Chapter 299: The Crazy Shipbuilding Plan
On September 11, 1911, upon Arthur's appointment, the first Governor of the Royal Territory, Hendrik, officially arrived at Flores Island to take up his post.
The Royal Territory could be divided into three parts: the Nusa Tenggara Islands, consisting of Lombok Island, Sumbawa Island, Sumba Island, Flores Island, and the Alor Islands; the Southwest Islands and Letti Islands located in the eastern part of Timor Island; and the Southeast Islands, composed of the Tanimbar Islands, Kai Islands, and Aru Islands.
The Cocos Islands and Christmas Island, located to the south of Java Island, were also under the control of Australia. This led to the formal formation of Australia's northern island defense chain, which could effectively prevent external enemies from reaching these islands, thus protecting the homeland from the ravages of war.
The small city of Engde on Flores Island was officially renamed Flores and became the capital and administrative center of the Royal Territory. Arthur planned to build a port city here, which would also become one of the naval bases for Australia.
Nearly all large islands in the Royal Territory had tens of thousands of indigenous people, but because these populations were so dispersed, managing them was quite troublesome. Arthur gave Hendrik his first order: to concentrate the indigenous people of the Royal Territory in the cities of each island to facilitate their eventual relocation.
Yes, aside from a portion of the indigenous people who would remain as laborers, Arthur did not plan to allow the rest of the indigenous population to stay on these islands. These islands would only be inhabited by Australians in the future, and the indigenous people would eventually be expelled, used either as cannon fodder or labor before being removed.
Currently, the indigenous people still had some utility for Australia, but as Australia's population grew, some jobs would be replaced by machinery. The importance of these free laborers would decrease, and aside from being used as cannon fodder, they would eventually be forced to leave and relocate to Dutch territories.
After about a week of operations, the 1st and 2nd Divisions made good progress in their offensive. After leaving Flores Island, the 1st Division moved on to Sumba Island, Sumbawa Island, and Lombok Island, easily occupying these three large islands.
In addition to these three large islands, there were also numerous smaller surrounding islands. These smaller islands were difficult to attack, taking more time than the larger ones.
The primary mission of the 1st and 2nd Divisions was to occupy and control the large islands, while the smaller islands were entrusted to the 1st and 2nd Indigenous Divisions. These divisions had been trained for a long time and it was now time for them to take action. The soldiers in the Indigenous Divisions were primarily indigenous people, and as long as the middle and senior officers were not greatly affected, the loss of the indigenous soldiers did not concern the Ministry of Defense or Arthur.
On September 15, 1911, after completing their tasks, the 1st and 2nd Divisions swapped places with the 1st and 2nd Indigenous Divisions. The 1st and 2nd Divisions returned to the Australian mainland, while the Indigenous Divisions remained to garrison the Royal Territory.
The 1st Indigenous Division would guard the western part of Flores Island, while the 2nd Indigenous Division would be spread out across the numerous islands in the east.
With the expansion of territory, Australia's military inadequacy began to show. Although Australia now had a Guards Division, four regular divisions, and two Indigenous Divisions, they were still too few to cover the vast expanse of millions of square kilometers of Australian land. Australia's core areas, Australia and New Zealand together, covered nearly 8 million square kilometers, but theoretically, only four regular divisions were stationed there.
This meant that in the event of an external war, Australia could only send the two most elite regular divisions, which together numbered 32,000 troops. While this was enough for small-scale skirmishes, it would only barely suffice for the defense of the homeland in a large-scale war.
After receiving the good news from the Ministry of Civil Affairs that Australia's population had officially exceeded 10 million in early September, Arthur made the decision to once again expand the military and at least double the number of troops to two Guards Divisions, six regular divisions, four Indigenous Divisions, and two colonial garrisons, totaling just over 220,000 troops.
This meant that Australia's army would officially exceed 200,000, nearly double the size before the expansion. Since nearly 80,000 of these troops would be indigenous soldiers, Australia's 10 million population would only need to support 120,000 soldiers, a manageable load.
Of course, the scale of the expansion wasn't entirely Arthur's decision. After several days of discussion and careful consideration with Kent and the current Minister of Defense, Raul, the decision was made. The primary reason was that Australia's military academy could train hundreds of army talents each year, and the country already had sufficient reserves of trained personnel. Therefore, expanding the army by nearly 100,000 troops would not be too difficult.
After all, with World War I on the horizon, expanding the country's military in advance had its advantages. Of course, Arthur also couldn't deny that he was somewhat envious of the Balkan League currently being formed, where small nations could field armies of 100,000 to 200,000 troops, despite having populations less than half that of Australia.
On September 26, 1911, Australia officially announced its military expansion. This news caused a great stir, and the recruitment offices in cities across Australia were almost full, with people even lining up overnight to sign up early.
Employees of the Royal Consortium, soldiers, and government officials were the three most popular professions in Australia. The reasons were simple. Arthur's Royal Consortium was one of the few companies in Australia that fully implemented the eight-hour workday. Moreover, any employee working for the Consortium's factories never had to worry about their wages being withheld or reduced. If such issues were reported, the employee would receive a large reward, and their job would be safe, as the person reported would be sent to prison.
The military's welfare was among the best in Australia, and soldiers received small rewards and gifts during holidays. Combined with the military's pension system, merit awards, and military rank system, the military became one of the most sought-after careers for Australians.
Unfortunately, Australia's strict selection process for soldiers meant that immigrants who had been in the country for less than three years could not enlist. As for government officials, their income and benefits were also the best in the country, with the average salary for all officials being 190 Australian dollars, four times the average income of the general population.
However, while Australian officials earned a high income, the country's anti-corruption and anti-bribery policies were also very strict. Although Arthur had not organized a large-scale anti-corruption campaign yet, according to Australian law, embezzling more than 3,000 Australian dollars was a capital offense, and embezzling more than 1,500 Australian dollars resulted in a life sentence.
As a result, officials had no incentive to engage in corruption. After all, their salaries were already high, and compared to some European countries, they were quite generous.
To Arthur and the Ministry of Defense's surprise, the announcement of the military expansion created such a stir that in just one week, the recruitment offices had received a total of 500,000 enlistment requests. Arthur had originally thought that it would take a month to recruit and select the necessary 100,000 troops. However, it now seemed that even if the recruitment offices stopped, the 500,000 applications would be enough to select more than 100,000 qualified soldiers.
The Ministry of Defense quickly stopped the recruitment process and began the task of selecting the best 100,000 soldiers from the 500,000 applications to join the army.
While Australia was expanding its military, the situation in the Balkans had finally begun to change.
First, the residents of the territory previously occupied by Italy in Tripoli had staged an armed uprising. This forced Italy to expand its expeditionary force to 90,000 men and brutally suppress the Turkish residents in the occupied areas.
The Italo-Turkish War had taken an unexpected turn. Although Italy initially achieved some success in the early stages of the war with its advanced equipment, larger army, and better preparation, the war had reached a stalemate. The Italian army's fighting capability wasn't as strong as expected, and a lack of coordination between the different branches of the military had greatly reduced its effectiveness.
This news was welcomed by the Balkan countries and the Russian Empire. Australia had already shipped 20,000 rifles and over a million rounds of ammunition, as per its agreement with Tsar Nicholas II, to the Far East.
Arthur now understood the purpose of Tsar Nicholas II's request—to sell Russian-made weapons to the Balkan League and use the profits to buy German-made weapons from Australia.
Though this move by the Russian Empire was somewhat underhanded, international relations were always based on mutual interests. For Arthur, it didn't matter who the weapons went to. What mattered was that Australia was able to expand its arms trade market and clear out old stockpiles of weapons.
Yes, Arthur had been preparing for World War I years ago. This had kept the military factories running and producing weapons, including hundreds of thousands of rifles, millions of bullets, thousands of cannons, and millions of artillery shells.
While the Balkan League had been forming for over two months and was preparing for war, the situation in Europe had shifted. Italy's unexpected difficulties in the war had presented the Balkan League with a prime opportunity to intervene.
Just before the Balkan war broke out, a significant event in Europe had occurred: Germany announced its new shipbuilding plan.
(End of Chapter)
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