The Rise of Australasia

Chapter 821 -613: A Difficult Choice_3

This seems to be a common affliction among the European royal families; they are all essentially related by blood, and strictly speaking, everyone is a relative.

Fortunately, the blood relation between Arthur and Queen Mary is rather distant, which avoids the risk of consanguineous marriages.

Others may not concern themselves with it, but the Australasian Royal Family still tries to avoid inbreeding as much as possible.

At least within three generations, there is temporarily no need to enter into marriage alliances with the British Royal Family. After all, the power of the British Royal Family is steadily diminishing, and Arthur’s relationship with them is already quite close; there is no need to seek a marital alliance to strengthen ties further.

Indeed, as George II had predicted, the journey to Britain went very smoothly, and soon he had gained the support of King George V.

It’s not to say that the two Georges hit it off at first sight. More importantly, King George V wanted to increase his own influence, and aiding the restoration of the Kingdom of Greece was an excellent starting point.

How can a monarch increase his influence? There are two main areas: one is to gain influence internationally, and the other is to gain influence domestically.

For the current King George V, it was very difficult to increase his influence within the United Kingdom.

The Cabinet would not allow a monarch with high influence to emerge, nor did he himself have enough capability or opportunity to increase his voice within the Cabinet and Parliament.

Therefore, the only opportunity was to increase international influence. If he could gain the support of the Greek royal family, or even mend relations with many German nobles, King George V’s influence among the monarchical countries could be further enhanced.

This was much needed for the current King George V, as his position domestically had weakened far too much compared to that of his father, Edward VII, and his grandmother, Queen Victoria.

George II, having garnered the support of two Powerful Nations, the United Kingdom and Australasia, was in high spirits and had already been contacting the Royalist Faction within Greece, preparing for a life-or-death struggle with the Republicans.

However, for Powerful Nations, intervening in the affairs of a small country is not that difficult.

At the end of March 1925, Britain and Australasia began their operation.

The first step of the operation was to launch a propaganda offensive, criticizing the Greek government’s actions since the establishment of the Republic, arguing that the Greek government had done nothing, but had instead weakened the country’s economy and regressed its industry, even worse than during the Kingdom.

The reason for this was to evoke Greek nostalgia for the period of the Monarchy, at least the advantages of that time, and then contrast it with the current situation of the Republic, to evoke an emotional resonance.

The second step of the operation was to make contact with the Greek government, to make clear the stance of the United Kingdom and Australasia, and wait for the Greek government to decide.

One piece of good news was that the Greek government was quite fragmented at the moment, without a dominant Political Party, but rather several small Republican parties vying for power and profit.

Such a Greek government was obviously much easier to control because they could not have a united voice to resist the interference of external Powers.

In April 1925, Athens, Greece.

The President of the Greek Republic, and the leader of the Democratic Party, Kronos Alan Hubert, sat at his desk with a worried frown, massaging his temples.

The civilian opinion in Greece had severely affected the Greek government, but such sentiment was impossible for the current government to fully suppress.

Meanwhile, the seemingly inadvertent positions expressed by British and Australasians made it clear to Kronos that the two superpowers favoured the restoration of Monarchism.

Whether to support George II’s return to the throne was a difficult decision for Kronos and a major test for the current Greek government.

First, Monarchism contradicted the Republic that Kronos advocated, and went against the principles of the Democratic Party he led.

Secondly, Kronos, although he had many rivals, was undoubtedly the most powerful person in the Greek government as its President.

If he supported the restoration of George II, Kronos’s power would inevitably be greatly curtailed, and he might even lose his power directly to George II.

After all, George II had the support of two superpowers, Britain and Australasia, which had a significant impact on a small country like Greece.

But if he refused George II’s restoration, it was clear that he would offend George II and the British-Australian superpowers.

Putting George II aside for the moment, just the accountability of Britain and Australasia alone could be enough for other political parties to abandon the Democratic Party.

In other words, if Britain and Australasia truly brought their forces to bear, Kronos had no doubt that other parties would surrender directly and push all the blame onto the Democratic Party.

This meant that either choice would have far-reaching effects on the current Greek government.

Even for all political parties in Greece, and for Kronos himself, the impact could be extremely great.

Plainly speaking, on the path of power struggle, there is only advancement, no retreat. Concession means failure, and failure means extinction.

For party leaders like Kronos, there is a multitude of party members and officials backing them.

Even if Kronos agreed to step down, other party members would not agree, as it directly affects their interests.

But the question is, can the current fragmented Greek government really withstand the pressure from Britain and Australasia if they refuse to step down?

Moreover, there is still a faction within Greece that supports the monarchy. Although monarchy was abolished by the vote of the Greek Parliament, there is still a minority in Greece that continues to support monarchy, including some high-ranking officials and upper echelons of the military.

Should a coup occur, the situation in Greece could become truly unpredictable. If the current Greek Republican Government were to be overthrown, the likes of Kronos would not only lose their power, but might even be at risk of losing their lives.

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