Chapter 362: The True Overlord of the Pacific

For the Australasians, 1913 was definitely a year of surprise.

In addition to Arthur's announcement of naval expansion, Australasia also accepted many Pacific colonies of the great powers in this year.

Yes, in the last month of 1913, Australasia once again started to accept the Pacific colonies of Britain and France.

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

For this colonial handover, Arthur specially prepared an entire division to go to the Pacific islands and sent the navy to patrol this sea area.

On December 11, 1913, Australasia announced that British Fiji, which was taken over from Britain, would be renamed the Australian Fiji Colony, and the Governor was Georges Valerianos.

The land area of ​​Australian Fiji is as high as more than 18,300 square kilometers, and it is a region composed of hundreds of islands and archipelagos.

Like the Solomon Islands, although the population is as high as 150,000, the core European immigrants are only about 20,000, and the rest are local indigenous people.

The most important thing for these newly accepted colonies in Australasia is stability.

Therefore, before 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 standards of Australian Fiji are similar to those of the Solomon Islands, both of which have a garrison of 1,000 people and state-level administrative divisions.

Although the combined land area of ​​these colonies in the Pacific is not as large as that of a state in Australasia, most of the population is only more than 100,000.

However, these colonies are relatively scattered and not suitable for unified management. Breaking them up into several large and small colonies can not only ease the pressure of colonial management, but also improve the government's control over individual colonies.

Australian Fiji is just the beginning. A few days later, the French also began to act.

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

The land area of ​​French New Caledonia is not much different from that of Fiji, as high as 18,575 square kilometers.

But the population of this area is much smaller. Counting all the indigenous population, the total population of French New Caledonia will not exceed 100,000.

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

The New Hebrides Islands, with a land area of ​​about 12,200 square kilometers and a population of only about 70,000.

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 that they would jointly manage this area.

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

You know, these colonies in the Pacific are far away from the British and French mainland, 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 was not painful for Britain and France. After all, Britain and France had colonies in Southeast Asia, and the British also had a large colony in India. Naturally, they looked down on these small islands in the Pacific with a population of only more than 100,000.

Therefore, the transfer of these colonies seemed to be a loss of land for Britain and France, but in fact, it was also an opportunity for Britain and France to reduce the burden on the government.

Because the New Hebrides and French New Caledonia are relatively close, the Australian government decided to merge the two colonies to form Australian New Caledonia after research.

After the merger, the population of the new Australian New Caledonia will reach more than 100,000, which is 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 an island defense chain starting from the north of Australasia and surrounding the southeast.

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

The west and south of Australasia without an island defense chain are the cold Antarctic, where it is basically impossible for enemies to attack. The other is the vast Indian Ocean, which is currently controlled by Australasia's allies Britain and France, and there is no threat for the time being.

This also means that Australasia's security is currently very stable. As long as these colonies are managed well, even if there are powerful foreign enemies, they can be completely defended.

Perhaps Britain and France have already discussed and intend to take all the colonies in the Pacific at once.

Before 1914, Australasia successfully took over French Polynesia, the British Phoenix Islands, the British Tokelau Islands, the British Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate, the British Tonga Protectorate, the British Cook Islands, the British Kermadec Islands, the British Pitcairn Islands and other colonies, and successfully expanded its sphere of influence to most of the Pacific Ocean.

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

Of course, this also gave rise to a very serious problem. After Britain and France are gone from the Pacific region, Australasia will face a direct collision with the United States.

This also means that the United States will be Australasia's biggest enemy, both now and in the future.

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

And if Australasia wants to maintain its position of Pacific hegemony, it will have to directly confront the United States and become an enemy of the United States.

In this way, Arthur understands why Britain and France are so eager to get rid of their colonies.

Instead of keeping a few useless 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 Allied alliance 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 natural for Australia and the United States to become enemies.

This was a conspiracy by Britain and France, but now that things have come to this, Arthur has no choice but to go in.

Australasia has successfully accepted the extensive colonies of Britain and France in the Pacific region, and Arthur cannot possibly give up these areas.

Fortunately, the 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, so Australasia is fully capable of dealing with it.

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

With German New Guinea and German Samoyed as the dividing line, to the north is the Australian West Pacific Territory, with Tarawa in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands as its capital.

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

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

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

The governors of the colonies and territories were directly appointed by Arthur, which was 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 was obviously more reliable.

Of course, although the highest leaders were also directly appointed by Arthur, there were many differences between the colonies and territories.

The colonies belonged to the country, but the monarch had the right to appoint officials, jurisdiction and the right to mobilize the army.

But the territory belonged directly to the monarch in legal terms, and could be completely free from government control and only accountable to Arthur.

Of course, as the location of the capital of the kingdom, the status of the capital territory was quite special. The capital territory was between the territory and the state, and the main officials were directly appointed by Arthur, but they were also subject to the control of the cabinet government.

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

The national defense deployment in Australasia can be roughly divided into four regions. The Australian region, which is mainly based on the core mainland of Australasia, established the Australian Theater of Operations, with its headquarters in Sydney.

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

The Pacific Theater of Operations, which was later composed of major Pacific colonies and archipelagos, was stationed in Suva, Fiji.

The main purpose of the theaters of operation in Australia and New Zealand is to guard the country and maintain domestic security.

The role of the Southeast Asia Theater of Operations and the Pacific Theater of Operations is to guard against the island countries in the north of Australasia and the United States across the Pacific.

When the scale of Australasia's maritime power 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, the garrisons and fleets will be stationed accordingly.

After all, as long as the outer archipelagos can be defended, New Zealand will basically have no risks.

After all, the Australian theater is located on the east coast of the Indian Ocean. In addition, it is the core area of ​​the country, so the army and navy are stationed there.

Moreover, Australia's vast land area means that there will definitely be a lot of troops stationed in this area.

The Southeast Asia and Pacific theaters are important parts of the Greater Latasia military deployment. If nothing unexpected happens, the two theaters will focus on deploying the air force and navy, as well as building a coastal defense system.

The first update of 3,000 words, please vote for me, please support me!

Today's daily update is 10,000, and 3,000/10,000 have been updated. Please vote for me, please support me!