Part VI.IV
Other than the continuing conflict in South America, 1942 and 1943 were peaceful for most of the world. The months slid by as the victors of the Second Weltkrieg molded their new empires, consolidated their gains, and enjoyed the fruits of their labors. The Entante enjoyed prosperity and pride not seen since their fall from grace in the mid 1920s. In particular, the Entante enjoyed the bounty of India and South East Asia, as the newly formed United Commonwealths of Asia and Oceania threw open the gates to economic development and international trade. The integration of the Asian-Oceanic economy and the protection and expansion of liberty throughout the UCAO was the top priority of the Roseville government. The Department of Armaments, lead by the genius Jnananjan Niyogi, was renamed the Department of Trade and Industry, to reflect a focus on the peaceful development and support of trade and prosperity throughout the UCAO.
The Niyogi administration was committed to the idea that a free market was the most efficient market, and efficiency was exactly what was needed to take advantage of resource rich but capital poor markets in the UCAO. To solidify the government’s position on property rights and innovation in the market, the Niyogi administration formed the Office of Patents, Contracts, and Copyrights, to protect innovators, entrepreneurs, and businesses alike from the turbulence of the new Asian-Oceanic markets. Furthermore, to help ease the tensions of inter-Commonwealth trade and communication, the government created a framework of litigation and mediation for economic and trade disputes between Commonwealths. The goal of these moves was to ensure that every citizen had an opportunity to seek and conduct business in every Commonwealth of the United Commonwealths, knowing their property and investments would be safe from infringement and other illegal or questionable action. Although the road would be long and rough, the Niyogi administration was actively seeking solutions to ensure an open market throughout the UCAO.
Even as the markets in South East Asia were opening up, in China, decades of repression, sectarianism, and occupation were beginning to boil over onto the international scene. A brief history of modern China is useful to understand the events taking place in late 1943 and early 1944.
The expulsion of Pu Yi from the Forbidden City by Christian warlord Feng Yuxiang in 1924 caused great outrage within the rising upper circles of the Kuomintang: if the population had proved to be mainly anti-monarchist during the 1917 twelve-days-long restoration, the population had converted to monarchism in the early 20's, hoping for a true stabilization of the country. Upon becoming the new leader of the Kuomintang in March 1925, Xu Shichang issued in the end of the year a “Call to the Mighty German Empire”, where he described the situation of complete anarchy of China and praised the Kaiser Wilhelm II for his achievements. The Guominjun declared that the Kuomintang had betrayed the Republican cause and Feng Yuxiang invaded the Kuomintang-controlled zone, after securing alliance with the other northern warlords.
The Call touched German nationalist press, and convinced German public opinion and Grossadmiral von Tirpitz's government of the need of a military intervention in China, in order to secure the Reich's interests in this area and to secure its influence in Asia, that had been deeply changed by the collapse of the British Empire. Werner von Fritsch, then governor of Tsingtau, officially declared on December 1925 that the European concessions in China were now under his jurisdiction and that any violation and their territories by Chinese armies would mean an immediate response. Governor of German Indochina Hans von Seeckt, while receiving reinforcements for Germany, was sending weapons and mercenaries to the Kuomintang who was fighting against the Guominjun. On March, 8 1926, a skirmish between Guominjun soldiers near the German concession in Shanghai led to the declaration of war against China.
The campaign made quick progress. In less than six months, German troops arriving via Indochina and Tsingtau, and supported by a blockade led by Grand Admiral Franz von Hipper, quickly overwhelmed the Guominjun forces; most of their leaders fled to Mongolia or Japan, or managed to retain some bastions in inner China, such as in Yunnan, or in Manchuria, which was invaded by Japanese forces during the German intervention. In the end, most of continental China was occuped by Sino-German forces.
Following his own policies and after forging an agreement with former Emperor Pu Yi, Xu Shichang officially proclaimed the restoration of the Qing Empire on November 1926, following the Treaty of Nanjing that had delimited continental China: the south was left to the economic exploitation of German firms, while the north was under the restored Empire's control albeit under slight joint German-Japanese military control. Foreign trade was left to the richest cities of the coast, under a joint control of world powers owning interests in China. The new era officially began on February, 2 1927, date of the beginning of the Fire Rabbit Year.
Unfortunately, that era lasted only about 1 decade as the Japanese supported Fengtien Republic conquered the fledgling Qing Empire and all the northern warlords in the late 1930s and united northern China under their banner; the Fengtien Republic was nothing more than a Japanese backed warlord state itself lead by a father and son duo whose flamboyance and imperialism became more belligerent and aggressive after the victory over the Qing and northern warlords.
The Japanese were caught in an increasingly difficult situation. Their lapdog Zhang Zuolin, the “Generalissimo of the Military Government in Manchuria”,
was growing more powerful and aggressive every day, and a united China would never be in Japanese interests. However, relations with Germany and the AOG had never been worse. Japans hunger for resources and trading partners was increasing as the growing Fengtien Republic reduced exports to bolster its growing industrial needs, yet the Japanese were quickly tiring of dealing with patronizing German interests in Asia, and increasingly convinced of their own right to control trade in and around Asia.
The tensions between Japan, the Fengtien Republic, the AOG and the German Empire rose daily as rhetoric grew hotter and sabre began to rattle. Zhang Xueliang, the son of the “Generalissimo”, heir to the throne, and head of the government, spoke of his dream of a united China governed by Chinese, free from the shackles of foreign exploitation, and free to use its own natural resources to enrich its people, not the rest of the world. He insisted that the AOG was stealing what was rightfully Chinese, and that the Legation Cities were the whores of the earth.
Alexander von Falkenhausen, the Governor-General of the AOG, was not cowed by such rhetoric, and espoused his own thoughts about the true place of the Chinese people in the “natural order of world affairs”. He reminded anyone who would listen that it was the Chinese themselves who had begged Germany to intervene to end feudalism and warlord states throughout China, and that even after Germany’s heroic victory, the Chinese had reverted to “senseless violence, mindless obedience to backward traditions, and a perpetuation of what had prevented China from embracing the wisdom and prosperity of modern nations”. He went so far as to insist that Asians are by nature confused and backward in their thinking, which was a serious blow to Japanese-AOG/German relations, the Japanese believing themselves to be the height of human development and culture, and the Emperor divine.
Now the Japanese began to speak out against the “white devils defiling Greater East Asia”, and stealing from the Japanese prosperity and prestige, which is rightfully theirs. For too long the glorious Imperial Navy had tiptoed around its natural waters, not wishing to offend or interfere with European trade interests in the region. For too long the Japanese people had been denied the prosperity and wealth, which was by right their own. For too long the Divine Emperor had endured the insult of appeasing and entertaining European powers when he was the one deserving of their respect and service. For too long Japan had endured the humiliation of playing second string to European powers in Asia, but that time was drawing to a close.
Germany responded the only way it knew how, increasing the readiness of its military in the region, and putting the navy and air force on increased patrols in the Yellow Sea. Although the Kaiser was seen as a moderate compared to his father, the Prussian leadership of the German Empire would never back down from a threat, and was certainly not interested in losing the lucrative trade options of the AOG, nor would they allow any insults to their honor, or challenges to their dominance of the world.
Sensing that another conflict was brewing one way or another, Russia began ramping up its military production to “protect its borders”.
Although the UCAO took no official position or made any inflammatory statements during the months of escalating tensions on their Northern borders, they did display their ability to defend themselves should they be dragged into another war in South East Asia. A grand parade was held in Canberra in which the diversity of the new Armed forces of the UCAO was on full display. The newly formed elite divisions of the Philippine Marine Corps and New Zealand Marine Corps marched through the boulevards of Canberra to the steps of the Capitol where President Roseville inspected them.
The new formations represented advances in Commonwealth thinking on military tactics and modern warfare. Elite, self sustaining units, operating in isolation from other large formations could infiltrate and assault enemy positions at night and in difficult terrain like no other army had done in the past; it was modern guerilla warfare on a divisional scale. The Marines were the embodiment of these tactics, and were a source of great national pride, especially in the Philippines and New Zealand whose men had signed up by the thousands for the elite formations.
The Navy too was experiencing a flurry of activity and support, having just laid down the hulls for 12 modern Heavy Cruisers, 4 modern Air Carriers, and 60 modern Destroyers of native design, which were expected to join the navy between October of 1944 and December of 1945. Commonwealth naval architects were truly the world leaders in design and theory, and this building program was designed to phase out most of the interwar vessels still in service, as well as adding an additional carrier fleet to the Navy’s arsenal.
But the Commonwealths military prowess, although exponentially more powerful than 1 decade previous, did not dissuade or even influence the warmongering in Asia, which had now reached a fervor pitch. None of the parties involved would back down from their inflammatory statements, and none were willing to come to the negotiating table. On January 2, 1944, the Zhangs of the Fengtien Republic declared the dawn of a new era for China was at hand, and the a glorious war of reunification had begun against the imperialist pigs in Germany.
Japan was finally forced to choose between a potentially reunited China, and the continued dominance of Germany in what it considered its own sphere of influence. The Japanese quickly joined with their Asian allies, reasoning that they could deal with the China issue at a later date, but to back down from supporting a war against Germany in Asia would surely doom them to remain a second rate power in Asia.