Chapter 434 Sydney Peace Talks

While France and Germany were once again engaging in fierce fighting over the Verdun region, in distant Australasia, peace talks between the Netherlands and Australasia also officially began.

Since December 15 last year, the Netherlands and Australasia have entered a temporary state of peace.

Both sides carried out military management of the areas they occupied, and the time for peace talks was set for February 3, more than a month later.

In fact, this is easy to understand. Although the Netherlands is also a monarchy, the power of the Dutch monarch has been greatly weakened decades ago. Currently, the power of the Dutch monarch, Queen Wilhelmina, is very small, and the power of the government has been Party manipulation.

The Dutch government not only needs time to reach a unified opinion, but also needs time to come to Australasia in person to participate in the peace talks.

The location of the peace talks was set in Sydney, and Australasia's goal was very clear, which was to win the peace talks at home.

February 3, 1916, Sydney, Australasia.

Peace talks between the Netherlands and Australasia officially began. Participants in the peace talks were Dutch Foreign Minister Vittor, Ambassador Reno to Australasia and a series of government officials.

Australasia also sent a luxurious lineup of Foreign Minister Dazer, Defense Minister Raul and some officials.

At present, the entire Dutch East Indies is basically occupied by Australasia. How to divide the land in the Dutch East Indies is also the most important issue in this peace negotiation.

Foreign Minister Dazer first proposed Australasia's request to divide the entire Dutch East Indies from north to south using the Sulawesi Sea, Makassar Strait, and Bali Sea as dividing lines.

The islands of Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan to the west were administered by the Dutch East Indies, while New Guinea, Sulawesi and their affiliated islands to the east were administered by Australasia.

In addition to this, Australasia claims Bali, the Kangeran Islands and all the islands between Sumatra and Kalimantan.

These islands can bring Australasia extremely close to the Strait of Malacca, and can also become a nail in the Dutch East Indies, controlling the entire Dutch East Indies through the Java Sea, the middle sea between Sumatra, Kalimantan and Java. .

It can be seen from the map that these three islands are distributed in a triangle, with the Java Sea and many islands in the middle.

If we can control the entire Java Sea through these islands, we can control the traffic between the three islands of the Dutch East Indies in disguise.

In fact, this is the result of careful consideration by the Australasian government. East India still retains the three core territories of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Java. These three islands together have nearly 30 million indigenous people, which is also a blessing in misfortune for the Dutch government.

At the same time, after the territorial scope of the Dutch East Indies was streamlined, the Dutch could better control these three islands and create higher value for the Netherlands.

Australasia was able to expand its sphere of influence again through the newly acquired territories and acquire the entire islands of New Guinea and Sulawesi.

Including these affiliated islands, it is basically livable land, rich in water resources, and strategically important.

Moreover, the total indigenous population of some occupied lands is only about 10 million, so it is not too troublesome to continue to use them or to expel them.

In addition to territorial demands, Australasia also demanded an indemnity of at least £100 million and a treaty that would open ports to Australasia in the Dutch East Indies.

Although it is not planned to annex so much territory at once, it is still necessary to control the Dutch East Indies as much as possible and expand Australasia's sphere of influence to Southeast Asia and the Strait of Malacca.

Needless to say, the importance of the Strait of Malacca goes without saying. It is an important link connecting East Asia and South Asia, and even the route from Europe to East Asia.

In later generations, when oil resources from the Persian Gulf were transported to East Asia, they generally used the Strait of Malacca.

Therefore, the Strait of Malacca is also known as the oil valve of East Asia and the maritime lifeline of East Asia.

This strait is the closest passage from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, and is also the only way from East Asia to Europe.

However, the British also regarded the Strait of Malacca as very important, and even established the Straits Settlements to manage these ports and nearby colonies for the three more important ports nearby.

If you want to obtain the Straits Settlements from the British, you must do so at a moment of extreme crisis for the British Empire.

Judging from the current situation, the opportunity to acquire the Straits Settlements is not now, but will have to wait until World War II decades later.

But planning in advance is also necessary at present, and it can also expand Australasia's sphere of influence and block the resource channels for the development of island countries.

You know, the island country is a country extremely short of resources. The population size of this country is not large, and even far exceeds that of some powerful countries.

However, because the island country has a small land area and is composed of a large number of islands, it is not rich in mineral resources.

Whether it is various mineral resources or oil, which has become increasingly important, most of the needs of island countries are imported, and they are imported from East Asia and even overseas.

If we can control the Strait of Malacca, and wait until the island country and Australasia turn against each other, Australasia will be able to cut off the resource trade between the island country and Europe or other regions through the Strait of Malacca.

The waters from Southeast Asia to Antarctica will all be controlled by Australasia. If the people of the island country want to communicate with the outside world, they can only go through the more distant Pacific Ocean.

As a result, not only will the time required for the route increase significantly, but the cost of imported materials will also increase a lot.

Australasia can easily achieve what Arthur planned and contain the enemy's development.

Although the Dutch knew that the situation in the Dutch East Indies was over, this did not prevent them from bargaining wildly in the peace talks in an attempt to retain Sulawesi and the islands in the Java Sea.

But Australasia's ambitions cannot be stopped by a small Netherlands. The Dutch army cannot stop Australasia's actions on the battlefield, and it is even more hopeless in peace talks.

The peace talks were deadlocked for three or four days, but Australasia held a firm view that all the territory it requested must be obtained, but the compensation could be reduced from 100 million pounds to 70 million pounds.

Seeing that there was no room to recover the losses in terms of territory, the two important representatives of the Netherlands looked at each other and could only agree to Australasia's request with great pain.

There is no other way. Agreeing to the request is already the best result for the Netherlands.

If it agrees to the request, the Netherlands can at least keep the three large islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Java. With Java, it is equivalent to the Netherlands still owning most of the Dutch East Indies.

But if you don't agree to Australasia's request, not only will other lands still be under Australasia's control, but even these three more important islands are currently mostly occupied by Australasians.

None or half, no matter how stupid the Dutch are, they still know how to choose.

Of course, the Netherlands does nominally still control Sulawesi, Kalimantan and Java, but the Java Sea between these three islands is about to fall under the control of Australasia.

This also means that the Dutch rule over these three islands will depend on the Australasians.

If Australasia agreed, the Netherlands would be in charge of this colony. If Australasia did not agree, there would not even be a need for a war, just blockade the three islands separately, and the Dutch East Indies colonies would surrender without a fight.

After the land was negotiated, the two sides struggled for half a month over the price and specific peace treaty.

Finally, on February 25, 1916, Australasia and the Netherlands formally signed peace talks to end the war.

Because the peace treaty was signed in Sydney, this treaty was also publicly declared as the "Sydney Treaty" by the Netherlands and Australasia.

The Treaty of Sydney stipulated that the Dutch government and the Dutch East Indies colonies would cede all islands except Sulawesi, Kalimantan and Java to Australasia, and Australasia would have the right to use the Dutch East Indies. All ports in India.

The colonial government of the Dutch East Indies shall not carry out any propaganda against the rule of Australasia within its jurisdiction, nor shall it engage in any act that would endanger the rule of Australasia.

Australasia has the right of first refusal to purchase all resources in the Dutch East Indies, and the Netherlands is not allowed to hinder the export of Australasian goods in the Dutch East Indies.

Then in terms of funds, the Netherlands paid a total of 56.25 million pounds in compensation to Australasia, which was paid in fifteen years, with an annual compensation of 3.75 million pounds.

Once a delay occurs, the daily interest is 1% of the deferred compensation.

This also means that even if the compensation is only deferred for one year, the daily interest will be as high as 37,500 pounds, which is definitely not a small amount.

The annual compensation of 3.75 million pounds may not seem like much, but it is equivalent to a super-dreadnought. Even if it is only used for naval expansion, it will be enough to build the Australasian navy into one of the top three navies in the world within 15 years.

And this compensation is definitely not much for the current Netherlands. The more than 30 million indigenous people in those three islands alone can bring millions of pounds of income to the Dutch government every year, which is still an extremely conservative estimate.

If these natives are squeezed desperately, the value these natives can exert will be even higher.

Apart from anything else, the Dutch government's annual income in the Dutch East Indies definitely exceeds this compensation. Even after paying off the compensation, they still have a large amount of funds for domestic construction.

After the Sydney contract was signed, all terms were quickly implemented.

According to discussions between the Dutch and Australasian governments, the Australasian military will officially withdraw from Sumatra, Kalimantan and Java starting from March 1, and return these three large islands to the Netherlands. The colonial government of East India.

After the contract was made public, it caused cheers in Australasia.

Under Arthur's vigorous cultivation, Australasians still have a high sense of national pride and national identity. The expansion of the country's territory is also a good thing for all Australasians.

What's more, there is a compensation of more than 50 million pounds. Australasians are proud to believe that Arthur has properly used this compensation to build Australasia stronger and improve the lives of all Australasians. Become more secure.

Beginning in March 1916, many celebrations were held across Australasia to celebrate the signing of the Sydney Contract.

Australasia can be described as a sea of ​​cheers, but the situation in Europe, tens of thousands of kilometers away, is not so good at this time.

The fighting in the Verdun area became tense again by the end of the month.

In order to hold off the French and minimize the number of British and French troops launching campaigns in the Somme area, the Germans had to continue to organize a large-scale offensive in Verdun.

In order to allow the Germans to withdraw their troops from the Verdun area and Eastern Europe, and also to prevent France from losing this important fortress and strengthen the French people's belief in fighting Germany, they also decided to launch a large-scale battle in the Verdun area to fight back. German attack.

Although Britain, France and Germany had different starting points, their purpose was the same, which was to gain an advantage in the Verdun area, preferably to defeat or repel the enemy.

With this idea from both sides, Germany launched another fierce attack on the west bank of the Maas River, trying to seize important strongholds on the west bank as soon as possible and make a breakthrough in this battle.

Of course, it's not just the West Coast offensive. The German army also launched an attack on the east coast. Douaumont and Fogus were still the main targets of the east coast attack.

After entering March, the German army quickly organized assault troops to conduct assaults on the east and west coasts.

The French army also put up a desperate resistance and tried to delay the German attack.

Because the French General Staff has strengthened the troops and firepower in the defensive areas, the defenses in various areas of Verdun were still very stable in a short period of time. This can also see counterattacks by the French army in many areas. Many positions occupied by the Germans were retaken.

The French and German armies engaged in a very long tug-of-war in the Verdun area, and every position was a target that the armies of both sides fought for with their lives.

According to the records of the armies of both sides, it is exaggerated that the position was contested more than ten times in one day, the flags on the position were changed more than ten times, and countless soldiers died on the position.

Even after a certain soldier occupied the position, he just finished planting the flag and wanted to deploy defense. The enemy organized a counterattack and was repulsed, and the position fell back into the enemy's hands.

Such tug-of-war was staged in multiple fortresses and positions in the Verdun area. Conquering a position required the sacrifice of hundreds or thousands of soldiers, and holding a position also required the sacrifice of many soldiers.

For some highlands and forts, the French army even suffered up to 20,000 casualties in one day.

However, the casualties of 20,000 people are not many compared to the total casualties of the war so far. However, if calculated based on the casualties of 20,000 people in a single day, the casualties in a year will be as high as more than 7 million, which is enough You can see how exaggerated this number of casualties is.

Today's chapter, I went out and didn't come back until after ten o'clock, I was rushing to finish the manuscript. Two updates tomorrow!