Rise of Australia

Chapter 362 A Veritable Overlord of the Pacific Ocean
For Australasians, 1913 was definitely a year of surprises.

In addition to Arthur's announcement of the expansion of the navy, Australasia also received the Pacific colonies of many powers this year.

Yes, in the last month of 1913, Australasia once again started to take over the Anglo-French Pacific colonies.

The reception of the Solomon Islands has been going smoothly so far, which also made Arthur decide to speed up the pace of receiving colonies, and strive to fully receive the colonies of the great powers in the Pacific region before the outbreak of World War I.

For the handover of this colony, Arthur specially prepared an entire division to go to the islands in the Pacific Ocean, and dispatched the navy to patrol this sea area.

On December 1913, 12, Australasia announced that it would change the name of British Fiji, which had been taken over from the United Kingdom, to the Australian Colony of Fiji, with the Governor Georges Valerianos.

Australian Fiji has a land area of ​​more than 18300 square kilometers and is an area composed of hundreds of islands and archipelagos.

Like the Solomon Islands, although the population is as high as 15, the core European immigrants are only about 2, and the rest are local aborigines.

The most important thing about the newly accepted colonies in Australasia is stability.

Therefore, until the order of these colonies is truly stable, Arthur does not plan to take action against the indigenous population of these colonies for the time being.

The treatment specifications of Australian Fiji are similar to those of the Solomon Islands, with garrisons of 1000 people and state-level administrative divisions.

Although the total land area of ​​these colonies in the Pacific is not as large as that of a state in Australasia, most of them have a population of only over [-].

However, these colonies are scattered among each other and are not suitable for unified management.Breaking it up into several large and small colonies can not only relieve the pressure on the management of the colonies, but also improve the government's control over individual colonies.

Australian Fiji was just the beginning.A few days later, the French also started to act.

The area transferred by the French this time is located in French New Caledonia surrounded by the current territory of Australasia.

The land area of ​​French New Caledonia is about the same as that of Fiji, up to 18575 square kilometers.

But the population of this area is much smaller. Counting all the indigenous populations, the total population of French New Caledonia will not exceed 10.

Along with French New Caledonia, the New Hebrides in the north of New Caledonia were transferred to Australasia.

The New Hebrides Islands have a land area of ​​about 1.22 square kilometers and a population of only about 7.

This area is quite special because missionaries from Britain and France are widely distributed. Therefore, a few years ago, Britain and France signed a treaty and announced the joint management of this area.

Taking advantage of this opportunity to transfer the colony, Britain and France also directly transferred the colony to Australasia, which also saved a lot of trouble.

You must know that these colonies in the Pacific Ocean are relatively far away from the mainland of Britain and France, and most of them have not achieved self-sufficiency in food and resources.

This also means that in many cases, Britain and France need to send supplies and food to the garrisons and residents on the island, which often represents a large amount of consumption.

The loss of these colonies is not distressing to Britain and France. After all, Britain and France have colonies in Southeast Asia, and the British also own an extensive colony in India. Naturally, they look down on small islands in the Pacific Ocean with a population of only over [-].

Therefore, the transfer of these colonies seems to have caused Britain and France to lose their land, but in fact, Britain and France took advantage of this opportunity to reduce the burden on the government.

Because of the relatively close distance between the New Hebrides and French New Caledonia, after research by the Australasian government, it was decided to merge the two colonies to form Australian New Caledonia. .

After the merger, the new Australian New Caledonia will have a population of more than [-] people, on the same level as the Solomon Islands and Fiji.

In fact, it can be seen from the map that the Royal Territory, Australian Timor, Australian New Guinea, Australian Solomon Islands, Australian New Caledonia, Australian Fiji, and New Zealand directly formed a road from Australia. The defense chain of islands starting from the north of Greater Lasia and encircling to the southeast.

After fully integrating these areas, Australasia can rely on these islands and colonies to block any enemy from the Pacific Ocean outside the island defense chain.

On the other hand, Australasia has no island defense chain to the west and south, and the other is the icy Antarctic, where it is basically impossible for enemies to attack.One is the vast Indian Ocean, which is currently controlled by the allies of Australasia, the United Kingdom and France, and there is no possibility of any threat for the time being.

This also means that the security of Australasia is very stable at present.As long as these colonies are managed well, even if there are powerful foreign enemies, they can still do more than defend against them.

Perhaps Britain and France have already negotiated and plan to sell all the colonies in the Pacific Ocean at once.

Australasia again succeeded in receiving French Polynesia, the British Phoenix Islands, the British Tokelau Islands, the British Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate, the British Tonga Protectorate, and Colonies such as the British Cook Islands, the British Kermadec Islands, and the British Pitcairn Islands have successfully expanded their sphere of influence to most of the Pacific Ocean.

After taking over these colonies, it is no exaggeration to say that Australasia has occupied more than half of the Pacific Ocean and is a veritable Pacific hegemon.

Of course, this also gave birth to a very serious problem.After the Pacific region has no Britain and France, Australasia will face the collision with the United States.

This also means that, whether it is now or in the future, the United States will be Australasia's biggest enemy.

If the United States wants to realize its Pacific strategy and expand in the Pacific, it must face Australasia, which occupies more than half of the Pacific Ocean.

And if Australasia wants to maintain its hegemony in the Pacific, it has to directly confront the United States and become an enemy with the United States.

From this point of view, Arthur understood why Britain and France were so eager to get rid of the colonies.

Instead of keeping a few useless small islands, it is better to transfer them all to Australasia, so that Australasia can directly become a bridgehead against the United States.

In this way, even if the alliance of the Allies breaks down in the future, Australasia will have to face the United States alone.

As long as Australasia wants to maintain its hegemony in the Pacific region, it is only natural for Australia and the United States to turn against each other or even become enemies.

This was an overt conspiracy by Britain and France, but even now, Arthur had to bite the bullet and walk in.

Australasia had successfully received the extensive colonies of Britain and France in the Pacific region, and it was impossible for Arthur to spit these areas out.

Fortunately, the current alliance of the four major powers of the Allied Powers is still stable, and the military strength of the United States is not too strong for the time being, and Australasia is fully capable of dealing with it.

In order to better rule the newly received vast archipelago, Arthur combined the opinions of the cabinet and divided all the newly received colonies except Fiji, Solomon Islands, and New Caledonia into two parts.

With German New Guinea and German Samoyed as the dividing line, the Australian Western Pacific Territory to the north, the capital is Tarawa in the Gilbert and Ellis Islands region.

South of the dividing line, the Australian South Pacific Territory was established, with Papeete as its capital in Polynesia.

Since then, the current political structure of Australasia has also been defined.

Eight states, five colonies, and four territories form the complete and unified Kingdom of Australasia.

The governors of colonies and territories are directly appointed by Arthur, which is also good news for Arthur.

Compared with the governors elected by the state legislature, the loyalty of the governors of the colonies and territories directly appointed by Arthur is obviously more reliable.

Of course, although the top leaders are also directly appointed by Arthur, there are many differences between the colony and the territory.

Colonies belong to the state, but the monarch has the right to appoint officials, jurisdiction and the right to mobilize the army.

However, the territory directly belongs to the monarch in legal terms, and can be completely free from the control of the government, and is only responsible to Arthur.

Of course, as the location of the kingdom's capital, the Capital Territory has a special status.The Capital Territory is between the territory and the directly subordinate states. The main officials are directly appointed by Arthur, but they are also subject to the control of the cabinet government.

In addition to dividing these colonies in terms of administrative divisions, in terms of national defense and military affairs, Arthur determined the national defense deployment in Australasia after talking with Minister of Defense Raul.

The national defense deployment in Australasia can be roughly divided into four regions.The Australian region, which is dominated by the core mainland of Australasia, has established the Australian Theater and is headquartered in Sydney.

New Zealand is the New Zealand theater, with the headquarters in Wellington.The Royal Territory, Australian Timor, and Australian New Guinea established the Southeast Asia Theater, with the headquarters in Port Moresby.

Later, the Pacific theater composed of major Pacific colonies and islands was based in Suva, Fiji.

The main purpose of the war zones in Australia and New Zealand is to defend the country and maintain domestic law and order.

The roles of the Southeast Asia Theater and the Pacific Theater are both to defend against the island countries in northern Australasia and the United States on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

When the scale of sea power in Australasia gradually develops, the navy will be dismantled into these four military regions and corresponding squadrons will be established.

Of course, in theaters like New Zealand, there will be fewer troops and fleets stationed accordingly.

After all, as long as the outer islands can be defended, New Zealand has basically no risk.

After all, the Australian theater is located on the east coast of the Indian Ocean, and it is the core area of ​​the country, so the stationing of the army and navy is indispensable.

What's more, Australia's vast land area means that there will definitely be many troops stationed in this area.

Southeast Asia and the Pacific Theater are important links in the military deployment of Greater Lasia.If nothing else, the two theaters will focus on deploying the air force and navy, and building a coastal defense system.

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(End of this chapter)