The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 522: Chapter 408: The Fall of Constantinople_3

The situation faced by the defenders of Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire could only be imagined given the nation's internal difficulties.

Although Constantinople had stored a large amount of supplies and had a population besides more than a hundred thousand defenders, the speed of resource consumption could be seen.

At present, Constantinople is in dire need of food, weapons, ammunition, and medical supplies, with some people offering high sums for medicines but unable to find any.

From June 17th to June 22nd, under Commander Martin's orders, the Allied forces launched a six-day bombing campaign against Constantinople, consuming a total of 2.2 million artillery shells and depleting the ammunition reserves of both the Balkan nations and the entire Balkan front.

Of course, this prolonged bombardment yielded significant results. The once-stroud Constantinople began to show cracks, and the bombardment caused a large number of Ottoman civilian and military deaths.

The real war would not be so merciful; it would not stop the attack because there were a large number of Ottoman civilians in Constantinople.

Of course, the major Allied powers did not put much consideration into the casualties of these Ottoman civilians. Although they would not actively slaughter them, they did not care about their lives or deaths either.

It is worth mentioning that during this bombing, the Allies not only used a large number of airships but also deployed hundreds of airplanes for the bombing.

Although airplanes had participated in several wars alongside airships, the battle of Constantinople marked the first time airplanes were considered more important weapons than airships.

Although the airplane development of other Allied countries was slow, this did not mean they did not have any airplanes.

At this point, airplanes have evolved into types such as reconnaissance aircraft, fighter aircraft, and bombers.

Of course, the difference between the three is minimal now, and the classifications are defined by the number and types of weapons the same airplane carries.

Arthur stated directly that Australasia had paid a lot of costs in airplane research and invested a large amount of research funds to develop the most powerful aircraft to this date.

Considering the close ally relationship with Britain, France, and Russia, he agreed to sell the aircraft to them, but could not make too many concessions on the price.

Arthur offered a price of 20,000 pounds per airplane and 20 million pounds for a complete set of military aircraft technology that included reconnaissance aircraft, fighter aircraft, and bombers.

For Britain and France, 20 million pounds was not an unacceptable figure. In contrast to their massive military spending, if they could use a large number of aircraft to speed up the war, 20 million pounds would be quite cost-effective.

For Russia, it was unrealistic for them to purchase aircraft and research technology themselves. Russian science and technology did not support it, nor did Russia have time to wait for their domestic experts to study aircraft technology.

Therefore, Britain, France, and Russia all agreed to purchase aircraft technology. After long negotiations, they finally agreed to buy a technology suite for 18.5 million pounds, allowing Australasia to profit 55.5 million pounds.

Of course, obtaining technology and building a production line would take time. Therefore, the Britain-France-Russia Three Nations also generously placed orders for 100 aircraft each from Australasia.

According to a price of 20,000 pounds per aircraft, a total of 300 aircraft would yield 6 million pounds in revenue for Australasia, with a cost of about 3 million pounds, leaving the profit and cost about the same.

The total income from selling aircraft and aircraft technology exceeded 60 million pounds. However, the cost of researching and manufacturing aircraft in Australasia did not exceed 10 million pounds at most, even considering the latest and most advanced fourth-generation military aircraft.

Using the technology of the outdated first-generation military aircraft to gain nearly 60 million pounds in income, Arthur gave a faint smile and called it a blood profit.

Although 60 million pounds was not much compared to the military expenditure invested by European countries in the war, it was a huge income for Australasia.

Even if it were used to build super-dreadnoughts, this 60 million pounds would be enough to build 20 of them, making the number of super-dreadnoughts in Australasia the second highest in the world.

Of course, Arthur was not that crazy. But in any case, this 60 million pounds was very beneficial for Australasia's future military expansion plans, summarized as: having money in one's pocket, and being calm in one's heart.