The Rise Of Australasia

The day after the Philippines declared independence, the United States immediately held a press conference, declaring President Wilson's tough stance and demonstrating their determination to struggle against all opposing forces.

Of course, the United States did not describe the crisis in the Philippines as a war. The U.S. government claimed that it was a rebellion by a portion of the population in the Philippines, an unrecognized anti-government armed revolution, rather than a so-called war.

In order to protect American citizens in the Philippines, the United States loudly announced that they would use their fleet in the Philippines to protect the safety of Americans, while also deploying two divisions to suppress the rebellion in the Philippines.

Why did they choose to use the fleet in the Philippines to protect the Americans in the Philippines rather than mobilizing a more powerful army from their homeland?

This question is easy to understand.

Although the performance of warships has improved dramatically, the United States is separated from the Philippines by the entire Pacific Ocean, with a straight-line distance of over 11,000 kilometers, and the fastest arrival time is about a month.

By the time the American fleet arrives in the Philippines, the Americans in the Philippines would have already been driven away to an unknown location, let alone fulfill President Wilson's promise to protect them.

Therefore, the only available and fast-arriving force that the United States could mobilize to perform the task in the Philippines was the division of the fleet stationed there.

Although they were only small-scale fleets, they had no problem dealing with the Philippines, which had no navy at all.

The Philippine independence war quickly attracted the attention of many European and American media outlets. Due to the involvement of the United States as a major power, the news of the war became very popular in Europe, and for a time it even overshadowed the war between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

The British immediately understood that this was the work of Australasia because the two countries had exchanged their respective opinions a year ago.

Australasia had used its decision to support the British in the World Alliance in exchange for British support for Australasia's operations in the Philippines.

As for the French, although Australasia had not obtained their consent before the operation, the relationship between France and the United States was not good either.

Furthermore, the French had already intervened in the Russian civil war and had jointly supported the Greek war against the Ottoman Empire with the British, leaving them too busy and without any intention to interfere in the Philippine war.

As a result, the Americans' open protests did not receive the support of any country. Even though the Philippine independence seemed suspicious, no country was willing to openly support the United States due to its terrible reputation.

It's worth mentioning that the United States' ally, the Island Nation, also did not choose to support the United States. Perhaps it was because the Americans had not supported them at the previous naval conference that the Island Nation remained silent during this incident.

Arthur was quite satisfied with Manuel's actions, who was able to quickly take control of the Senate and the government without causing much turmoil in the Philippines. This proved that Manuel's prestige in the Philippines was still very effective.

Arthur was not too concerned about the American retaliation in response to their protests.

Although the Americans claimed to use two divisions to suppress the Philippine rebellion in broad daylight, the Philippine armed forces had also grown in strength.

Moreover, the distance between the American mainland and the Philippines was far too long, and such a protracted combat distance would greatly increase the cost of U.S. operations.

If the Americans wanted to drag out the conflict with the Philippines, Arthur was more than happy to oblige. This is because Australasia could quickly support the Philippines, while it would take the Americans more than two months to come and go with astronomical costs and time, which could even directly divert the United States' attention.

Using the Philippines alone to tie up the Americans and make them rush into an unprepared economic crisis was a great deal.

Although Australasia also needed to provide some assistance to the Philippines, their close distance meant that it wouldn't cost too much money.

Besides, the British were still wary of the Americans. If there was such a good opportunity to tie up the Americans, the British would undoubtedly seize it.

Could the United States withstand a combined effort by Australasia and the United Kingdom to support the Philippines?

Probably not.

Even if the Americans were to flip the table and use large-scale naval power to crush their opponents, the fleets of Australasia and the United Kingdom were nothing to sneeze at.

Even just the British Indian Ocean fleet combined with the Australasian navy could be enough to challenge all of the United States' naval forces.

Would the Americans dare to directly confront Australasia and the United Kingdom? This would be a question that President Wilson would have to contemplate deeply.

After all, President Wilson only had less than a year left in office, and if some measures taken during this last year push the United States into an unrecoverable crisis, he would become a criminal in American history - a fate that politicians who value their reputation would not want to see.

President Wilson's tough speech quickly appeared in newspapers across Europe and America and soon reached the Philippines along with time.

Although he had control over the situation in the Philippines, Manuel was still worried about the current situation.

In order to put the Filipinos at ease and willingly join the front line against the United States, Arthur generously approved an aid package for Manuel and two others, totaling 100,000 rifles, 100 machine guns, 100 artillery pieces, and the corresponding ammunition, to be transported to the Philippine port. Find exclusive stories on empire

The weapons for the Filipinos had already been prepared and could be shipped from New Guinea in just a few days, reaching the Philippines soon after.

With this new, larger batch of weapons, the worry on Manuel's face finally faded, and he immediately focused on expanding his army.

Realizing that the upcoming retaliation from the United States would be the most difficult issue, Manuel and the others banded together, deciding to unite closely during the independence war to prevent the United States from exploiting any gaps.

For this reason, the distribution of this batch of weapons was done through a relatively fair method after consultation between the three of them.

Of the 100,000 rifles, Manuel took 40,000, and the remaining 60,000 were divided equally between the other two.

The rest of the weapons and equipment were also distributed to all the forces according to a ratio of 4:3:3, and the army was expanded urgently.

With these weapons and equipment, the size of the Philippine Independence Army could be increased to more than 150,000.

Lead by 50,000 trained soldiers and 100,000 new recruits, the overall combat power might not be very strong, but it could barely be considered passable.

With advance preparation, they might not necessarily fail to defeat two divisions of Americans.

Moreover, Arthur's aid included more than 100 machine guns and artillery pieces, which undoubtedly enhanced the defensive capabilities of the Philippine army.

It had already been proven in World War I that machine guns played a crucial role in defensive battles. If the Americans were unprepared, it would be enough to cause them great trouble.

In order to better use these machine guns and artillery, Arthur sent a small group of instructors to help the Philippine army master these heavy weapons.

Of course, since it would take at least a week to reach the Philippines, the Philippine army would have no more than three weeks for training.

Before the arrival of the American forces, the Australasian army would need to withdraw, temporarily keeping the Americans in the dark that the Philippines was being supported by Australasia.

In order to hide better, the weapons and equipment provided by Australasia to the Philippines were either British weapons or German weapons, without any Australasian weapons.

As long as there were no Australasian specialty weapons and only British and German weapons, one could not tell which country was supporting the Philippines.

Since the Australasian military factories have production lines for British and German weapons, there is no need to worry about logistics issues.

Although President Wilson announced in front of numerous media outlets that he would dispatch at least two divisions to suppress the rebellion, the Americans' actions surprised all the countries.

Firstly, the assembly of US forces took more than a week, from gathering to boarding the transport ships, even though they only needed to dispatch two divisions.

By the time the US forces boarded the fleet and left their homeland, it was already early August, more than a week later.

At this time, the Filipinos had already received weapons support from Australasia and were undergoing intense military training under the guidance of a small group of Australasian instructors.

The slow actions of the Americans allowed more time for Australasia. Originally, the Filipinos were expected to have only three weeks to learn how to operate machine guns and artillery, but now they have an extra week, allowing the Philippine army to better control heavy weapons.

To express his support for the Philippines, Arthur quietly transported a batch of food and some unmarked medical supplies to the Philippines to help them better resist the United States.

Of course, under the instigation of Australian intelligence officer in the Philippines, John, Manuel and the other two signed a loan agreement in the name of the Philippine Senate, borrowing 20 million Australian dollars from Australasia and stipulating that they would repay the loan within ten years.

All weapons, equipment, and resources provided by Australasia to the Philippines were actually purchased at a low price through this loan by the Philippine Senate.

Although it was an interest-free loan, Arthur was not optimistic that the Philippine government could repay the 20 million Australian dollars within ten years.

Moreover, even if the Philippine government had the ability to repay, Arthur would make sure they lacked such ability.

Compared to the 20 million Australian dollars, controlling an obedient country with tens of millions of people was what Arthur wanted to see.

Accompanied by the future establishment of the Philippine government and further control of the Philippine situation, this was what Arthur needed to do and was now imminent.