Chapter 185: Chapter 179: Full-scale war breaks out, referendum results announced

On February 6th, after breaking off diplomatic relations with the Russian Empire, the Island Nation prepared its army and navy in the Far East for a possible war, while delaying the war as much as possible to give the military more preparation time.

As per international conventions, two countries usually undergo two steps before waging war: declaring war and severing diplomatic relations. Since the Island Nation did not declare war on the Russian Empire, officials of the Russian Empire, including Tsar Nicholas II, thought that the Island Nation was only threatening and probing, not daring to wage war.

This mentality affected the preparation of the war in the Far East to some extent. Many Russians believed that the Island Nation could not launch a war on its own, so the war preparations were slow.

At this time, a large part of the Russian Empire’s Pacific Squadron was still anchored in the outer harbor of Port Arthur. The alert level of warships remained the same as before. Although a decision had been made to strengthen security measures, it had not been fully executed yet.

Although Governor of the Far East, Alekseyev, had learned about the breakdown of negotiations between the Island Nation and the Russian Empire, he did not take any urgent measures to address the situation.

He blindly believed that the Island Nation could not wage war, so even a few hours before the war broke out, he confidently told General Witteveen, the Chief of Staff of the Pacific Squadron, “War will not come.”

But just a few hours after he said that, on February 8th, 1904, the Island Nation deployed its fleet and launched a surprise attack on the Russian Empire’s Pacific Fleet in the outer harbor of Port Arthur.

At this time, the Russian Far East Fleet was divided into three parts: one part remained in Vladivostok, and another was stationed at Incheon Port of Korea.

The one stationed at Port Arthur was the main force of the Pacific Squadron, commanded by Admiral Tasker of the Russian Empire.

The Island Nation’s plan for the surprise attack was also divided into three parts: a small fleet headed north to guard against the Russian fleet in Vladivostok to reinforce, another fleet consisting of six cruisers, including a cruiser produced in Australia.

The target of this fleet was the Varyag and Koreets in Incheon Port.

As for the rest of the United Fleet, their target was the main force of the Pacific Squadron at Port Arthur Bay.

At around 10 pm, the Island Nation’s United Fleet successfully arrived outside Port Arthur. It was already dark, and the sky was pitch black due to the winter night.

The Russian Pacific Fleet was completely unprepared for the arrival of the Island Nation fleet.

This naturally determined the fate of the fleet. Despite the many trends of warfare, Governor Aleksei of the Far East and Commander Stark of the Pacific Fleet ignored the situation, arrogantly believing that the Island Nation could not launch a war and took no measures to strengthen their defenses.

To avoid alarming their adversaries, the Island Nation first dispatched a few torpedo boats to quietly enter Port Arthur.

However, the ships anchored at the outer harbor noticed something was wrong and turned on searchlights to find the torpedo boats.

But that still couldn’t stop the action of the torpedo boats. In just a few minutes, several torpedo boats fired dozens of torpedoes at nearby battleships and cruisers. Although more than half missed, about ten torpedoes hit nearby Russian warships.

The most heavily damaged were the nearest Peresvet-class battleship and the flagship of the Pacific Fleet, the Crown Prince.

It is worth mentioning that when the roar of torpedoes and the sound of Russian warships firing back reached the shore, General Tasker and others were still puzzled.

Some people at the banquet speculated that warships were firing salute shots, while others thought it was a military exercise, which made the fleet commander Tasker somewhat hesitant and credulous.

It was not until someone reported that the warships were attacked that Tasker was shocked and hurriedly ended the banquet.

This surprise attack lasted several hours. In the end, the Island Nation fleet had to retreat due to the strong fortifications and coastal guns of Port Arthur.

However, the attack was not unsuccessful, as the Pacific Fleet’s Peresvet-class battleship and Tsesarevich-class battleship were seriously damaged and unable to participate in the battle in a short period.

Other warships, including two cruisers and several small warships, also suffered various injuries, and their combat power was greatly reduced.

The most successful sneak attack was on the small fleet at Incheon, where due to the advantage in numbers, the Russian warships were no match for the Island Nation’s fleet. After some fighting, both warships were sunk.

When the news of the fleet being attacked reached the Russian Empire, it was already noon on the second day.

Russian officials were furious, and Tsar Nicholas II smashed several ornaments.

Soon after, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs received a declaration of war from the Island Nation’s ambassador.

The Island Nation’s explanation was that their telegraph machine broke down, which delayed the declaration by one day.

The Russian Empire replied with disdain, disgust, and hatred, “Your country’s shameful remarks are nauseating, and the Russian Empire will make you pay.”

Since the island nation attacked the Russian Empire’s Pacific Squadron on February 8th, the war between the Russian Empire and the island nation broke out in full scale the next day, February 9th.

As a war between one of the old powers, the Russian Empire, and the emerging island nation, it was a major event throughout the world.

After the war broke out in full scale, the Far East once again attracted the attention of the whole world.

Just like the previous crisis, the British Empire and the United States stood on the side of the island nation, while the German Empire sided with the Russian Empire.

In order to win over and maintain relations with the Russian Empire, France had no choice but to stand on the side of the Russian Empire as well.

Most other countries were basically just watching the war with a spectator mentality, as the flames of war were in the Far East and could not touch Europe at all.

Australia and New Zealand quickly declared neutrality on February 9th.

Apart from selling armaments to these two countries, Arthur really was not interested in the war.

After all, for Australia and New Zealand, the ongoing referendum was the most important issue of concern.

However, this could be considered a good thing, as the attraction of the war in the Far East meant that New Zealand’s referendum did not attract attention, and Arthur’s role in the process was gradually forgotten.

On February 15th, 1904, the voting process for New Zealand’s referendum came to an end and entered a month-long counting phase.

Due to the possibility of hundreds of thousands of votes, New Zealand had specifically borrowed hundreds of officials from neighboring colonial powers to help with the count.

The reason for not borrowing people from Australia and the British Empire was that these two countries were also part of the protagonists of the referendum, and allowing them to help with the count would inevitably lead to criticism.

Indeed, thanks to the hundreds of officials borrowed from the colonial powers, the counting of the referendum votes could have taken even more time.

After a month of painstaking counting, on March 15th, 1904, the results of New Zealand’s referendum were officially released.

The referendum attracted the participation of the vast majority of eligible New Zealanders, with a total of 406,327 votes received, representing 94% of the eligible voters.

Among the three options available for the referendum, the least supported was the choice of New Zealand’s independence.

Only about 13,000 people supported New Zealand’s independence, accounting for just 3% of the total number of voters.

This indirectly shows that New Zealanders do not think that independence could bring them a better life; on the contrary, they would be more vulnerable to the aspirations of other countries.

The most popular option was to join Australia.

Perhaps it was because Arthur, the Duke of Australia, played a crucial role in resolving New Zealand’s crisis this time, or perhaps it was because of the natural goodwill and acceptance New Zealanders have for Australia, or perhaps it was because of the brainwashing done by Grant’s Alliance Party to the New Zealanders; in any case, the option to join Australia received overwhelming support in this referendum.

A total of 57,000 people supported New Zealand’s continued membership in the British Empire, accounting for 14% of the total number of votes.

On the other hand, over 336,000 people chose to join Australia and form a federation with Australia, accounting for more than 82% of the total number of votes.

With an overwhelming 82% majority, joining Australia became the choice for New Zealand after the referendum.

When the New Zealand colonial government officially announced the results of the referendum on March 15th, the streets of New Zealand once again filled with people crying tears of joy.

New Zealanders seemed to see the hope of prosperity and development for their country and the wealthy and beautiful life of New Zealanders, just like Australians.

From March 16th, slogans such as “Long Live the Federation!” and “Long Live Duke Arthur!” appeared on the streets of New Zealand, as people seemed to celebrate the rebirth of New Zealand and the joy of having Arthur as their monarch as well in this way.

On March 17th, 1904, Arthur delivered a speech in Wellington, as the Governor of New Zealand, announcing that the New Zealand colonial government recognized the results of the referendum and declared that after Australia took over New Zealand, the colonial government would officially be reorganized as the New Zealand Government, keeping both Houses of Parliament intact.

Also on that day, New Zealand and Australia received congratulations from many countries, including the German Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Russian Empire, island nation, France, and the United States, among many others, and the congratulations from the British Empire arrived last.

On March 18th, 1904, Arthur, as the Duke of Australia, welcomed all New Zealanders, promising that after the establishment of a new federation, he would treat New Zealanders as Australians, and that both New Zealanders and Australians were his subjects.