control over the area.

In terms of supplies, a centralized rationing system was implemented to ensure that the grain provided by Russia would stabilize Ukraine's situation and not lead to more chaos.

But there was another problem, which was that the Russian Government's grain reserves were actually not very plentiful.

It should be noted that just over a month has passed since the end of the war, and Nicholas II has yet to leave the country.

In such a short time, it is natural that the Russian government could not possibly have sufficient grain reserves.

If all the grain were to be used for famine relief in Ukraine, internal problems would arise within the Russian government as well.

After all, Russia's population is not small, and less-advanced grain-producing regions are in dire need of the government's reserve supplies.

Having no choice, Russia could only turn its attention to other major grain-producing nations within Europe.

Poland and Hungary, which are relatively close to Russia, are in fact among the European nations with abundant grain production.

Since there are many plains in Europe, this allows most European countries to have excellent cultivated land and grain production, with many Eastern European countries even becoming major grain-exporting countries.

However, the Russian government overlooked one issue, which is the control that the World Alliance, led by the United Kingdom, has over these countries.

Without the consent of the World Alliance, Hungary would not dare to sign a unilateral trade agreement with Russia.

As for Poland, even if it had grain, it was destined not to have much. After all, Poland's population is not small either; 30 million people also require a large amount of grain.

In the end, Russia's request to purchase grain turned into a negotiation with the World Alliance.

The major nations of the World Alliance, led by the United Kingdom, had actually anticipated Russia's request for grain purchase.

If Russia wanted to rule over Ukraine, it had to address the famine in Ukraine. To solve the famine, sufficient grain was needed for relief.

For Russia, which had just ended the war, the only way to acquire enough grain was to purchase it in large quantities from neighboring countries.

But for the United Kingdom, it was certainly not possible to agree to export grain to Russia easily.

After all, Russia still posed a significant ideological threat to Britain politically.

After discussions among several countries, the World Alliance finally agreed to export grain to Russia, but also signed a related agreement with Russia.

First, there was a prohibition against Russian expansion westward.

This expansion referred not only to territorial and influence expansion but also to ideological expansion.

To be frank, most European countries harbored a great fear of Russian ideology. A slight misstep could spark a revolution within their own country, leading to the loss of their throne.

Explicitly prohibiting the ideological expansion of Russia in the treaty was definitely the best way to protect oneself.

The second demand was for the Russian government to redeploy some of its military forces to the Far East and reduce the proportion of troops in Eastern Europe.

In plain terms, it was about making Russia focus its attention further afield and stop eyeing the smaller countries in Eastern Europe.

This demand was also gladly accepted by the Russian government.

The reason was simple. Russia had recently ended a war, and the Russian government had no desire to wage another war against these Western European countries.

Russia's internal plan was to emulate Australasia by undertaking at least two consecutive five-year development plans before contemplating external expansion.

Secondly, the previous Russian government had always hovered near Moscow, with very little control over Siberia and the Far East.

This was the ultimate reason why Nicholas II chose to flee eastward. Having unified the entire country, the next step was naturally to strengthen control over Siberia and the Far East regions.

Fortunately, the previous Tsardom of Russia had already completed the Siberian railway, ensuring the Russian government's rule over the Far East and Siberia.

All that was needed was to dispatch some military forces to garrison the urban cities of Siberia and the Far East and maintain local order, which would gradually consolidate control over these regions.

This also coincided with the demands of the World Alliance, and it was one of the reasons for Russia's agreement with the World Alliance.

Although there is a fairly strong enemy island nation in the Far East, it is much better than being the focus of the World Alliance led by Britain and France in Europe.

If the World Alliance were to blockade Russia, it would be very difficult for Russia to develop.

But if the enemy is just an island nation, for the current Russia, it is not too powerful an adversary.

Many Russians still remember the previous war with the island nation. If there was an opportunity to avenge the past, for these rugged Russian men, it would be very desirable.

In order for the Russian government to agree to these two demands, the World Alliance not only agreed to export grain to Russia, but the United Kingdom and Australasia also signed a non-aggression treaty with Russia.

This treaty was very much needed by the Russian government. After all, the Intervention Army established by the United Kingdom had been a major headache for the Russian government at the time.

Being able to avoid battles with these powers and to peacefully develop for a period of time was the most important thing for the current Russian government.