Chapter 296 Batavia Peace Talks (please vote for me!) On
July 4, 1911, the Australasian government formally and unilaterally notified the Dutch East Indies colonial government and the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands behind it, demanding that the Dutch East Indies colonial government To explain the numerous Aboriginal attacks on businessmen affiliated with the Australasian Wang Consortium within its territory.
The attitude of this notice is unexpectedly strong, and the Australasian government also specifically stated that if there is no response from the Dutch East Indies government within 48 hours, the Australasian government will take necessary military actions to protect Australia. The safety of the lives of the citizens of Greater Latin America.
Although it seems that 48 hours of response time are given, in fact, communication between the two levels of government in mainland Europe from Southeast Asia to the Netherlands takes up more than half of the time.
This also means that the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands behind the Dutch East Indies only has less than a day to make a decision.
Just in case, on July 4, the day the Australasian government issued a notice to the Dutch East Indies and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Arthur called George V and William II in a private name to indicate that Australasia West Asia's original intention was only to protect the safety of its citizens, and it promised George V that it would use Borneo and Java as the dividing line and would not involve conflicts in 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 it is also the most developed and 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 eastern region will not be so important. Even if Australasia is completely annexed, the reaction of the great powers will not be so drastic if they are taken care of in advance.
Of course, Arthur was not that 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 flesh from the Dutch East Indies. The Dutch should understand who should be in charge of this area.
As for why the guarantee was given to George V alone, it was because the British Empire had the greatest influence in Southeast Asia. Even the German Empire, the second largest power in the world, did not have enough influence in this region.
As long as it has the approval of the British, Australasia's actions will not encounter opposition from other countries.
When the Royal Dutch Government received the news, it was already the evening of July 4th.
The Dutch government held an emergency meeting for this purpose. Of course, the cabinet government had no good solution and could only hand over the decision-making power to the then Dutch Prime Minister Jan Himskirk.
Jan Himskerk, then Prime Minister of the Netherlands, was the leader of the Counter-Revolutionary Party, one of the three major parties in the Netherlands.
In addition, the Dutch monarch's power is not high, and it is a true constitutional monarchy.
This also leads to the fact that the Dutch Prime Minister has the most powerful power in the Dutch government, and the Prime Minister also has the final decision-making power on such events.
After a night of careful thinking, Dutch Prime Minister Jane decided to seek help from major foreign powers. The main targets were Germany and the United Kingdom, which had always had good relations with the United Kingdom.
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 is relatively clear. British Foreign Minister Gray clearly expressed his rejection, claiming that such conflicts were unilateral between Australasia and the Netherlands, and the British Empire would not favor any party.
But the problem is that Australasia's current army and navy strength has completely surpassed that of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The navy has three dreadnoughts, which directly crushed the Dutch navy.
Not providing any help to the Netherlands was actually sitting back and watching Australasia invade and occupy the Dutch East Indies. In other words, the British attitude was to tacitly support Australasia's actions.
After hitting a wall with Britain and Germany, the Dutch government has understood the attitude of European powers.
No matter who is responsible for 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 will have no effect on the huge military gap between Australasia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. At most, it will mean that the military compensation can be reduced.
On July 5, after a series of inner struggles, the Dutch government called Australasia and expressed its willingness to sit at the negotiating table and resolve the current problems through peaceful means.
What makes the Dutch bow their heads is not only the attitude of the European powers, but also the growing military gap between Australasia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The distance between the mainland of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies also meant that the navy played 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 combined are no match for the Australasian Navy. This also indirectly reduced the victory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in this conflict to zero.
Not to mention anything else, the three dreadnoughts in Australasia alone gave the Kingdom of the Netherlands no possibility of victory in the navy.
What's more, Australasia also has two battlecruisers that have been completed and are undergoing sea navigation tests. With five main battleships added together, this military gap is enough to make the Dutch give up.
What Arthur didn't expect was that the Dutch compromise would be so decisive, so decisive that Arthur and most people in the government didn't expect it.
I originally thought that a war was going to break out with the Dutch East Indies, but I didn't expect that the Kingdom of the Netherlands was timid and surrendered without a fight.
At Arthur's suggestion, the Australasian government agreed to the request of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and asked the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to send representatives to hold peace talks in Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies.
Although giving in directly will cause the government to lose most of its prestige, it currently seems to be the best way for the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
If a war breaks out with Australasia, the navy of the Dutch East Indies will never be Australasia's opponent.
Without the help of the navy, the army will only be defeated one by one.
If the military strength of the Dutch East Indies was completely wiped out by Australasia, even if Australasia did not occupy the Dutch East Indies, the tens of millions of indigenous people in the territory would be enough to directly destroy the entire colonial government of the Dutch East Indies.
At least the peace talks can reduce the Netherlands' losses a little. Dutch Prime Minister Jane did not believe that Australasia had the appetite to swallow up the entire Dutch East Indies.
Even if Australasia does have such an idea, the great powers will probably stop it.
After all, a little quarrel is nothing. For the sake of good relations, the great powers will turn a blind eye.
But if Australasia annexes the entire Dutch East Indies, Australasia's potential and comprehensive strength will increase by one step, and its influence in Southeast Asia will also be greatly improved.
Being able to affect the status of the great powers in Southeast Asia and even East Asia is something that all great powers do not want to see. Therefore, the Dutch Prime Minister is confident that even if there is a peace negotiation, the Netherlands will not suffer too much loss, and at least it can resolve this dispute in a way that will not break the bones.
As for the future, it doesn’t have much to do with Jane Himskirk anyway. According to the normal term of office of the Dutch Prime Minister, Jane's term will end in 1913, and this will also be his last term as Prime Minister.
Yes, Jan Himskerk has served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands intermittently for three terms since he first became Prime Minister of the Netherlands in 1874.
Judging from the current age of Jane Himskirk, after this term as Prime Minister, he has almost reached the end of his political career, and it is unlikely that he will become Prime Minister again.
In this case, there is no need to take the blame for the Prime Minister later, right? Let’s leave the big issue of Australasia to the future Dutch government. Now we can naturally muddle along.
After thinking about this, Jane Himskirk felt much better and could even play tricks with her secretary.
On August 17, 1911, peace talks between the Dutch government and the Australasian government were officially held in Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies.
The people responsible for the peace talks were several ministers of the Dutch government and the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. After all, this was a peace talk that was humiliating and humiliating the country. Therefore, as the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Jan Himskerk 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 maybe this peace negotiation will be recalled by many Dutch people and will be regarded as the main culprit for the loss of the Dutch East Indies. Culprit and origin.
At that time, wouldn’t the Dutch government officials participating in the peace talks become the target of public criticism?
As an old fox in politics, Jane Himskirk naturally wants to avoid such a situation.
After all, having been an official for decades, Himskirk did not want his final political career to be tainted, so that all his political achievements and his entire political career would be completely negated.
In addition to the Netherlands and Australasia, the peace delegation also included the British ambassador and the German ambassador as neutral witnesses.
Britain is the country with the most influence in Southeast Asia, and Germany is the country with the best relations with the Netherlands. It is natural for it to be invited as a neutral witness for this peace talk.
Of course, there are actually other influential powers 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, the French have strengthened their awareness of defense against Germany since the last Moroccan crisis, and their attention has been focused on strengthening domestic military equipment.
As for the United States, although its economy and industry are already among the top powers, established powers like the United Kingdom and France still look down on the appearance of upstarts like the United States.
Even the German Empire, which had only been unified for a few decades, looked down upon the United States, a foreign upstart.
This also leads to the fact that although the economic and industrial strength of the United States is already very strong, it does not have much say in the international arena, which is slightly higher than that of countries like island countries.
Of course, a large part of the reason for this is the 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 affairs, apart from homeland self-defense, we do not participate in other international military disputes.
Economically, various policies have been promulgated to limit economic exchanges with foreign countries as much as possible.
This has also led to the fact that although the United States has developed very powerfully, European countries still have prejudices against the United States. They believe that the United States is just an upstart, and it is far behind the European powers in terms of foundation and strength.
Of course, this statement is actually correct in some aspects. At least in terms of relatively advanced and top-notch technology industries, the United States is still no match for the current European countries.
The reason why the United States rose rapidly in later history is because the United States attracted a large number of European talents during the two world wars, which made up for the lack of top-notch 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 it did historically, it depends on whether Arthur and Australasia agree.
August 17, Batavia.
The peace talks were officially held, and those participating in the peace talks in Australasia were Foreign Minister Andrew and Minister of State Kent.
As soon as he came up, Minister Andrew made very demanding demands, asking the Dutch East Indies colonial government to hand over all the culprits involved in the attack on Australasian merchants, and to cede all islands east of Bali and south of the Banda Sea. .
In addition, Australasia also enjoys co-management rights on the island of New Guinea, forming West New Guinea, which is jointly managed by the Dutch government and the Australasian government.
The other 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 compensation of 10 million pounds and agree to all the conditions of the Australasian government above to perfectly and properly resolve the dispute between the two countries.
Although the peace talks were originally about asking for a high price and then slowly bargaining, the high price of Australasia still made the governor of the Dutch East Indies somewhat intolerable.
Bali is a large island in the east of Java, very close to Java. Once all the islands east of Bali are ceded, this also means that Australasia's power is very close to Java, the core of the Dutch East Indies.
Although New Guinea has been occupied by Australasia and Germany in the east, the Netherlands still controls hundreds of thousands of square kilometers in the west.
Combined with an indemnity of £10 million, this was enough to build four dreadnoughts. If the Dutch were willing to spend such a price, they would have built their own dreadnoughts, right? Is there any need to compromise with Australasia so humbly?
Immediately afterwards, the Netherlands also put forward its own conditions.
The Dutch government is willing to apologize to the Australasian government for this matter and provide humanitarian compensation of 100,000 pounds.
In addition, the Dutch government is also willing to work with the Australasian government to investigate and uncover the real culprits behind the attacks on Australasian businessmen, and hand them over to the Australasian government.
These were all the conditions of the Dutch. No land compensation was involved, and the capital was only one hundred thousand pounds.
Starting tomorrow, monthly tickets will be doubled. Please vote, brothers!
Today, the daily number is 10,000, and it has been updated to 4100/10000. Please vote for me!
(End of chapter)