Arthur received news of the Battle of Verdun a dayter, on the 28th of November.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Arthur could not have been unaware of what the Battle of Verdun signified. It was one of the deadliest battles in the history of World War I, with casualties as high as 700,000 on both French and German sides, second only to the Battle of the Somme that Britain and France had nned to initiate.


    Yes, although Verdun was besieged, neither the United Kingdom nor French Commander General Flynn had abandoned the n tounch the Battle of the Somme.


    The Battle of the Somme would be thergest counterattack on the Westline and could even determine the course of the war there.


    The Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Verdun were two of the most vicious battles of World War I. Thebined casualties from both battles exceeded 2 million and could directly determine the oue of the war on the Westline, and even the course of the entire World War I.


    Because of the crucial situation of the Battle of Verdun, Arthur had the Royal Security Intelligence Agency closely monitor the course of the battle and inform him of any changes immediately.


    Of course, for Austrsia, the German Empire instigating the Battle of Verdun was also good news. After all, if Britain and France were busy dealing with German aggression, Austrsia would have a better chance for expansion and their importance in the war would heighten.


    The only direction left for Austrsia to expand towards now was the Dutch East Indies in the North.


    Hond, inparison to Austrsia, were true pushovers that Arthur could manipte at will.


    Europe was currently upied with the battle of Verdun and nning the Battle of the Somme, their attention towards non-European affairs has greatly diminished.


    Even if Hond was an ally of Britain and France, they would never risk offending Austrsia for Hond''s sake, not to mention that Hond was a neutral country, and they had a decent rtionship with William II''s German Empire.


    Hond, as a secondary power, still held arge-scale colony like the Dutch East Indies, so Arthur felt it was necessary to relieve Hond''s pressure and allow them to focus on their nativend.


    On the 29th of November, 1915, the third day of the Battle of Verdun, the Austrsian Ministry of Defense urgently passed a proposal, which Arthur named operation "Mop-Up".


    As the name implies, this was an action tobat the Anti-Austrsian forces in German New Guinea. The operation stretched to areas where Anti-Austrsian forces may have fled, such as the Dutch-controlled New Guinea, Swesi, and Kalimantan.


    The participants in the "Mop-Up" operation included the First and Second Divisions and two Colonial Divisions, totaling 72,000 troops.


    After about a week of long preparations, in early December 1915, Austrsia officially announced its n to carry out a severe crackdown on Anti-Austrsian forces who had fled from German New Guinea to various ces.


    It also demanded the cooperation of the entire Dutch East Indies, as the Austrsian Government suspected that the Dutch East Indies were harboring Anti-Austrsian forces and conspiring to subvert Austrsia''s rule in New Guinea.


    The evidence provided by the Austrsian government was very substantial, including not only the escape routes of some Anti-Austrsian forces but also their activities in Dutch-controlled territories.


    No matter how the Dutch East Indies Government defended itself, there were indeed numerous Anti-Austrsian forces within the Dutch East Indies territory, and these forces had obtained a significant amount of weapons and equipment from the Dutch East Indies.


    The Dutch Government wanted to negotiate, but the conditions put forth by Austrsia were that they either surrender all Anti-Austrsian forces and cede West New Guinea, Swesi, Brule Ind, Ceram Ind, Misuo Ind, and Oby Ind. Otherwise, the fury of Austrsia would not be appeased.


    However, the Dutch could naturally not agree to such severe conditions. This was almost equivalent to dividing the Dutch East Indies in half, limiting Dutch rule to only four major inds that are Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java, and Swesi Ind.


    Even the most unresponsive Dutch Government understood by this time that Austrsia''s target was not the Anti-Austrsian forces, but thend of New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies.


    This was something that the present Dutchmen could not agree to. The Dutch East Indies was one of the fewrge colonies the Dutch held and was the guarantee for the Nethends to maintain its status as a secondary power in Europe.


    If they lost the Dutch East Indies, the Nethends'' position would be even lower than Belgium''s, failing to measure up to even a third-tier European power, let alone the Dutch people''s hope for united bordends.


    Even if the Dutch Government could ept Austrsia''s demands, the Dutch people would undoubtedly not agree.


    If the Dutch Government surrendered without a fight, the angry Dutch people could overthrow the government and change its face.


    Therefore, despite their unwillingness, the Dutch Government had to refuse the demands of the Austrsian government on principled grounds, angrily criticizing Austrsia''s demands as shameful extortion.


    Unfortunately, the struggle between countries at this time was like this, where thew of survival was survival of the fittest. The strong would possess power and position, and the weak would be targeted by the strong for division.


    Even if Hond appealed to Britain, France, Germany, and even Russia for help, no country was willing to help them.


    Germany, needless to say, was already at war with Austrsia. The Germans did not have the ability to break through the naval blockade of Britain and France to wage war with Australia and Austrsia.


    Regardless of whether Germany has the capability to do so, even if Germany does have a sufficient fleet and power, it would not antagonize Austrsia over the neighboring Nethends.


    There''s no need to mention Britain, France, and Russia, as they are among the Four Great Powers of the Allies with Austrsia, and naturally have a much better rtionship with Austrsia than the Nethends, which is outside the Allies.


    Although the Nethends is a European nation, it provides no assistance in war, even its rtionship with Germany is better.


    In such a situation, Britain, France, and Russia would naturally not offend Austrsia for the sake of the Nethends, they would even support Austrsia''s expansion in exchange for more support from Austrsia to Europe.


    There are two more Powers in Europe, but they are even less likely to help the Nethends against Austrsia.


    As for the other Power outside Europe, the United States, although the US has the power to confront Austrsia individually, Austrsia is a member of the Allies, and the Four Great Powers of the Allies have mutual assistance agreements. The United States will not go to war with the Allies just for the sake of the Nethends.


    Therefore, after the Dutch made strenuous efforts to seek help, they found that there was no country willing to help them, not even the slightest aid.


    Arthur didn''t care about all this; on December 7, 1915, the attack of Austrsia officially began.


    Before the war, Austrsia had already expelled the Dutch ambassador and dered a state of war with the Nethends.


    The entire mopping-up n was divided into two paths. The west route included the First Division and a Colonial Division, totaling 36,000 troops, crossing the royal territory to the west and directlynding on Java Ind, the core of the Dutch East Indies.


    The east route was from the New Guinea area controlled by Austrsia, heading west, upying the entire New Guinea Ind, and then taking over the inds of the Banda Sea and the Suvsi Sea one after another.


    The entire Dutch East Indies has as many as over 40 million indigenous people, making it extremely difficult to govern. Therefore, Arthur''s initial goal was not topletely annex thisnd, but to find important strategic areas to annex, and other areas could be indirectly controlled.


    Especially the core of the Dutch East Indies, Java Ind. This area of Java Ind is the most populous region in the Dutch East Indies, a status quo that persisted toter generations.


    Even inter generations, there were only about 200 million people in Indonesia as a whole, but a small ind of Java carried around 150 million, which is no less exaggerated.


    ording to the current poption ratio, Java Ind is home to at least 20 million indigenous people. The poption isrger than the total poption of Austrsia, but the total area is less than 140,000 square kilometers, with a poption density far exceeding Austrsia.


    It is very difficult to manage such an area, let alone the fact that it has arge number of ethnic groups, various types of religions, and differentnguages and cultures, making assimtion very difficult.


    The Dutch have controlled thisnd for hundreds of years and still cannot assimte these indigenous people.


    Although there are issues of poption scale, the difficulty of assimting the indigenous people in the Dutch East Indies is far from ordinary.


    In addition to the nearly 20 million indigenous people on Java Ind, the other three major inds in the Dutch East Indies, Sumatra Ind has nearly 8 million people, Swesi Ind 5 million people, and Kalimantan Ind 2 million people, making it one of the most diversity-rich areas of indigenous distribution.


    Compared to the whole of New Guinea, which has less than 4 million indigenous people in its 786,000 square kilometers, the distribution of indigenous people in these areas is too widespread, and the base number of indigenous people is toorge to be suitable for rule.


    Of course, in addition to administrative control, control over these areas can also be achieved economically.


    At present, these indigenous people are not useless, at least during wartime, they are qualified cannon fodder.


    And both World War I and World War II required a lot of cannon fodder to fill in, the indigenous people of the Dutch East Indies are very suitable.


    The war of Austrsia implemented the guidelines set by Arthur, preferring to spend more funds than causing more casualties.


    First of all, the fleet bombed Java Ind and Dutch New Guinea, which are controlled by the Nethends. They bombed the coastal defenses and cities of these areas, and then it was the turn of the army tounch anding operation.


    While carrying out thending on Java Ind, Austrsia also deployed hundreds of airnes to continue bombing Java Ind and Batavia, causing the Dutch army to be exhausted from dodging bombs, giving them no chance tounch an attack on thending Austrsia army.


    While the fleet and aircraft were taking turns to bomb, led by the Colonial Division, the army quickly sessfullynded on Java Ind andunched an attack on several major cities on Java Ind.


    Thergest city on Java Ind is Batavia, whichter became Jakarta. This is the capital of the Dutch East Indies and the location of the entire Dutch East Indies colonial government.


    The primary goal of the western army is to quickly upy Batavia, control the Dutch East Indies colonial government, and achieve the goal of capturing the king first in order to win a quick battle.