The Australian Empire

Category:Australia
The Australian Empire was an empire formed on the 15th January 2050 following the election of Prime Minister, later President, Leon Bennet. The empire would go on to become the third largest empire in history behind the Mongol Empire but larger than the Russian Empire. It would become infamous for its conquest of foreign lands, a practice long since demonised and seen as outdated. It would come toe to toe with several major countries during it’s conquest such as China, Indonesia and the United States with it coming out of top during the majority of these wars. The Empire would become made up of several of its neighbouring countries such as New Zealand and Papua New Guinea and countries located thousands of miles away like Haiti and Cyprus. It also partially had control over land from several nations like the United States and Indonesia. As well as having several countries which it had previously invaded or sat very close to become it’s puppet states like East Timor and Chile.
== Origin ==
In the years leading up to the creation of the Australian Empire, Australia was experiencing serious decline. The country had very little economic growth and it had also been pushed aside on the world stage. The country was seen more as an after thought and it had a very unclear future as it became more and more isolated from the rest of the world. The country also had a lack of morale from the people as their lives didn’t change for the better and instead they only became poorer and poorer with none of the Prime Ministers leading up to 2050 being particularly patriotic or inspiring to the people.
However an independent candidate known as Leon Bennet would then come to light. A politician who looked to build up Australia through the creation of the Australian Empire. He also looked to remove Australia from the British Monarchy and instead replace it with a President as head of state. He quickly became a very popular choice and in May of 2049 he was elected Prime Minister of Australia and rushed to ensure that his plans for Australia were not empty promises.
Leon began implementing reforms which saw the quality of life for the average Australian improve drastically. He also greatly expanded the military budget and looked to have just over a million active military personnel with 200 thousand reservists at the ready. However Australia still found itself in the shadows of other countries and Leon looked to improve Australia’s position by first severing its ties with Britain and by creating the Australian Empire. On the 15th January 2050, Leon announced that the British monarch had been removed as head of state and that the Australian Empire had been formed with him as president.
== Operation Musket ==
Operation Musket was the invasion of New Caledonia, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands and annexation of all three locations into the Australian Empire. This is because Leon believed to improve Australia he would need more land and resources. Each area had its own reasons why Leon wanted to invade it. New Caledonia was wanted due to its mining industry. Vanuatu was wanted due to its tourism industry. While the Solomon Islands were wanted due to their position in Oceania, all three were wanted so Australia could better control the Oceania region.
Leading up to the invasion and the creation of the Empire most western and eastern leaders criticised the creation of the Australian Empire. With it often being described as outdated and unnecessary. Critics from the empire came from Asia from countries such as China, Japan and South Korea. Meanwhile in Europe Germany and Turkey condemned the formation of the Empire. Most African nations also saw the creation of the Empire as barbaric and feared that their nations may be preyed upon by the newly formed Empire. The United States, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Brazil and Argentina also criticised the creation of the Australian Empire and warned that any invasion would be met with heavy sanctions. The Australian Empire since even before it’s creation had zero friends and had only been met with wave after wave of criticism.
Its biggest critic was France which didn’t like the fact that the Empire had seemingly been slowly preparing for an invasion of their territory, New Caledonia. France threatened war with Australia if they did invade New Caledonia with President Raphael Durand saying “Any attempt to conquer New Caledonia will feel the great fury of France unleashed upon them”. The United Kingdom also strongly condemned the Australian Empire for a variety of reasons. First of all it wasn’t a fan of how its commonwealth nation just broke off especially due to a strong anti British sentiment from President Bennet. The UK also didn’t like the fact that the Australian Empire was planning to invade other commonwealth countries. Finally it viewed Australia’s invasion of New Caledonia similar to the Falklands War of 1982 so there was significant support for France if Australia was to invade. The UK would support France, the Solomons and Vanuatu and place heavy sanctions on the newly formed empire if Operation Musket was to go ahead.
On the 30th January, just 15 days following the creation of the empire, Australia launched an invasion of New Caledonia where it met heavy French resistance. The Australian Empire launched 90,000 men to try and pry the islands from the hands of the French.
Category:Oceania
Category:Empire