Rise of Australia

Chapter 427 Disparity in Strength
The governor of the Dutch East Indies at the time was Count Alexander William Frederick Attenborough, who also served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Dutch East Indies.

Although it seems that the military and government have caught it, in fact, only Governor Alexander himself knows that his life is actually not easy.

Although the status of the Dutch is still detached in the Dutch East Indies, this is equivalent to nearly 4000 million slaves under the governor of Alexander who can be oppressed.

The Dutch hardly care about the life and death of the natives in the colonies. They can occupy the property, wives and daughters of the natives at will.Trample their dignity and deprive them of their lives.

But this land is not as peaceful as it appears on the surface.The protection of Britain and France does not seem to be very effective, and Australasia has neglected this land.

In the Dutch East Indies, there are more than 4000 million indigenous people with hundreds of ethnic groups. The relationship between these ethnic groups is very complicated, and the relationship between the indigenous forces composed of these ethnic groups is also very complicated.

The orders of the Dutch East Indies colonial government are not so effective in some indigenous countries. The areas that the Dutch East Indies can really control are only most of Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan and parts of Sulawesi.

The entire Dutch East Indies has more than 1 islands, but except for some larger islands, the other islands are not under the control of the Dutch East Indies.

Although this seems a bit strange, after all, the Dutch are a more developed and powerful European country than the local indigenous people.

What's more, the Dutch have ruled this land for hundreds of years. Logically speaking, even if they didn't assimilate all of these people, they should have controlled most of the area and achieved proper management.

But in fact, if you compare the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies unilaterally, you can find the biggest problem for the Dutch, and that is the phenomenon of snake swallowing.

The Netherlands has only a population of more than 600 million, but the population of the Dutch East Indies has reached more than 4000 million, which is nearly seven times the total population of the Netherlands.

It is impossible to realize the idea of ​​assimilating more than 600 million indigenous people with a population of more than 4000 million.

Even now, there are a large number of sultanates in the Dutch East Indies. These sultanates have considerable autonomy, and some even do not obey the rule of the Dutch East Indies at all.

To rule this land with a population of more than 4000 million, the Netherlands has more than 3 combat troops in the Dutch East Indies, including more than [-] regular troops and more than [-] indigenous troops.

But it is clear that this army is not enough to properly rule a population of 4000 million.

In addition, the navy controlled by the Dutch East Indies colonial government is very small, even smaller than the combined navy of the six major Australian colonies.

Under such circumstances, the Dutch East Indies government could not properly control the more than 1 islands in its territory. Rebellions in the Dutch East Indies occurred frequently, and the frequent rebellions caused the Dutch a headache, but there was nothing they could do.

According to the information of the Royal Security Intelligence Service, there are as many as 17 indigenous sultanates in the Dutch East Indies. The larger sultanate has a population of millions, and the smallest sultanate also has hundreds of thousands of indigenous people.

In particular, Sulawesi Island has five indigenous forces.These indigenous countries controlled more than half of Sulawesi, which greatly weakened the rule of the Dutch in Sulawesi.

This also led to the fact that although the Dutch are sitting on tens of millions of aboriginal properties, these aboriginals cannot make good use of them at all.

As long as the Netherlands is a country with a population of tens of millions, or the distance between the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies is closer, the Netherlands can make better use of the Dutch East Indies.

Of course, even so, the Netherlands can still get a lot of benefits from the Dutch East Indies every year, including rubber, food and other economic products.

The Netherlands can be slightly stronger than Belgium precisely because it controls the Dutch East Indies, which can generate nearly ten million pounds of income for the Dutch government every year.

After the Australasian government announced the clean-up operation, Governor Alexander has been closely planning the deployment of the Dutch East Indies and temporarily strengthened the defense of the entire Batavia.

As the core area of ​​the Dutch East Indies, Java Island has a Dutch division and more than 8 native troops, and its defense force is about [-].

If you look at the number of soldiers alone, Batavia's defenders are more than twice the size of the Australasian army, and they have an absolute advantage in terms of numbers.

But the war is not just based on the number of people, but the military equipment is still artillery, the number of aircraft, the Dutch defenders are far behind the Australasian army, not to mention the continuous supply of supplies from Australasia, The mainland of the Netherlands is hundreds of thousands of miles away, and the fastest transportation time will take more than one month.

Another point is that the size of the Dutch army is far behind that of Australasia.Moreover, after Australasia officially declared war, Arthur called George V, requesting to set up a line of defense in the Suez Canal area to prevent the Dutch transport fleet from going south.

This also caused the Dutch fleet to go around the entire Africa if it wanted to support the Dutch East Indies, which greatly increased the support time.

Under such a premise, it is impossible for the Dutch fleet to reach the Dutch East Indies without two months.

Two months later, the war in the Dutch East Indies was over long ago, and the Dutch came just in time to sign the contract.

In the city of Batavia, the face of Governor Alexander was not very good at this time.

Governor Alexander looked at Reynolds, the diplomat who had just returned from Australasia, and asked, "Ambassador Reynolds, how many troops can Australasia send?"

As the former Dutch diplomatic ambassador to Australasia, Ambassador Renault's understanding of Australasia must be higher than that of Governor Alexander and others, which is why Governor Alexander asked Ambassador Renault.

"It's not very predictable, Mr. Governor. But since the war in Australasia, they have recruited at least 70 indigenous troops. At present, there are only about 50 in the European battlefield. This also means that if Australasia is willing , They can send at least 20 native troops at any time." Ambassador Renault shook his head, sighed slightly, and said to Governor Alexander.

Ambassador Renault's tenure began in 1908, and it has been nearly seven years now.

In the past seven years, Ambassador Renault has witnessed the development of Australasia with his own eyes, and he naturally knows that the current Australasia is definitely not something that a small Netherlands can resist.

Watching Australasia evolve from a weak colony more than ten years ago to one of the most important powers, a major member of the Allied Powers, and the overlord of Oceania, Ambassador Renault couldn't help feeling a little envious and jealous.

The process of Australasia's rise can be said to be very smooth, with the help of Germany, Britain and Russia successively. The biggest enemy before the European war was the Netherlands, and the war was initiated by Australasia.

Look at the Netherlands in Europe. To rise, it must go through the consent of Britain, France and Germany.

But it is obvious that none of these three countries is willing to have another great power in the lowlands, even if it is a second-power country.

The lowlands can threaten the English Channel and the British coast, northeastern France, western Germany and the Ruhr area. Any movement here will attract the attention of the three major powers, and it is also an area where the three major powers are vying to win over.

It is no exaggeration to say that any choice of the three may offend one of the great powers of Britain, France and Germany.

This is a fatal blow to the Netherlands. Surrounded by these three major powers, the Netherlands has no hope of expanding its territory. The colony is still coveted by Australasia, and there is no hope of a comeback.

Look at Belgium, which claims to be a neutral country, Germany just wants to fight.Thinking of this, Ambassador Renault couldn't help sighing again, envious of the rise of Australasia and its superior geographical location.

"Damn it, send a telegram to the country immediately, asking the country to send at least 20 troops to support. Otherwise, the Dutch East Indies cannot resist the attack of the Australasian army." Governor Alexander did not care about Ambassador Renault's sigh. At that time, the attention was completely attracted by Ambassador Renault's statement that Australasia had at least [-] combat-capable colonial troops.

Although it was only a colonial army, those natives were armed with hot weapons, which were enough to cause fatal injuries.

What's more, Australasia still has a large number of artillery and aircraft, and Batavia can also be bombed by fleets on the sea, which is a fatal blow to the defensive side.

You must know that naval guns are generally equipped with artillery with a caliber of more than 300mm, which can cause huge damage to any fortification.

Coupled with the bombing from the ground forces and the sky, every day of delay would cause a large number of casualties to the Dutch army.

"Yes!" Governor Alexander's subordinates did not dare to hesitate, and quickly tried to send a telegram to the Netherlands for help.

In fact, the Dutch government at this time is also suffering.They have already received a clear answer from the British that no fleet flying the Dutch flag will be allowed to pass through the Suez Canal.

This also means that the distance from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies has been increased by more than half. Even if the Netherlands transports aid immediately, it will have to wait at least two months before it arrives.

However, the Dutch government did not disclose to the Dutch East Indies the fact that the Suez Canal could no longer pass, which expressed the government's order to defend Batavia and the entire Java Island at all costs.

The Dutch government also hypocritically stated that it has expedited the transportation of a large amount of supplies, and it will take less than a month to arrive in Batavia at the fastest.

However, the Dutch government did not say a word about the navigation of the Suez Canal and whether the Dutch transport fleet would be encircled by the Australasian fleet in the Indian Ocean.

　The second update of 3000 words, ask for a monthly ticket, ask for support!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)