German East Indies
Even the Russian Empire and the United States of America declared their support for the German Empire.
The French Republic was now the only power in the world willing to support the Dutch colonial empire.
The problem is that the French Republic is currently in a state of great turmoil, with the far right plotting a coup, the republicans abusing their power, and Blanc in exile.
'Come to think of it, Blanquette went into exile in Belgium, didn't he? Hmm.... Maybe I'll visit my fallen hero when I get a chance.'
The Dutch colonial empire collapsed under pressure from the world's three major powers, Great Britain and Germany.
That's right. That's right.
It doesn't make sense that the German Empire would be able to withstand the pressure of the British Empire when even the French Republic and the Russian Empire were crumbling.
***
July 3.
After two months of intense diplomatic warfare, the Dutch colonial empire and the German Empire sign an agreement.
1. the Dutch colonial empire cedes the Dutch East Indies to the German Empire.
2. In return, the German Empire will pay the Dutch 2 billion marks (2024: $20 billion) in 10-year installments.
3. the German Empire will not block the Dutch colonies' trade routes to the East.
4. the German Empire will not seize and expropriate the assets of the Dutch Colonial Empire and will guarantee the private property of its citizens.
5. does not expel or penalize indigenous businesses in the Dutch colonial empire.
6. eliminate the tariffs of the Dutch colonial empire in the East Indies market.
7. the German Empire will maintain the security of the German East Indies at the same level as the Dutch East Indies and will pay a certain percentage of defense expenditures.
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A Dutch diplomat shook Bismarck's hand while choking back tears.
Bismarck chuckled bitterly at the weak language.
The Dutch colonizer's sympathies were somewhat understandable, as the Germanic peoples had suffered similar humiliations during the Napoleonic era.
Of course, Bismarck was not so weak as to abandon her national interests for mere sympathy.
***
Capital of the German Empire.
Berlin.
Through the communications established between the two countries, I was immediately informed of the outcome of the [Dutch Colonial Empire-German Empire talks].
I pumped my fist in the air when I heard that the Dutch East Indies had become the German East Indies.
I laughed and basked in the triumphant joy of victory.
"Kahahaha!!! The East Indies became.... The East Indies, flowing with milk and honey, are in the hands of our German Empire!"
The terms of the agreement between the two countries were a triumph for the German Empire.
Paragraph 2 states that 2 billion marks (2024: $20 billion) is to be paid in 10-year installments, but the East Indies were not worth 2 billion marks.
The market capitalization of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) at its peak, with its influence extending to the East Indies, Malacca, Sri Lanka, Nagasaki (Dejima), Japan, Taiwan Island, Guangzhou, China, Persia, and Africa, was a whopping....
8,300,000,000,000,000 ($8.3 trillion) at its peak.
Of course, the company is now bankrupt and has become the Dutch East Indies.
"Besides, the East Indies would become a land flowing with milk and honey in a few years. While they had previously made huge profits from cash crops like sugar and sugarcane, the East Indies had oil and rubber trees that would explode with the automobile industry."
The German East Indies would explode with oil and rubber.
History proved it.
In a previous life, the German East Indies exploded after the advent of oil and rubber, and within a decade it was on par with the Spanish Empire and twice the size of the Dutch mainland.
With a land flowing with milk and honey, a population of 50 million people on par with the German Empire's mainland, and a huge amount of investment, it might even rival the Japanese Empire as a semi-power!
Of course, the German East Indies would serve as a piggy bank for the Pax Aryan era, focusing on primary industries to fatten the mainland.
***
Capital of the Dutch Empire.
Amsterdam.
Willem III was not the first to learn of the outcome of the [Dutch Colonial Empire-German Empire Conference].
The elderly king fainted as soon as he heard that the German Empire had lost the East Indies, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the Dutch.
"I had noticed the strange turn of events, but I hadn't realized that the Dutch colonial empire was collapsing, and that we would have to return to the level of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...."
"..."
"No way! This is the real.... I can't believe we're losing the real East Indies.... Ugh...."
"Your Majesty!!!"
If you look at the terms of the agreement between the German Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, there is no problem.
The problem is that in the romanticized 19th century, great powers have the power to bend the tides of the world.
So why bother with a mere clause?
Of course, the 2 billion marks (2024: $20 billion) in direct payments would trickle in over the course of a decade.
It's not a huge amount of money for the German Empire, the world's fourth richest country, and there's something called the credit of a great power.
At issue are assets in the Dutch East Indies that the Kingdom of the Netherlands has accumulated over hundreds of years.
Would the German Empire stand idly by while the Dutch monopolized 90% of the wealth of the Dutch East Indies?
When the Dutch diplomat insisted that the treaty must include provisions to protect private property, prevent seizure and extortion, and protect trade routes, Bismarck readily agreed.
Why?
Because they weren't going to be honored anyway, so why bother?
Protecting private property only makes sense to his own people, not to others.
It can't be helped.
If you're a dick, you shouldn't have been born in the 19th century, the century of romance.
"Within three years, maybe a year, the German Empire will start seizing our Dutch assets in the German East Indies."
"That Bismarckian bitch with the hair on fire can pressure us Dutch to sell ourselves, because the German Reich will have to look at the British Empire."
"...Damn you, you incompetent mainlanders, spitting out the Dutch East Indies, a land flowing with milk and honey, with nothing but pressure from Great Britain and the German Empire."
I see the future.
And the Dutch, who made a fortune running large plantations in the German East Indies, are not stupid.
They prepared for it [the Dutch Colonial Empire-German Empire Conference] beforehand, and as soon as it happened, they sold everything they had for a pittance.
***
"Kaiser! The Dutch are selling the assets of the Dutch East Indies for a pittance!"
"Buy them all!"
"The Amsterdam stock market is down slightly, not crashing. Apparently the Dutch and foreign investors believe. That the Dutch will continue their glory even without the Dutch East Indies."
"Buy that too!"
The Hoentzollerns are gobbling up all the assets the Dutch are selling off.
But has he had too much to eat?
The House of Hohenzollern, the imperial family of the world's two largest powers, is about to burst.
The wealth that the Dutch East Indies had amassed over the centuries was staggering, even by today's standards.
Not only had they used up all of their liquid wealth in the purge of the top loan sharks, but they also had to borrow astronomical amounts of money from the banks of the German Empire and some of the world's most snotty banks.
Thirty banks of the German Reich, including Deutsche Bank.
The Rothschild Bank of the City of London.
The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in Hong Kong, even a province of the Qing Empire.
Mitsubishi Banking Corporation, Sumitomo Banking Corporation, Sumitomo Banking Corporation, Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Yasuda Banking Corporation in the Empire of Japan.
J.P. Morgan in the United States of America.
Bank of Confederate States of America, Bank of Richmond.
.
.
.
.
I get it.
You're trying to take a bite out of a Belgium-sized national asset, and of course your mouth is watering.
It's 1913, just before the outbreak of World War I.
The GDP of the Netherlands East Indies is roughly 50 billion marks (2024: $500 billion), which is definitely in the realm of great powers.
In a simple comparison of GDP alone, it is comparable to the Japanese Empire, which is also around 50 billion marks (2024: $500 billion).