Chapter 997: Chapter 748: Vitamin C
Arthur inspected the progress of the nuclear weapons research team, and awarded and encouraged all of the scientific researchers on the team, distributing rewards from himself and the royal family. He also promised that they could take some time to see their families, after which Arthur concluded his inspection of the nuclear weapons development team.
Arthur actually had little interest in seeing the nuclear weapons work process with his own eyes.
No joke, these work processes are quite dangerous, and the slightest carelessness could lead to massive casualties.
If Arthur insisted on watching, the scientists would certainly not object, but it would definitely cause huge disruptions to the progress of the nuclear research.
First, the scientists would have to ensure Arthur’s safety, and second, they would have to carry out the nuclear weapons manufacturing process while being observed by Arthur, making it very difficult to avoid mistakes.
Arthur wouldn’t want to cause trouble for himself. After all, it’s said that it’s not a wise man who stands beneath a dangerous wall, and the most appropriate thing for a qualified monarch to do is not to create problems for himself and his subordinates.
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Many troubles are self-inflicted, and Arthur was quite clear about this. As long as he carried out the inspection calmly, there would be no issues, and he would also gain the scientists’ favor—why not do it?
After returning to Saint Arthur Castle from the city where the nuclear weapons research team was located, Arthur soon received news of changes in Germany.
Like Italy, Germany eventually experienced a major upheaval.
Arthur was not surprised at all. Germany’s poor economic condition had already determined the chaotic political situation, and it was completely normal for coups and revolutions to occur.
Of course, history repeated itself as the little man with the mustache took power smoothly, named by William II as the German Chancellor, and the position of President of Germany was abolished.
Hindenburg, who had retired honorably in history, not only was forced to give up the presidency but also carried the infamy of leading Germany to defeat in World War I and fell ill on the way back to his hometown.
After Italy, Germany also entered under the rule of extremism. Perhaps William II was tired of political struggles, or he might have heeded Arthur’s advice, deciding to stay away from German politics for the time being.
In any case, after becoming German Chancellor, the little man with the mustache took over the military and political power of Germany.
Of course, when we talk about military and political power, it was actually a mess. The reason why the little man with the mustache could smoothly take over Hindenburg’s authority, in addition to his widespread admiration among German civilians, was that his Stormtroopers had turned into the largest armed force in Germany.
This was no joking matter. Germany’s Military was limited to 150,000 men. After the Federal states had their share, the number of soldiers in the Imperial Government’s army was less than 70,000.
Now look at the little man with the mustache. The number of his Stormtroopers had exceeded 200,000, far more than the total number of the German Military.
With the Federal states governing themselves and the hint of becoming independent from the Imperial Government, the little man with the mustache truly had no opposition within the Imperial Government. This was also the reason why President Hindenburg’s reign went toward collapse.
Without the trust of Monarch William II, the confidence of the lower-class people, or the trust of political parties.
With only the support of the Junker nobility and a small fraction of the military forces, President Hindenburg could no longer maintain his rule, and his presidential throne was more of a joke.
Hindenburg’s impeachment seemed more like a collaborative outcome between William II and the little man with the mustache.
As part of a deal, William II appointed the little man with the mustache as the German Chancellor, handing over military and political power in Germany to him.
The little man with the mustache also ensured to maintain William II’s monarchic status; he would not actively abolish Monarchism during his reign.
Having done all this, William II, along with his children and family, moved to a small town in the outskirts of Berlin, showing his determination to no longer interfere with politics.
The little man with the mustache was thus relieved and could vigorously carry out his reforms in Germany, turning it into the strong Empire he envisioned.
Of course, it was now 1930, and Britain and France still took the restrictions on Germany very seriously.
For the time being, the little man with the mustache had no plans to abolish the restrictive treaties, as the enemies were still very powerful at this time.
Moreover, the war of the neighbors and the arms race between Britain and France gave the little man with the mustache hope. Together with Mussolini in Italy, the little man with the mustache seemed to see the future situation, as well as the conclusion of Germany defeating powerful enemies one after another to unify the whole of Europe.
Although Arthur had anticipated such changes, it was impossible not to react and prepare.
Britain and France were also watching the changes in Germany, worried about whether the Germans would break through the limits and become another serious threat to the stability of Europe.
The good news was that the little man with the mustache did not make any excessively crazy actions in public, which made Britain and France relatively at ease.
The French Army even provocatively fired guns in border areas to ensure that the German Military had no response or threat, which reassured the French government.
Regarding this German Empire, where the army was only 150,000 strong and where the Federal states and Imperial Government were completely at odds, both Britain and France considered it no threat at all.
Even with a change in ruler, the United Kingdom and France still believed that Germany would not recover quickly and that each other remained their chief concern.
For this reason, after probing and finding no additional ambitions in the Germans, the French turned their full attention to their confrontation with the British.
As time entered February, France and the United Kingdom each disclosed a naval construction plan.
It is worth noting that the expedition to the United States had ended, and by all accounts, military budgets should have been reduced from the previous year.
However, the actual situation was that the military budgets of Britain and France were getting higher, even showing a trend of matching the previous year’s figures.
After the French announced plans to expand their fleet with 3 dreadnoughts, 5 battlecruisers, 1 aircraft carrier, and 30 small and medium-sized warships, the British quickly announced their own shipbuilding plan, essentially doubling the French proposal.
Yes, the British shipbuilding plan was quite exaggerated. Over the next five years, China would build at least 6 dreadnoughts, 8 battlecruisers, 4 aircraft carriers, 12 destroyers, 22 escort ships, and dozens of other small and medium-sized warships.
The number was directly twice that of the French, which made the French quite angry, believing that Britain was targeting them.
In retaliation against the British, the French quickly announced they would build 100 submarines and establish an Atlantic frontline connecting the three republics of the United States with France.
The competition between Britain and France captured everyone’s attention, as they were the two most powerful nations in the world today.
Going further down the line, only Australasia and the Island Nation could be spoken of in the same breath as these two countries.
As for the other powers, there was already a significant gap with these four countries. Because of such a stark difference in strength, the European media even began to differentiate between the greater and lesser powers.
Knowing he could not pin all his hopes on nuclear weapons alone, Arthur decided to step up research into other weapons and to prepare in advance for a potential war.
Tanks, airplanes, cannons, rifles, machine guns, submachine guns, medical equipment, transport equipment, communication devices, and a variety of advanced machines were all areas Arthur wanted to improve.
Only by leading the world in these weapons did Australasia have the confidence of winning in the coming wars, and Arthur had the confidence to secure enough benefits for his country and people.
An advancement that had not been mentioned before is the electron microscope technology that had been developed alongside the nuclear weapons research last year.
The working principle of a microscope is quite simple, magnifying an object many times to see details invisible to the naked eye.
The electron microscope took this to an even greater level. Typically, ordinary microscopes can magnify objects between several tens to several hundreds of times, whereas electron microscopes can achieve magnifications up to 2000 times.
Thanks to this feature, the electron microscope played an extremely important role in fields such as physics, chemistry, biology, and medical health and represented a significant achievement.
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With the electron microscope, research in biology became more effective and rapid.
Even looking ahead a bit, the electron microscope could be used more effectively to combat various bacteria, viruses, bacteriophages, and other microorganisms.
Whether for creating various types of bacteria and viruses or defending against those produced by enemies, it played an extremely important role.
Of course, its most significant use was to study viruses inherent in humans, making many diseases treatable.
Another development was the synthetic production of vitamin C.
While in later generations, various vitamin C medicines would become very common and affordable, vitamin C was still a novelty at the present time.
Long before, hundreds of years ago, seafarers discovered that during long voyages, crew members would often contract a disease known as scurvy.
At the time, there were not many remedies for this ailment, and people did not even know its causes or how to treat it.
But now, after research and experimentation by a group of organic chemists, and through studying various plant samples, the chemical formula for vitamin C was found, and pure vitamin C was synthesized.
This organic chemist also received the Victoria Medical Award last year for his discovery and production of vitamin C, and was received by Arthur.
In the current situation, vitamin C played a crucial role. On long voyages, it was difficult to ensure constant fresh fruit and food, which meant there was a significant chance of sailors developing scurvy, a lack of vitamin C.
However, with the introduction of vitamin C medicine, neither military nor civilian ships had to worry about scurvy on long-distance travels.
After all, with regular intake of vitamin C medication, the body would at least not develop scurvy due to a lack of vitamin C.