The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 953: Chapter 712: Dividing the Fruit

“America Has Surrendered!”

This was the headline of news around the world from the end of November to early December, signifying that the war—almost comparable in scale to the World War in terms of participating countries—had officially come to an end.

When you think about it, it made sense. Germany, strong as it was, had not succeeded in defeating the whole world, let alone the United States, which was now truly taking on the entire world alone.

What no one expected, however, was that it wasn’t the Allied Army that finally entered Washington, but the Americans themselves.

Even more surprising was that the first thing MacArthur declared upon entering Washington was an order for all American military forces to surrender to the Allied Army.

Regardless, for the Allied Army, the American surrender was a good thing; it at least spared their soldiers from making needless sacrifices.

Naturally, after America’s surrender, the more critical phase inevitably arrived, which was the much-anticipated distribution of the spoils of victory.

Since the British were the leaders in this war, the peace conference was bound to be held in London.

After discussions among Britain, France, and Australia, the peace conference was scheduled for January 15th, 1929, with participants including the United States and all countries of the Allied Army.

Although the Britain-France-Australia Three Nations had already come to a preliminary compromise on the areas they had occupied, the current situation was slightly different from the earlier discussions. Australia had almost taken over the entirety of the western United States, while Britain and France had only occupied a couple of states each.

Moreover, there was a need for new arrangements regarding the suddenly disrupted American government.

No one could guarantee what direction the current American government might take; the best solution was to split America up, creating several smaller Americas.

These new Americas would then contain each other, ensuring that no region of the country would give rise to a state of great power level.

Of course, while Australasia had about ten states, Arthur was not the least bit panicked. After all, apart from being vast in area, these states had no other advantages. The entire population of all the states occupied by Australasia might not even match that of the small state of New York.

Moreover, Arthur had no intention of annexing all these states. While these states had tremendous developmental value, they were more of a burden than an asset for sparsely populated Australasia.

At most, he planned to support the creation of new nations in these states, then increase investment in them, turning them into vassal states under his control.

Of course, everything would depend on how the peace conference progressed. After the Britain-France-Australia trio had their share of the meat, they would have to allow the other contributing nations a sip of the soup.

Either way, America was surely going to suffer this time. The participating nations were destined to have a share, indicating that America would be more fragmented than imagined.

With the war over, Arthur finally had time to focus on domestic development, planning the country’s future before Christmas arrived.

The first issue was Australasia’s dire population shortage, which finally had a chance to be alleviated.

What was the solution?

Of course, it was to attract population from the recently defeated United States to Australasia. Even though Australasia had been at war with the United States not long ago, this did not significantly impact Arthur’s plans.

After all, during the war, the Australasia Army did not slaughter American civilians. In fact, the order in the American states under Australasia’s control was even better than in the states controlled by the American government.

What’s more important, after MacArthur staged the coup, regardless of his influence on the American government, he successfully shifted the blame to President Hoover and the government.

This would lead the American people to attribute all the war’s faults to President Hoover and the government, naturally painting the Allied Army as righteous.

If deemed righteous, then the American people naturally would not blame Australasia. They might even be grateful to Australasia for their liberation from the government’s rule.

Although the West Coast controlled by Australasia had a relatively sparse population, the Eastern Coast of the United States still had a significant number of inhabitants.

For instance, the population of New York had already exceeded ten million, a fair portion of whom were British immigrants.

Though they had diverged somewhat from traditional British immigrants over time, these people spoke English, making them easier to govern than Europeans speaking other languages.

Of course, when absorbing the population from the United States, more detailed screening would be necessary.

The United States, after all, was a Republic, and its people had more liberal ideas compared to Europe.

This liberalism refers to an openness of concepts, where they are more likely to join protests against the government and are more prone to having different opinions about government policies.

These are aspects that needed to be guarded against, as no one can assure whether these people, once in Australasia, will join protests against the government or how they will view Arthur’s rule.

Another aspect to consider was the control over the Black population in the United States.

Though the population of the United States was over a hundred million, a considerable portion of this was Black, a racial group that Arthur would not allow into Australasia.

The coloring ability of Black people is still too frightening; even if they intermarry with other races, the children born will still be Black, which is a heavy blow to the demographic system of Australasia.

It’s no exaggeration to say that even if Arthur now only introduces a few thousand Black people, in the development lasting tens or even hundreds of years, they could evolve into hundreds of thousands or even millions.

This is a not insignificant challenge for future monarchs to rule over, and naturally, Arthur wants to prevent it as much as possible, even needing to remind all future monarchs to be wary of Black people.

The good news is, if nothing unexpected occurs, future France will become a reference for Australasia.

With France as an example, I believe that future monarchs will understand the intent behind Arthur’s exclusion of Black people.

The hundreds of millions of people in the United States can provide at least several hundred thousand immigrants to Australasia each year, which is a good supplement to the population of Australasia.

With these immigrants from the United States, Arthur could also further relax restrictions on other European immigrants, attracting more people to come to Australasia.

Especially during this economic crisis, there is no lack of ordinary immigrants, which is also the most suitable time for Australasia’s development.

Once the economic crisis is over, countries will manage the movement of populations in and out more strictly, and it will become very difficult to attract more immigrants.

This war also made Arthur more curious, how would a world without the United States develop?

Will this economic crisis end early, or will it become even more severe because of this war?

These are unknown issues for Arthur, but there’s no need to worry for now. After all, Australasia has not yet been affected by the economic crisis domestically, and the impact on imports and exports can be compensated for with the Philippines, Kalimantan, and the occupied west coast of the United States.

As for whether the people of the west coast of the United States will reject Australasia’s industrial products, that’s not something they can decide.

Isn’t it only reasonable that the states along the west coast break their economic ties with the United States upon gaining independence?

Once the economic ties with the former United States are severed, the price of industrial products in the west coast states will inevitably rise.

After all, with the exception of California State, the other western states of the United States have a small industrial scale, or even none at all, and the production of industrial products is bound not to meet the needs of the west coast American population.

Under such circumstances, it’s only natural for a large amount of industrial products from Australasia to rapidly enter the market of the United States west coast.

Since they have crossed the entire ocean to reach the west coast of the United States, a slight rise in prices is definitely very reasonable.

However, such scheming is predicated on one condition, and that is that the states on the west coast of the United States must as much as possible rid themselves of the impact of the economic crisis.

The economy of the west coast of the United States is weaker compared to the eastern coast, which has the advantage of not being as severely affected by the economic crisis.

As long as the west coast states can temporarily rid themselves of the impact of the economic crisis, these millions of American people will become loyal consumers of Australasian industrial products. Their desire for industrial products may even exceed the combined demand of both the Philippines and Kalimantan, and the benefits generated will undoubtedly surpass those two countries.

This is actually easy to understand. Compared to the Philippines and Kalimantan, which were previously native, Americans see themselves as civilized people from developed countries, and naturally, they are more inclined to use advanced industrial products.

Moreover, the economy of the American region is definitely stronger than that of the Philippines and Kalimantan, which leads to stronger spending power among Americans, and naturally, they can buy more goods.

The first policy Arthur set forth was for the government to vigorously attract immigrants from the United States.

After the war, there will certainly be no shortage of American people who have lost confidence in the government and are wandering in uncertainty about the future.

Coupled with the impact of the economic crisis, the desire of these people to live in a new country will be even stronger.

The second policy is about the management plan for the occupied American states.

The referendums in Alaska State and Hawaii are already underway, and the government also needs to prepare the necessary officers in advance, so as to manage the two states in a timely manner once the referendum results are announced.

Alaska State, as a royal Territory, does not require many officers, and Arthur will use it as one of the training grounds for the Guards, with at least one battalion of Soldiers stationed there for a long term.

Furthermore, the so-called elite special forces team, the royal Assault Team, established by Arthur will also train here, undergoing the test of icy snowlands, ultimately growing into sufficiently excellent Soldiers capable of executing various missions.

Handling Hawaii is a bit more troublesome. The population of Hawaii is just over 300,000, but the proportion of Caucasians is less than one fourth.

The rest of the population, besides the indigenous people of Hawaii, consists of immigrants from Asia.

Among these immigrants, Islanders and Filipinos make up the majority, with many others coming from other Asian countries.

Moreover, Hawaii itself is not a state of the United States, but a unified territory established by the United States.

Whether to make Hawaii a new state of Australasia or a new Colony is the problem Arthur is currently considering.