Chapter 296: Batavia Peace Talks (Ask for Monthly Votes!)

On July 4, 1911, the Australasian government formally notified the Dutch East Indies colonial government and the Dutch Kingdom government behind it, demanding that the Dutch East Indies colonial government explain the multiple attacks by indigenous people on merchants under the Australasian Wang Group in its territory.

The attitude of this notice was unexpectedly strong, and the Australasian government also specifically stated that if the Dutch East Indies government did not respond within 48 hours, the Australasian government would take necessary military action to protect the lives of Australasian citizens.

Although it seems that 48 hours of response time was given, in fact, the time for communication and communication between the two levels of government from Southeast Asia to the European mainland of the Netherlands accounted for more than half.

This also means that the Dutch Kingdom government behind the Dutch East Indies had less than a day to make a decision.

Just in case, on July 4, the day when the Australasia government issued a notice to the Dutch East Indies and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Arthur privately called George V and William II, stating that Australasia's original intention was only to protect the safety of citizens, and promised George V that Borneo and Java would be used as the dividing line, and the conflict would not be involved in the areas west of the dividing line.

The division between Borneo and Java is of great significance. Java is the essence of the Dutch East Indies and the most developed area with the largest number of Dutch colonists.

Borneo is the largest island in the Dutch East Indies and is also close to the important Malacca route.

If these two islands are used as the dividing line, the importance of the eastern area will not be so high. Even if Australasia is completely annexed, the reaction of the great powers will not be so intense if it is arranged in advance.

Of course, Arthur is not so radical. Even if the Dutch did give Arthur an excuse this time, Arthur did not intend to annex all the places east of the dividing line.

However, it is necessary to cut a piece of meat from the Dutch East Indies, and let the Dutch understand who should be the master of this region.

As for why George V was promised alone, it was because the British Empire had the greatest influence in Southeast Asia. Even the German Empire, which was the second most powerful country in the world, did not have much influence in this region.

As long as the British approved, the actions of Australasia would not be opposed by other countries.

When the Dutch government received the news, it was already the evening of July 4.

The Dutch government held an emergency meeting for this. Of course, the cabinet government had no good solution and could only hand over the decision to the then Dutch Prime Minister Jan Heemskerk.

Jan Heemskerk, the then Prime Minister of the Netherlands, was one of the three major parties in the Netherlands and the leader of the Counter-Revolutionary Party.

In addition, the monarchy of the Netherlands did not have high power and was a veritable constitutional monarchy.

This also led to the fact that the power of the Dutch Prime Minister was the largest in the Dutch government, and the Prime Minister also had the final say on such events.

After a night of careful consideration, Dutch Prime Minister Jan decided to seek help from major foreign powers, with the main targets being Germany and Britain, which had always had good relations with Britain.

But what the Dutch government did not expect was that the German government's attitude was unpredictable. It neither rejected the Dutch proposal nor had any intention of helping the Dutch.

The attitude of the British Empire was relatively clear. British Foreign Minister Grey clearly expressed his refusal, claiming that such a conflict was unilateral between Australasia and the Netherlands, and the British Empire would not favor either party.

But the problem is that Australasia's current land and naval strength has surpassed the Kingdom of the Netherlands in all aspects. The navy has three dreadnoughts, which directly crushes the Dutch navy.

Not providing any help to the Netherlands is actually watching Australasia invade the Dutch East Indies. In other words, Britain's attitude is to tacitly support Australasia's actions.

After hitting a wall with Britain and Germany, the Dutch government has understood the attitude of the European powers.

No matter who is right in this matter, no country will support the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Of course, perhaps Germany will rely on its good relationship with the Kingdom of the Netherlands to support part of the funds of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

But this has no effect on the huge military gap between Australasia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. At most, it can reduce the military compensation.

On July 5, after a series of internal struggles, the Dutch government called Australasia and expressed its willingness to sit at the negotiation table to solve the current problems in a peaceful way.

What made the Dutch bow their heads, in addition to the attitude of the European powers, was the growing military gap between Australasia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is very far away from the Dutch East Indies, which also means that the navy plays a vital role in the conflict between the Netherlands and Australasia.

But the problem is that all the navies of the Kingdom of the Netherlands are no match for the Australasia Navy, which indirectly makes the victory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in this conflict zero.

Apart from anything else, the three dreadnoughts of Australasia alone make it impossible for the Kingdom of the Netherlands to win in the navy.

What's more, Australasia also has two battlecruisers that have been built and are undergoing naval testing. The five main battleships together are enough to make the Dutch give up.

What Arthur didn't expect was that the Dutch would compromise so decisively, so decisive that Arthur and most people in the government were surprised.

Originally, I thought that a war would break out between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies, but I didn't expect that the Kingdom of the Netherlands would be afraid before the war and surrender directly.

At Arthur's suggestion, the Australasian government agreed to the request of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and asked the Kingdom of the Netherlands to send representatives to hold peace talks in Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies.

Although directly admitting defeat will cause the government to lose most of its prestige, it is indeed the best way for the Kingdom of the Netherlands government at present.

If a war breaks out with Australasia, the navy of the Dutch East Indies will definitely not be the opponent of Australasia.

Without the help of the navy, the army will only be defeated one by one.

If the military strength of the Dutch East Indies is completely eliminated by Australasia, even if Australasia does not occupy the Dutch East Indies, the tens of millions of natives in the country will be enough to directly destroy the entire Dutch East Indies colonial government.

At least the peace talks can reduce the losses of the Netherlands. Dutch Prime Minister Jan does not believe that Australasia has the appetite to swallow up the entire Dutch East Indies.

Even if Australasia does have such an idea, the great powers should have stopped it.

After all, a little bit of fighting is nothing, and for the sake of good relations, the great powers will turn a blind eye.

But if Australasia annexed the entire Dutch East Indies, Australasia's potential and comprehensive strength would rise, and its influence in Southeast Asia would also be greatly enhanced.

It would affect the status of the great powers in Southeast Asia and even East Asia, which all the great powers do not want to see.

Therefore, the Dutch Prime Minister is confident that even if there is a peace talk, the Netherlands will not suffer too much loss, at least it can solve this dispute in a way that will not hurt the bones.

As for future events, it has nothing to do with Jan Himskerk anyway. According to the normal term of office of the Dutch Prime Minister, Jan's term will end in 1913, which will also be his last term as Prime Minister.

Yes, Jan Himskerk has served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands for three terms intermittently since he first served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands in 1874.

According to Jan Himskerk's current age, after this term as prime minister, he has almost reached the end of his political career, and the possibility of becoming prime minister again is not great.

In this case, there is no need to take the blame for the next prime minister, right? Just leave the big issue of Australasia to the future Dutch government, and now it is natural to muddle through.

After understanding this, Jan Himskerk's mood has improved a lot, and he can even play some tricks with his secretary.

On August 17, 1911, the peace talks between the Dutch government and the Australasia government were officially held in Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies.

The people in charge of the peace talks were several ministers of the Dutch government and the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. After all, this was a humiliating peace talk, so Jan Himskerk, as the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, naturally did not want to participate.

No one can guarantee how the situation in Southeast Asia will develop in the future. If the Netherlands loses the Dutch East Indies in the future, then perhaps this peace talk will be recalled by many Dutch people and regarded as the culprit and origin of the loss of the Dutch East Indies.

At that time, wouldn't the Dutch government officials who participated in this peace talk become the target of public criticism?

As a veteran in the political arena, Jan Himskerk naturally wants to avoid such a situation.

After all, he has been an official for decades, and Himskerk is unwilling to have his last political career tainted, so that all his political achievements and his entire political career will be completely denied.

In addition to the Netherlands and Australasia, the British and German ambassadors who participated in this peace group as neutral witnesses also participated.

Britain is the most influential country in Southeast Asia, and Germany is the country with the best relations with the Netherlands. It is natural that they were invited to be neutral witnesses of this peace talk.

Of course, there are other powers with influence in Southeast Asia, such as France, which is concentrated in the Southeast Asian peninsula, and the United States, which is entrenched in the Philippines.

But unfortunately, since the last Moroccan crisis, the French have strengthened their awareness of defense against Germany, and their attention has been focused on strengthening domestic military equipment.

Although the United States is already a top power in terms of economy and industry, old powers like Britain and France still look down on the face of an upstart like the United States.

Even the German Empire, which has only been unified for a few decades, looks down on the United States, a foreign upstart.

This also leads to the fact that although the United States' economic and industrial strength is already very strong, it does not have much say in the international arena, which is only slightly higher than countries like island countries.

Of course, a large part of the reason for this is the previous glorious isolation policy of the US government.

The so-called glorious isolation policy can actually be divided into two aspects: military and economic. In terms of military, in addition to national self-defense, it does not participate in other international military disputes.

In terms of economy, various policies are promulgated to limit economic exchanges with foreign countries as much as possible.

This also leads to the fact that although the United States has developed very powerful, European countries still have prejudices against the United States, believing that the United States is just an upstart, and whether it is foundation or strength, it is far behind the European powers.

Of course, this statement is actually correct in some aspects. At least in terms of more advanced and top-level technology industries, the United States is still no match for current European countries.

The reason why the United States rose rapidly in later history was that the United States attracted a large number of European talents during the two world wars, which made up for the lack of top technology and talents in the United States.

But now, if the United States wants to attract a large number of top talents from Europe as in history, it depends on whether Arthur and Australasia agree.

August 17, Batavia.

The peace talks were officially held. The participants from Australasia were Foreign Minister Andrew and Secretary of State Kent.

At the beginning, Minister Andrew made very harsh demands, requiring the Dutch East Indies colonial government to hand over all the culprits involved in the attack on Australasia merchants and cede all islands east of Bali and south of the Banda Sea.

In addition, Australasia also enjoys the right to co-manage the island of New Guinea, and establishes West New Guinea separately, which is jointly managed by the Dutch government and the Australasia government.

Another thing is financial compensation. In view of the good attitude of the Dutch government, Minister Andrew generously stated that the Dutch government only needs to pay 10 million pounds in compensation and agree to all the conditions of the above Australasia government to perfectly and properly resolve the dispute between the two countries.

Although the peace talks are originally about both sides asking for high prices and then slowly bargaining, the high price of Australasia still makes the Governor of the Dutch East Indies a little unbearable.

Bali is a large island east of Java Island, very close to Java Island. Once all the islands east of Bali are ceded, it also means that Australasia's power is very close to Java Island, the core of the Dutch East Indies.

Although the eastern part of New Guinea has been occupied by Australasia and Germany, the Netherlands still controls hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land in the west.

Adding 10 million pounds of compensation, this compensation is enough to build four dreadnoughts. If the Dutch were willing to spend such a price, they would have built their own dreadnoughts long ago, right? Is it necessary to compromise with Australasia so humbly?

Then, the Dutch side also put forward its own conditions.

The Dutch government is willing to apologize to the Australasian government for this incident and provide a humanitarian compensation of 100,000 pounds.

In addition, the Dutch government is also willing to work with the Australasian government to investigate and find out the real culprit behind the attack on Australasian businessmen and hand them over to the Australasian government.

These are all the conditions of the Dutch. There is no land compensation involved, and the funds are only 100,000 pounds.

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