Since the second half of the 19th century, many islands in the Pacific Ocean, as well as the countries of the Asian continent adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, have been almost completely carved up by the old colonial powers. Although Germany was a land power during the Prussian period, its navy was really not worth mentioning, and after the unification of Germany, the rapid development of national strength made Germany begin to have the need for foreign expansion, but at this time Germany has missed the golden time of the great colonial era to divide the world. The Germans only then found that they were at a loss and were full of other people's territory, only some poor countryside that others did not look down on at all. Even the Netherlands and Spain, which at this time had made Germany disdainful, had much better areas than themselves.

Germany's colony in the Pacific, German Guinea, is in the northern part of Papua New Guinea in eastern Oceania, 5,000 kilometers from the Far East. As for German Samoa, it is a barren place where birds don't poop. Even in the 21st century, in Jochen's previous life, Samoa was one of the poorest regions in the world.

Currently in the Far East, Malaysia is the British colonial base at the forefront of the Far East; The French ruled Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, and the Philippines, across the sea, was occupied by the Spanish; Indonesia is a traditional colonial territory of the Netherlands. Further north, the Qing state, which had the strongest naval power in Asia. It was not easy for the Germans to fight their way here. So Jochen set his sights first on Western Australia and the Philippines.

The word Australia, which originally meant "southern continent", comes from the Latin terraaustralis (land of the south). In 1606, the ship of the Spanish navigator Luis Torres sailed through the strait between Australia and the island of New Guinea; In the same year, the Dutchman William Janes's Duefgen passed through Australia and was the first recorded actual landing of outsiders in Australia, naming it "New Holland". In 1770, the British navigator Captain Cook James Cook discovered the east coast of Australia, named it "New South Wales", and declared the land to belong to the United Kingdom.

The British first used Australia as a place of exile for prisoners. On 18 January 1788, a six-ship fleet of 1,530 men led by Captain Philip arrived at Botanic Gardens Bay in Australia, with 736 prisoners. Eight days later, on January 26, 1788, they officially established the first British colonial area in Port Jackson, Australia, which later grew in population to become Australia's largest city, Sydney, named in honor of Sydney, then British Home Secretary. Every year on January 26, it became Australia's National Day. In 1790, the first freedmen from England emigrated to Australia, with Sydney as the center, gradually developing inland, and by 1803, the colony had expanded to Tasmania. The British annexed Western Australia as a penal colony in 1829. In 1851, gold was discovered in Betherster, New South Wales, and Ballarat, Victoria, and free immigration began to grow violently. In 1868, the last British prisoners were sent to Western Australia.

As a result, the British still control Victoria and New South Wales on the east coast, while the convict penal colonies on the west coast and the barren areas in the north are quite weak. And most of Australia's mineral resources are concentrated in the west and north. Therefore, Germany's business model to enter Western Australia and North Australia at this time will not be blocked, but because it can drive the local economy, it is very popular. Moreover, mining and industrial construction naturally required an excellent port, which could naturally be used for military purposes in wartime. And as industry grows, there will be a need for more and more labor, and Germany can attract immigrants to Australia, thus expanding the German population base there. Then, when Western Australia and Northern Australia had strong enough industrial and economic power and a significant number of German immigrants, Australia's plan to hold a one-person-one-vote referendum in the six colonies in 1900 would have to be dashed by voting on whether to unite the six colonies into a single federal state. An ununified Australia could only help the British in World War I.

Another target, the Philippines, is Spain, which is already on the wane. And the Spanish-American War, which would break out in 1898, completely tore off the last fig leaf of the aging empire. Therefore, the Philippines is definitely the softest persimmon in the Pacific Ocean. The Philippines has a vast sea area and complex hydrological conditions, and Manila and Subic are excellent ports. Although it is not located in the core area of the Far East, it is only half a day's flight from Hong Kong, Kowloon, which is occupied by the British, and it is still possible to directly get involved in East Asian affairs. Not only that, with the Philippines, Guam and German Guinea to form an iron triangle, it is definitely a strategic location that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and relying on the industrial system and military storage established by Western Australia, it is definitely an excellent position to attack, retreat and defend. Not only that, in addition to its huge strategic value, the Philippines is also extremely rich in mineral and natural resources. These resources could not be truly used in the hands of aging Spain, and Germany, which was rapidly developing its industrial capacity, was the best owner of the land to make the most of it. As for the Americans? What qualifications does the weak US Navy have at this time to distinguish itself from Germany?

And how to seize the Philippines, in the eyes of Jochen is not difficult at all, in the early stage of commercial development into the Philippines to open mines, and then finance the Philippines to build railways, even if you lose money, so the Philippine governor must have greatly supported this. Then increase German immigration, and even go to the Qing Kingdom to find a large number of Chinese workers to go to the Philippines. When the interests of the Germans in the Philippines are getting bigger and bigger, then if there is turmoil in the Philippines, it is natural for the Germans to send troops to protect the overseas Chinese. The situation in the Philippines has never been unstable.

Since Spain declared sovereignty over the Philippines, the indigenous people who have lived on it for generations have not had a good time for the Spaniards. A small riot every three years, a big uprising every five years, and all kinds of chaos and disturbances of hundreds of people are commonplace, and they are countless. According to statistics, since the Spanish occupation of the Philippines, there have been an average of 5 uprisings per year, and there have been 102 large-scale uprisings. The Spaniards' army, which was one of the lowest in Europe, could not completely suppress these uncivilized barbarian bandits. For hundreds of years, the empire was in a state of half-war with the indigenous people of the colonies, and almost all of the empire's gains in the Philippines were used to suppress riots. In the previous years, Spain was still able to rely on the foundation of the family to barely suppress these rebellions, but since the second half of the 19th century, as the Spanish state continues to decline, the big stick in their hands has gradually lost its weight, and it can no longer suppress these brave and ruthless natives in the local area.

In 1896, an unprecedented riot began in the Philippine Islands. The rebel army took the "establishment of the Republic of the Philippines" as its program of action, and wanted to completely drive the forces of the Spanish colonizers out of the Philippines itself. In order to be able to completely break out of this situation of long-term enslavement by Spain, the rebels were more prepared than any previous uprising: they not only included 100,000 guns and corresponding ammunition in the arms purchase list signed with Japan, but even purchased a full 150 cannons for the first time. Although the Japanese munitions ship transporting the weapons was sunk in a storm on the way, and only a very small number of weapons ended up in the hands of the rebels, the amount of armaments purchased by the rebels was enough to show the ferocity of the uprising.

Therefore, under the guise of protecting the personal safety of the Germans in the Philippines, the Germans only need to equip the German factories in the Philippines with "security teams", and everyone understands the composition of the "security teams". When the number of security teams reaches a certain size, it is a significant force. In cooperation with the Far East Fleet, it is too simple to further expand the control in the Philippines. And in 1898, when the Spanish-American War broke out, when Spain was defeated, and the German Far East Fleet was stationed in the Philippines, what waves could the American Pacific Fleet under the hands of George Dewey make? And Spain has to obediently hand over the Philippines. After all, if it was handed over to the Germans in the form of some kind of exchange of interests, it would still be able to retain dignity, and if it was handed over to the Americans in the form of defeat, Spain would have completely torn off its face. The more advantageous scenario for this plan would be that the British would soon be caught in the maelstrom of the Boer War, unable to control the expansion of German power in the Pacific.

Therefore, in Jochen's mind, Western Australia and the Philippines will be the most important footholds for Germany's strategy to return to the Asia-Pacific region, but it is difficult to develop both at the same time, and it will also lead to the dispersion of forces, so he can only choose one of the two. Because of the pros and cons, Jochen hasn't decided which one to prioritize. Either way, a strong Far East Fleet is indispensable, and the fleet needs a good home port, and Jochen's favorite foothold requires a strong fleet to obtain, which becomes a nasty chicken-and-egg problem. It was difficult for the German Navy to agree to increase the size of the Far East Fleet until there were good ports in the Far East, and it was important to find a temporary foothold first. And it's not just this problem, when the Navy wants to intervene in the region in the future, it won't do it with ships alone. A ground combat force that has always been reliable and can quickly maneuver is indispensable. It's time to create a ground combat force that is independent of the Army.