The Rise Of Australasia
Chapter 542: Chapter 425: The Australia-Netherlands War

Arthur received news of the Battle of Verdun a day later, on the 28th of November.

Arthur could not have been unaware of what the Battle of Verdun signified. It was one of the deadliest battles in the history of World War I, with casualties as high as 700,000 on both French and German sides, second only to the Battle of the Somme that Britain and France had planned to initiate.

Yes, although Verdun was besieged, neither the United Kingdom nor French Commander General Flynn had abandoned the plan to launch the Battle of the Somme.

The Battle of the Somme would be the largest counterattack on the Westline and could even determine the course of the war there.

The Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Verdun were two of the most vicious battles of World War I. The combined casualties from both battles exceeded 2 million and could directly determine the outcome of the war on the Westline, and even the course of the entire World War I.

Because of the crucial situation of the Battle of Verdun, Arthur had the Royal Security Intelligence Agency closely monitor the course of the battle and inform him of any changes immediately.

Of course, for Australasia, the German Empire instigating the Battle of Verdun was also good news. After all, if Britain and France were busy dealing with German aggression, Australasia would have a better chance for expansion and their importance in the war would heighten.

The only direction left for Australasia to expand towards now was the Dutch East Indies in the North.

Holland, in comparison to Australasia, were true pushovers that Arthur could manipulate at will.

Europe was currently occupied with the battle of Verdun and planning the Battle of the Somme, their attention towards non-European affairs has greatly diminished.

Even if Holland was an ally of Britain and France, they would never risk offending Australasia for Holland's sake, not to mention that Holland was a neutral country, and they had a decent relationship with William II's German Empire.

Holland, as a secondary power, still held a large-scale colony like the Dutch East Indies, so Arthur felt it was necessary to relieve Holland's pressure and allow them to focus on their native land.

On the 29th of November, 1915, the third day of the Battle of Verdun, the Australasian Ministry of Defense urgently passed a proposal, which Arthur named operation "Mop-Up".

As the name implies, this was an action to combat the Anti-Australasian forces in German New Guinea. The operation stretched to areas where Anti-Australasian forces may have fled, such as the Dutch-controlled New Guinea, Sulawesi, and Kalimantan.

The participants in the "Mop-Up" operation included the First and Second Divisions and two Colonial Divisions, totaling 72,000 troops.

After about a week of long preparations, in early December 1915, Australasia officially announced its plan to carry out a severe crackdown on Anti-Australasian forces who had fled from German New Guinea to various places.

It also demanded the cooperation of the entire Dutch East Indies, as the Australasian Government suspected that the Dutch East Indies were harboring Anti-Australasian forces and conspiring to subvert Australasia's rule in New Guinea.

The evidence provided by the Australasian government was very substantial, including not only the escape routes of some Anti-Australasian forces but also their activities in Dutch-controlled territories.

No matter how the Dutch East Indies Government defended itself, there were indeed numerous Anti-Australasian forces within the Dutch East Indies territory, and these forces had obtained a significant amount of weapons and equipment from the Dutch East Indies.

The Dutch Government wanted to negotiate, but the conditions put forth by Australasia were that they either surrender all Anti-Australasian forces and cede West New Guinea, Sulawesi, Brule Island, Ceram Island, Misuo Island, and Oby Island. Otherwise, the fury of Australasia would not be appeased.

However, the Dutch could naturally not agree to such severe conditions. This was almost equivalent to dividing the Dutch East Indies in half, limiting Dutch rule to only four major islands that are Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java, and Sulawesi Island.

Even the most unresponsive Dutch Government understood by this time that Australasia's target was not the Anti-Australasian forces, but the land of New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies.

This was something that the present Dutchmen could not agree to. The Dutch East Indies was one of the few large colonies the Dutch held and was the guarantee for the Netherlands to maintain its status as a secondary power in Europe.

If they lost the Dutch East Indies, the Netherlands' position would be even lower than Belgium's, failing to measure up to even a third-tier European power, let alone the Dutch people's hope for united borderlands.

Even if the Dutch Government could accept Australasia's demands, the Dutch people would undoubtedly not agree.

If the Dutch Government surrendered without a fight, the angry Dutch people could overthrow the government and change its face.

Therefore, despite their unwillingness, the Dutch Government had to refuse the demands of the Australasian government on principled grounds, angrily criticizing Australasia's demands as shameful extortion.

Unfortunately, the struggle between countries at this time was like this, where the law of survival was survival of the fittest. The strong would possess power and position, and the weak would be targeted by the strong for division.

Even if Holland appealed to Britain, France, Germany, and even Russia for help, no country was willing to help them.

Germany, needless to say, was already at war with Australasia. The Germans did not have the ability to break through the naval blockade of Britain and France to wage war with Australia and Australasia.

Regardless of whether Germany has the capability to do so, even if Germany does have a sufficient fleet and power, it would not antagonize Australasia over the neighboring Netherlands.

There's no need to mention Britain, France, and Russia, as they are among the Four Great Powers of the Allies with Australasia, and naturally have a much better relationship with Australasia than the Netherlands, which is outside the Allies.

Although the Netherlands is a European nation, it provides no assistance in war, even its relationship with Germany is better.

In such a situation, Britain, France, and Russia would naturally not offend Australasia for the sake of the Netherlands, they would even support Australasia's expansion in exchange for more support from Australasia to Europe.

There are two more Powers in Europe, but they are even less likely to help the Netherlands against Australasia.

As for the other Power outside Europe, the United States, although the US has the power to confront Australasia individually, Australasia is a member of the Allies, and the Four Great Powers of the Allies have mutual assistance agreements. The United States will not go to war with the Allies just for the sake of the Netherlands.

Therefore, after the Dutch made strenuous efforts to seek help, they found that there was no country willing to help them, not even the slightest aid.

Arthur didn't care about all this; on December 7, 1915, the attack of Australasia officially began.

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Before the war, Australasia had already expelled the Dutch ambassador and declared a state of war with the Netherlands.

The entire mopping-up plan was divided into two paths. The west route included the First Division and a Colonial Division, totaling 36,000 troops, crossing the royal territory to the west and directly landing on Java Island, the core of the Dutch East Indies.

The east route was from the New Guinea area controlled by Australasia, heading west, occupying the entire New Guinea Island, and then taking over the islands of the Banda Sea and the Suvilasi Sea one after another.

The entire Dutch East Indies has as many as over 40 million indigenous people, making it extremely difficult to govern. Therefore, Arthur's initial goal was not to completely annex this land, but to replace important strategic areas to annex, and other areas could be indirectly controlled.

Especially the core of the Dutch East Indies, Java Island. This area of Java Island is the most populous region in the Dutch East Indies, a status quo that persisted to later generations.

Even in later generations, there were only about 200 million people in Indonesia as a whole, but a small island of Java carried around 150 million, which is no less exaggerated.

According to the current population ratio, Java Island is home to at least 20 million indigenous people. The population is larger than the total population of Australasia, but the total area is less than 140,000 square kilometers, with a population density far exceeding Australasia.

It is very difficult to manage such an area, let alone the fact that it has a large number of ethnic groups, various types of religions, and different languages and cultures, making assimilation very difficult.

The Dutch have controlled this land for hundreds of years and still cannot assimilate these indigenous people.

Although there are issues of population scale, the difficulty of assimilating the indigenous people in the Dutch East Indies is far from ordinary.

In addition to the nearly 20 million indigenous people on Java Island, the other three major islands in the Dutch East Indies, Sumatra Island has nearly 8 million people, Sulawesi Island 5 million people, and Kalimantan Island 2 million people, making it one of the most diversity-rich areas of indigenous distribution.

Compared to the whole of New Guinea, which has less than 4 million indigenous people in its 786,000 square kilometers, the distribution of indigenous people in these areas is too widespread, and the base number of indigenous people is too large to be suitable for rule.

Of course, in addition to administrative control, control over these areas can also be achieved economically.

At present, these indigenous people are not useless, at least during wartime, they are qualified cannon fodder.

And both World War I and World War II required a lot of cannon fodder to fill in, the indigenous people of the Dutch East Indies are very suitable.

The war of Australasia implemented the guidelines set by Arthur, preferring to spend more funds than causing more casualties.

First of all, the fleet bombed Java Island and Dutch New Guinea, which are controlled by the Netherlands. They bombed the coastal defenses and cities of these areas, and then it was the turn of the army to launch a landing operation.

While carrying out the landing on Java Island, Australasia also deployed hundreds of airplanes to continue bombing Java Island and Batavia, causing the Dutch army to be exhausted from dodging bombs, giving them no chance to launch an attack on the landing Australasia army.

While the fleet and aircraft were taking turns to bomb, led by the Colonial Division, the army quickly successfully landed on Java Island and launched an attack on several major cities on Java Island.

The largest city on Java Island is Batavia, which later became Jakarta. This is the capital of the Dutch East Indies and the location of the entire Dutch East Indies colonial government.

The primary goal of the western army is to quickly occupy Batavia, control the Dutch East Indies colonial government, and achieve the goal of capturing the king first in order to win a quick battle.