Chapter 308: The Division of the Military Academy
Apart from national defense construction, the second phase of the Leonora Industrial Base is also currently one of the highest priorities for Australasia.
In fact, the second phase of the Leonora Industrial Base started in 1910, with the initial expectation being its completion in 1913. After all, the second phase, both in terms of scale and planning, far exceeded the construction of the first phase.
The factories built during the first phase, even at full capacity, could provide no more than 50,000 jobs for Australasia. However, when the second phase is completed, it will create over 100,000 jobs on its own.
With the addition of the first phase, the entire Leonora Industrial Base will provide at least 150,000 jobs for Australasia. This will not only fully meet the job demand in Western Australia but will also benefit South Australia.
With the significant financial investment from the government and industrial sectors, the construction of the industrial base has progressed faster than originally planned. If things go as expected, the construction of the industrial base should be completed by the end of 1912 or the beginning of 1913, with production starting in 1914.
This means that if World War I breaks out as it did in history, Australasia will have a super industrial zone with more than 150,000 job opportunities before the war begins. This will not only stabilize the country's industrial development and scale but also enable the export of a large amount of industrial products to Europe.
As the population of Australasia grows, more job opportunities will be needed. Aside from national development, the growth of industrial bases and other construction projects will also aim to create more jobs to meet the needs of the people of Australasia.
In response to the potentially imminent European war, Arthur has also ordered the agricultural department to expand agricultural production as much as possible and temporarily reduce food exports.
Except for regions suffering from high food prices, food exports will be reduced in all other areas. After all, food prices now are nowhere near as high as they will be during wartime. It is better to stockpile food now and sell it once the European war breaks out.
When the European powers send hundreds of thousands, even millions, of soldiers to the battlefield, all domestic military factories and civilian factories will shift their production toward military needs. This will naturally lead to a decrease in agricultural output.
From a higher emotional intelligence perspective, stockpiling food now and selling it at the outbreak of the war is actually a way to prevent Europeans from facing starvation and death.
After all, Arthur, at his core, is European. How could he watch Europeans suffer from hunger and die because of the war?
While food is not free, it is still life-saving, isn't it?
With Australasia's annual production of millions of tons of food, stockpiling enough to last until the outbreak of World War I means that the profits from selling that food will be considerable.
In addition to agriculture, Arthur has also laid out some plans for education and healthcare.
First, healthcare. It has become increasingly difficult to attract medical talent from Europe. With the war looming, European countries are in a protective state, guarding their important talents, especially those in medicine and military industries.
Thus, Australasia must seize the few opportunities remaining to attract medical talents before the war starts. Whether they are skilled doctors or medical researchers, they are talents that Australasia needs and is lacking.
Arthur even planned for the Royal Financial Group to establish a healthcare conglomerate responsible for medical research and production, aiming to produce more medical supplies for Australasia and even the world. This would not only bring profit but also contribute to humanity.
For example, Alexander Fleming, who is currently working in Australasia, discovered penicillin, which would be considered a miracle drug during wartime. Its strategic value is immeasurable.
If Australasia could discover and master the manufacturing technology for penicillin before World War I, it could gain immense wealth and become a new world fortune.
Weapons, bullets, and equipment might be in short supply for the great powers, but not to the same extent. After all, even though bullets are sent to the battlefield, most are wasted. The actual bullets used to kill enemies are likely less than one-thousandth of the total waste.
But penicillin is different. Penicillin can save the life of a brave soldier who would otherwise die from a wound infection, significantly reducing casualties in European countries.
For the war, this has immense value. Whoever controls this miracle drug will have the upper hand in the conflict.
After all, a veteran who has returned from the battlefield may take months or even up to a year to recover from their injuries. Meanwhile, training a new recruit takes roughly the same amount of time. But the fighting power of a veteran is incomparable to that of a new soldier. The great powers of Europe are even willing to pay multiple times the price to gain more veterans rather than new recruits.
Penicillin's greatest benefit is its ability to save the lives of elite soldiers and maintain the army's combat strength.
By establishing a unified healthcare group responsible for research and production, Australasia can increase the efficiency of research and manufacturing, while reducing waste of personnel and resources.
If it succeeds in expanding Australasia's medical reputation, even after the war, the healthcare market in Australasia will remain prominent. This would be a guaranteed, profitable business.
The royal family's financial group is not lacking in money at the moment. The cost of establishing a unified healthcare group is trivial to them. What Arthur values more is the research in medicine and the production of medical supplies.
Of course, Arthur has not forgotten the domestic healthcare sector. Both universities and technical schools have already established medical programs under Arthur's directive.
However, graduates from universities can only serve as trainee doctors, while those from technical schools will mostly work as nurses or medical assistants.
This is not a matter of education level. Universities require four years and utilize advanced instruments and excellent professors. But technical schools' training takes only six months to a year, and the difference in knowledge and skills makes graduates of technical schools start at a different level compared to university graduates.
However, this gap can be overcome with effort. As long as students from technical schools are determined to become qualified doctors, it is not too difficult.
This also reflects some shortcomings in Australasia's education system, such as the lack of a dedicated medical university.
After careful thought, Arthur decided to establish a medical university and a teachers' college, both specifically aimed at training more healthcare and education professionals for Australasia.
The initial scale of these universities will not be large, with an annual intake of about 800 to 1,000 students, focusing on fixed directions of education and healthcare.
Of course, this is just a plan Arthur presented. The specific decisions about the universities' locations and how they are to be built will be left to the education department, as Arthur only needs the final result.
In addition, Arthur also decided to split the current Royal Military Academy into several military universities.
The Royal Military Academy, which opened in 1907, had been operating for over four years. With the first batch of graduates entering the military, the academy had finally entered the right track.
However, the current intake at the Royal Military Academy is too diverse, with students coming from both civilian backgrounds, the military, and even foreign countries. After careful thought, Arthur decided to separate civilian students from military students, and foreign students would be categorized with civilian students.
The Royal Military Academy will be split into the Sydney Royal Military Academy and the Melbourne Royal Military Academy.
The Sydney Royal Military Academy will focus on civilian students, foreign students, and the training of senior officers. Graduates from this four-year program will be commissioned as at least second lieutenants upon joining the army, with the potential for promotion to first lieutenant if they perform well.
These graduates will be the backbone of the Australasian military, and even if their careers are not stellar, becoming a regimental officer should be achievable.
Although the Sydney Royal Military Academy will also accept military students, there will be certain rank requirements. Only officers of the rank of lieutenant or higher will be eligible to attend.
They will undergo senior officer training, and upon graduation, lieutenant-level officers will have their ranks elevated by one to two levels, while officers at the colonel level will generally see an increase of at least one rank.
In other words, the military students admitted to the Sydney Royal Military Academy will be those earmarked for significant leadership roles, potentially rising to positions such as regiment commander or division commander.
As for higher-ranking officers such as army generals or army group commanders, that is not something to consider at the moment in Australasia.
The newly established Melbourne Royal Military Academy will mainly focus on training lower-ranking officers, namely lieutenants and below.
This means that the admission requirements for the Melbourne Royal Military Academy are relatively simple. Civilian students only need to meet basic educational requirements and enlistment conditions, while military students only need to have been in service for at least one year and show excellent performance.
The Melbourne Royal Military Academy will also be open to the indigenous soldiers in the indigenous regiments, as not all of the junior officers in those regiments will be Australasian citizens.
In essence, the indigenous regiments are meant to serve as cannon fodder for the Australasian military, taking on casualties to spare Australasian soldiers.
Given this, it's unnecessary for Australasian soldiers to serve as the lowest-ranking officers in these regiments. A brief training for the indigenous soldiers will be sufficient to make them competent in their roles.
However, the number of indigenous officers in the military academy will be limited. Furthermore, these indigenous soldiers will be closely supervised, and under no circumstances will they be allowed to carry weapons. The only time they will handle firearms is during periodic target shooting exercises organized by the academy.
This policy is in place for the safety of other students and the general public, as even though these soldiers are part of the Australasian army, their loyalty cannot be fully guaranteed. Any potential risks or escape attempts could pose a significant threat to national security and the safety of the citizens.
(End of Chapter)
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