The Partitioning of Hawaii

[David S Poepoe]

How much coffee do Russians drink? Having coffee plantations on Kauai might be an idea.

There are no native coffee plants in Hawaii, they were brought there in 1823 in an attempt to diversify the economy. The first time they were introduced they basically failed as an export since coffee from virtually any other place on earth is cheaper. A lot of the land that had been used for coffee production was turned over to the more profitable sugar cane.

 

[The Kiat]

I know it's not native (coffee's native to Ethiopia ). I was just remembering the coffee plantations (groves, whatever you want to call them) that were around Kona. The French do drink a great deal of coffee, and since I figure they'll end up with the whole (Big) island, the colonists might want to grow some of their own.

I was just wondering how much the Russians drank, and if Russian coffee plantations were just a waste of time.

 

[Fenrir_Angerboda]

I was just wondering how much the Russians drank, and if Russian coffee plantations were just a waste of time.

while I might be mistaken, Coffee doesn't seem to have a history in Russia, so it probably would be a waste of time and effort.

 

[The Kiat]

while I might be mistaken, Coffee doesn't seem to have a history in Russia, so it probably would be a waste of time and effort.

Is it because they're a tea culture like Britain, or that they just didn't have as much access to it?

 

[The Kiat]

6) Fall of Hawaii

The Kingdom of Hawaii remained more isolated with outside trade than did Maui, Kauai or even the northern Kingdom on their own island. Hawaii had no influx of allies or trade. Instead, they received the HMS Forrester and its crew of mutineers. The ship appeared off the west coast of the island in 1814. After most of sailors landed, the Hawaiians captured the ship in the middle of the night, then the crew in the morning. These captives were put to work, in the hope they could provide the same benefits that the Hawaiian king’s enemies were receiving. British military discipline was bestowed on the Hawaiian Army and Navy, but modern weapons were still lacking.

As with Kohala, Catholic missionaries made great inroads into the Kingdom of Hawaii. They were not alone in this endeavor, as Protestants of various denominations competed for the souls of the Hawaiians. The Protestants, particularly the American missions, had a head start on the French. Though Kohala was converted earlier than Hawaii, when the Hawaiian King Kiwalao II converted to Protestantism, his advisors convinced him to outlaw Catholicism. In 1851, the decree was enacted, and Hawaiian Catholics faced persecution. Some fled to Kohala to escape danger.

The French ambassador in the island attempted to make Kiwalao II see reason and to enact a edict of tolerance. The King refused, and precede to expel the French ambassador. Though France was having its own problems back home, the French navy still had ships to spare. In October of 1852, three French frigates appeared off the island with four hundred marines. The ships pounded the fortifications around Kona, while marines stormed the beach and sacked the city. Kiwalao escaped to the interior of the island and attempted to rally his forces.

In the north, thirsting for vengeance from decades ago, the Kohalans joined their French allies in the invasion of Hawaii. Kohala was seriously outnumbered by the Hawaiians. The Kohalan Army was not alone in their invasion. French soldiers stationed in their kingdom joined the battle, bringing artillery pieces to play in the battle. Though not as well connected as its neighbors, Hawaii still managed to acquire their own firearms. These muzzle-loaders were little match against grapeshot.

Franco-Kohalan forces captured Hilo on January 2, 1853, from both land and sea. Again, Kiwalao escaped capture with part of his army in tact. For over a year, he fought the French in a guerilla war. In 1854, Kiwalao II believed himself victorious when the French began to pull back. He was wrong; the French forces were being readied for a joint Anglo-French invasion of Kauai after word of the war in the Crimea reached the island. Kiwalao never recovered his island. Losing both Kona and Hilo weaken him in the eyes of his own people. Kiwalao II, last King of Hawaii, was killed by poison. Be it one of his internal enemies, or the French, nobody knows. What is known is that Hawaiian resistance fractured after his death.

Guerilla activity continued on the island until the 1870s, by which time Hawaii was firmly in French hands, and open to French colonists. Kohala received little for their participation in the war. The King of Kohala justifiably felt betrayed when France took all the spoils of conquest. So much so, that the issue would continue to strain Franco-Kohalan relations for the remained of Kohalan independence.

 

[The Kiat]

Another wonder: how would a larger Russian presence in the Pacific affect Japan? Would the Russians encroach on them like they have so many other peoples? I already have them laying claim to Midway and Wake; could they try for Hokkaido?

 

[The Kiat]

7) European Wars

When word of war between Russia and an Anglo-French alliance reached the Hawaiian Islands, the Royal Navy was quick to act. With a sizable French force already on the island of Hawaii, Britain and France worked together to take the battle to the Russians in Kauai. The Russian-American Company was little match against the Royal Navy, and the Russian Navy barely existed in the Pacific. Royal Marines and French soldiers landed on Kauai in early May of 1855.

Their first target was the Russian port town of Fort Alexander. Various industries grew up around the fortress, including Sandalwood harvesters, whaling stations and smithies. The Russian garrison in the actual fortress numbered only a few hundred, along with a dozen aging artillery pieces. The Siege of Fort Alexander lasted only two weeks, short compared to the fighting in the Crimea. With his own men starving and most wounded, Russian General Putyativ surrendered to the British on May 30.

Fort Elizabeth, on the Waimea River, fell in early June without much of a fight. With no hope for reinforcements, the Russian commander fired a few shots to satisfy his honor, then surrendered to the much larger French force. With the Russian garrison defeated, many of the Kauaians celebrated what they saw as their liberation. The hated oppressors were vanquished. A rash of violence against Russian settlers, whether they came to the island by choice or not, was quickly quashed by the occupying Anglo-French forces.

Kauai was not the only Russian possession to fall during the Crimean War. In September of 1855, the HMS Peregrine landed its contingent of Royal Marines on Wake. At the time, the island was uninhabited. The only proof that humans ever stepped foot upon the island were the bones of long dead whales. The Marines had little to police on the island. After running up the Union Jack over an empty pier, they re-embarked on their frigate and sailed onwards.

The Crimean War was not the end of the Russians in the Hawaiian Islands. When the peace treaty was signed in Paris in 1856, the British turned Kauai, and Wake, back to the Russians for concessions in the Japanese trade. Opening Japan to British goods was not London’s only motivation in giving Russia back their tropical paradise. It was all about Balance of Power; Russia was allowed back on Kauai to help balance out the French on Hawaii. Had Russia been permanently evicted, it would only have been a matter of time before France and Britain fought over control of all the islands. That was theory back in London, at any rate.

For the Kauaians, the return of the Russian-American Company was not welcome. As many of the Kauaians as possible tried to flee with the British, even to the point of clinging to the last Royal Navy ship as it departed. For their welcoming of liberation, the Russians enacted a severe punishment against the remaining native population of the island. Those known to have collaborated with the British and French found themselves deported from their homeland, mostly to destinations in Alaska and on Hokkaido. A few, lucky Kauaians were simply exiled to Niihau to tend flocks of Russian sheep on the island.

 

[The Kiat]

8) Sugar Islands

Sugar cultivation existed on the Hawaiian Islands long before their discovery by Europeans. The sugar industry itself did not start until a year after the Crimean War ended. The French were the first to try large scale plantations on the island. France itself had far closer, and cheaper sources of the sugar, but there was always a market to be had. The United States had little in the way of its own sugar production capacity, and ports along its west coast, especially San Francisco welcomed Hawaiian sugar. Along with sugar, the French imported new crops to the island. In 1857, the first coffee plantation was established in the hills east of St. Charles, the French colonial capital built on top of a sacked Kona.

Hawaiians soon found themselves dispossessed of their land. The French administration parceled these lots out to French colonists, as well as a few Kohalans. The Hawaiian people began to suffer the same exploitation as their land. With so many landless islanders, the French had themselves a pool of cheap labor. Working the Hawaiians to death was not France’s only interest. In the 1860s, a new type of missionary arrived in the island; the civilizing missionary. The French believed it their responsibility to civilize the islands, as they were civilizing the Indochinese. To the colonist, to be civilized meant the same thing as to be French. Hawaiians were forced to conform to French normalcy, including speaking a civilized tongue. Being but a protectorate of the French, Kohala did not suffer the direct oppression of their southern neighbors. This did not stop a select few Kohalans from seeing which side of bread was buttered, and to adopt French habits.

As the Sandalwood trade grew tighter with ever diminishing supplies, despite the best efforts at forest management, both Britain and Russia took up the sugar habit. The British began to spread their own sugar plantations across Oahu in the 1860s, much to the anger of the King of Maui. Oahu was still nominally part of the Kingdom, but as more and more colonists came in from across the sea, the island started to look less native. Ironically, the largest source of immigrants was not Britain, but rather India. Sugar is a rather labor intensive crop. To satisfy this demand, the British imported indentured laborers from their colony in India. Between 1860 and 1880, some twenty thousand Indians made themselves at home in Victoria, and the surrounding cities.

As the British presence expanded, so did their settlement. The British soon overran Honolulu Harbor, building on top of Waikiki the city of Victoria. As the years passed, the relationship between Britain and Maui gradually slanted in favor of Britain. The Mauians protested and even attempted to resist British colonization of Oahu. Maui had little to offer in payment except land. In 1871, using a little gunboat diplomacy courtesy of the Royal Navy, Britain convinced Maui to cede to them the island of Oahu as payment for all debts incurred. With the island legally theirs, the British preceded to relocate the surviving natives of Oahu to one of the other islands of Maui.

The Russian-American Company jumped on the sugar bandwagon as the Sandalwood industry collapsed on Kauai. Russia itself, save for territory along the Pacific, had far cheaper sources of sugar. Even with protectionist efforts, Kauaian sugar was still prohibitively expensive. Instead of selling the bulk of its produce to its own country, the Russian-American Company followed the French example and sold it to the Americans. Importation to Canada was blocked by Britain’s own sugar interests. The Russians had ample sources of penal labor to work the sugar fields. With 70% of the pre-Crimean War native population exiled or deported from Kauai, the Russians brought in their own criminals and malcontents to work the fields.

 

[The Kiat]

9) Fortress Oahu

In the 1880s, as the Royal Navy’s presence in the Pacific Ocean continued to increase, engineers took their first serious look at Pearl Harbor. At the time, the harbor was not much more than a swamp, too shallow for ships to enter. Dredging of the harbor’s entrance began in 1887. On both sides of the entrance, the British built a pair of fortresses, with three hundred millimeter guns hauled all the way from distant foundries to guard the harbor. Coaling stations were the first installations to be erected inside the harbor.

On Muko Island, the British build an even larger fort to not only defend the harbor, but to serve as headquarters and barracks for Pearl Harbor. Some envisioned Oahu transforming into an eastern Pacific version of Singapore. With these two bases, the British hoped to dominate an ocean that was half a world away from Britain. Deepening the harbor took millions of pounds and some in Parliament questioned if it was a worthwhile investment, with a perfectly good harbor at Victoria. The new base also sent the message to the King of Maui that the British were on Oahu for keeps. From here, the Royal Navy and Marines could protect British subjects and business interests.

Changes were coming on Maui as well. A written Constitution was drafted in 1886, by a select group of Mauian Nobles as well as British advisors. The Constitution established a parliament designed along the British model. Citizens were empowered with the franchises solely based on wealth. This limited the selection of members of parliament to the wealthy elite of the natives, as well as naturalized Europeans. Seeing the wealth limit set would give the foreigners too much power, the King lowered the requirement, allowing more of his own people to vote. At first, the franchise was limited to the island of Maui. By 1900, Lanai, Molokai and Kahoolawe with its minute population, were allowed to vote based on their wealth.

The 1886 Constitution also granted a great deal of protection to the Mauian sugar industry. Macadamia nut cultivation increased as well. As Maui gained more contact with the outside world, its trade increased as well. Each year, a greater percentage of the island’s cultivation was given over to cash crops for export. Though the Protectorate Britain held over the kingdom prohibited its own foreign policy, Maui still did a great deal of business with American merchants and traders. In 1890, Mauian farmers purchased a number of coffee plants from the French in St. Charles. When the French showed no interest in purchasing back the grown product, the Mauians shipped their coffee to American ports along the West Coast.

 

[The Kiat]

10) Ecological Invasion

When Europeans brought their livestock and pests with them, it was not the first such invasion of the Hawaiian Islands. That occurred between 300 and 1000 AD, when the first Polynesians are believed to have arrived in the islands. Humanity itself was an invasive species, as destructive as the pigs the Polynesians brought as livestock. Early settlers in the islands hunted several flightless bird species into extinction, including some rather large ducks. Habitat destruction played a role as the settlers cleared away the forests for fields of taro and sugar.

European introductions wrecked even more damage on the environment. The biggest of these pests were rats. Aside from destroying stores of grain, rats fed upon the eggs of various species that survived the first wave of human colonization. On Oahu, the British moved to combat rats by introducing a predator from India; the mongoose. It was hoped they would keep the rat population in check. Instead, they fed upon various species of birds, placing more pressure upon the endemic species. One India veteran commented that they should have brought the cobra instead.

On Hawaii, the French opted to introduce cats as a means to control rats. As with the mongoose, the cat quickly decided the native birds were easier prey. Feral cats quickly became as big a pest as the rats. Introduction of cattle and sheep had its own impact. Both British and French colonists cleared forests to make room for their grazers. A large portion of Oahu’s forest was cleared for the staples of British civilization. As bad as Oahu and Hawaii fared, Kauai was worse. First the Russians over-harvested the Sandalwood, then cleared cut portions of forest for cattle and sheep. Niihau, with little in the way of forests to begin with, was far better shepherd country.

In the course of the 19th Century, it is estimated that half the species that survived the Polynesians did not survive the Europeans. Even animals as benign as the honey bee impacted the environment, though nowhere as hard as the goat. By the 20th Century, portions of Kauai faced severe erosion problems, as well as depleted soil. Oahu and Hawaii, being ruled by nations with experience in maintaining a limited area of land, fared moderately better. Even the Kingdom of Maui did not escape environmental impact. The introduction of sheep and cattle into the kingdom gave it the same problems as the European colonies. Molokai faced its own erosion problems as goats stripped away vegetation from the drier half of the island. By 1900, western Molokai resembled Easter Island in terms of environmental degradation.

 

[The Kiat]

11) Hawaii and the Great War

In 1915, nearly a year after war was declared on the other side of the planet, a German expedition departed Samoa for the Hawaiian Islands. The fleet was little more than a destroyer squadron accompanying three cruisers and two thousand soldiers. On September 29, the German expedition encountered what passed for the Russian Navy off Kauai. The Russian naval presence in the islands was even more pitiful than the Germans’. Without losing a single ship, the Germans destroyed the outdated defenders of Kauai. Shortly after, German battalions were landed near the mouth of the Waimea River and lay siege to Fort Elizabeth.

The British and French were not idle once word that their enemies have arrived. The French were in a poorer position to do much about it, with their ships further south in Polynesia. The Royal Navy, however, had a permanent fleet based at Oahu, including two battleships. The British fleet sortied in the evening of October 6, and engaged the Germans the next day. Like the Russians, the German fleet was all but annihilated. Unlike the previous battle, the British did not sail away unscathed. Along with a German squadron, four British destroyers and a cruiser were sent to the bottom of the Pacific. Cut off from any hope of resupply, the Germans on Kauai had little option but to surrender. The Battle of Kauai ended any German designs on the islands.

In 1917, Russia was racked by two revolution. The Kauaians, as they were, were lukewarm towards the Russian Revolution. Few of the original Kauaians remained on the island after a century of Russian control. Most of those modern population came from across the Russian Empire, people the Tsar exiled over the years. In the past decade, a number of Bolsheviks were exiled to the island. When the second revolution came in November, the Bolsheviks on Kauai lead their own Red revolution against the Russian authorities. On January 3, 1918, the Bolsheviks established the Kauaian Soviet.

 

[The Kiat]

12) Workers’ Paradise

Following the collapse of the Russian Empire, the Royal Navy moved quickly to seize ports in Kauai, to prevent the Germans from moving in again. The German Navy in the Pacific was all but gone, and its key islands under the control of British Commonwealth forces. British control over the seas around Kauai relaxed after November 11, but quickly returned when Russia descended into civil war. Allies from the Great War intervened on the White Russians side in their attempt to destroy the newly established Russian Federate Socialist Republic.

On January 7, 1920, British and French forces landed on Kauai. They were met on the beach by a determined, but outnumbered foe. Fort Alexander fell on January 10, and a second landing near Fort Elizabeth captured the city on January 18. The Reds did not surrender, but rather took to the hills of Kauai in a guerilla campaign. The campaign would have been far more effective had Kauai had its original forest, along with the dense canopy as cover. Britain’s use of aircraft over the island allowed Red holdouts to be located. Reaching them, was another matter. Kauai lacked the extensive infrastructure that the British built on Oahu and the French on Hawaii.

The Anglo-French occupation ended in 1921, with the defeat of the White Russians. In 1922, Kauai was made an autonomous region of the Far East Soviet Socialist Republic, which included all of Russia’s Pacific holdings. Following the establishment of the Soviet Union, a number of the Reds’ enemies were exiled to the Republic, either to corrective labor camps in Kamchatka or Alaska. Kauai would not become part of the Gulag system. Instead, many of the Party’s leaders had dachas built upon the island. Kauai, like the Black Sea, was transformed into a holiday resort for the Soviet elite.

Not all was picture perfect on the island. Stalin’s drive for collectivization hit Kauai hard as all the sugar plantations were nationalized and collectivized. The same applied to pineapple plantations and the sheep ranches on Niihau. Collectivization caused famine across the Soviet Union, but Kauai felt the impact far less than the Ukraine. The islands’ low population kept it safe. The island did suffer from hunger, for half of its food was imported. When the State seized control of pineapple and sugar production, and diverted it to internal distribution, trade with the United States ceased. Failure to export sugar meant failure to import wheat. Moscow took extra care to make up the difference, especially with so many power players of the city spending a winter month or two in their tropical villas. The peasants and workers survived off the leftovers.

 

[David S Poepoe]

I think the Anglo-French, or at least the British, would annex Kauai or the US would be invited in. The Russians, especially the Bolsheviks, will be kicked out of the North Pacific in 1921.

 

[The Kiat]

I think the Anglo-French, or at least the British, would annex Kauai or the US would be invited in. The Russians, especially the Bolsheviks, will be kicked out of the North Pacific in 1921.

Not so sure about Alaska (known resources), or Hokkaido (strategic reasons), but the smaller islands south, you're probably right. I thought about going down that path, but then it would make the islands almost all British. Not many Polynesians left on Kauai at this point. I wanted to stick with the partitioned theme of the story, but I can always write an alternate ending where the USSR trades land for peace/time.

 

[Falastur]

You could've always had the White Russians keeping control of Kauai, although a more sorry exile state there never would be - but I guess the Whites would be in a perfect position to demand it, really, holding the land legally and being under virtually no threat of continuing conflict with the Soviets. It would surely end up as a British protectorate while the Soviet threat remained but hey, it preserves the tripartite nature of the islands and eliminates the Reds from Hawaii, and when the USSR falls maybe they'd even seek independence rather than reincorporation (I have a "thing" for small countries, sorry).

For the record, I can't see a Romanov installing himself there - it's just too small-fry - but it's your story.

I can't really see the Reds actually succeeding in holding Kauai, anyhow. The British can simply starve them out and the Soviets haven't a chance of taking on the British Pacific Squadron I suspect - and even if they did win, the British would surely just signal for their fleets in India and Hong Kong/Singapore to come along and deliver the sound defeat that the Pacific Squadron should have been able to hand out.

 

[The Kiat]

Ah, you mean like a White Russian version of Taiwan.

 

[Falastur]

Effectively yes, and I hadn't even thought of that comparison.

 

[The Kiat]

WWII turns out way different with Japan as a factor. I guess you can't much call it a World War. No matter, it ended in 1944, with Patton in Berlin. As for the Soviets getting the boot in Kauai mentioned earlier, oh, it's on its way.



13) Cold Peace

The end of 1944, left Berlin conquered by the Allies, as well as Poland, Finland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria occupied by the Soviet Union. Czechoslovakia was divided, as was Germany. The USSR ended up occupying lands east of the Oder as well as a zone of Berlin. The peace that followed between Allies and Soviets was a cold peace. In the late 1940s, the Soviet Union began a large build up of its Pacific forces, including a fleet base at Kauai, as well as Airbases on Kauai and Niihau. Both side spent the 1950s on a massive spending spree in arms.

France began to fortify the island of Hawaii. In 1955, the island, including Kohala, were made an Overseas Department of France. Military installations generated a new source of income for the island, as well as a market for Hawaiian coffee, considered some of the finest in the world. France allowed the United States an air force base on the island. St. Charles Air Force Base sported the longest runway in the islands to date.

The Kingdom of Maui started construction of its own air force, purchasing surplus fighters from the United States, leftovers of WWII. The Mauian Navy consisted of gunboats constructed by the British. The Mauian Army used small arms from France and America, as well as French artillery pieces. Despite the origins of its hardware, the Mauian Armed Forces were trained solely by their British protectors.

Britain was not silent during the arms build up in the islands. The Royal Navy increased its presence at Oahu. Pearl Harbor was drastically expanded. A prudent step considering the U.S. 7th Fleet was allowed by London to move its headquarters to Pearl Harbor. A second USAF base was built at the British airbase on Muko Island. Two regiments of US Marines joined the division of British soldiers based on the island by 1956.

Late that same year, insurrection broke out in Maui. The revolution began in the pineapple fields of Lanai. Under the command of a Soviet educated George Hammer, the People’s Liberation Army made it his goal to overthrow the Mauian monarchy. The United Kingdom pledged itself to air the King of Maui in defending his Kingdom against the Red Menace. British words were fast, but actions from London moved at a more glacial pace. By the start of 1957, Revolutionary cells were on all the islands of Maui. On March 3, 1957, the rebels captured Wailuku, routing the Mauian Army. King James Kohiliho was forced to flee Lahaina for Victoria a week later as there was little to stop Hammer’s advance. The take-over of Maui was quicker than the British anticipated. Before the Royal Navy and Marines could set sail, George Hammer declared the Democratic Republic of Maui.

 

[The Kiat]

Effectively yes, and I hadn't even thought of that comparison.

Thing about White Pacific is that if the Tsar is still around, the forces of Status Quo won't stop as easily as they did in reality. I think the British and French would get deeper in the Russian Civil War, trying to restore the Tsar as a Constitutional Monarch (I can't see them restoring him as an Autocrat). Maybe that's how the Civil War can end; the last heir is killed.

 

[The Kiat]

14) Flashpoint

In January of 1958, the Royal Marines hit the beaches of Maui to restore James Kohiliho to the Mauian throne. Opposition on the beaches was fierce, and easily crushed by aircraft of the Royal Navy. The rag-tag People’s Air Force stood little chance flying WWII vintage aircraft against modern jet fighters, and was swept from the sky within two days. George Hammer and his Revolutionaries were forced to abandon Lahaina only a week after the British invasion began. Instead of collapsing, the Democratic Republic headed towards the hills of Maui, as well as launching gunboats from Molokai and Lanai.

The Soviets were not idle during the fighting on Maui. Nor were they going to stand by and let the Democratic Republic of Maui vanish. Soviet forces prepared to aid the rebels, starting with painting MiGs on Kauai in Revolutionary Mauian colors. The CIA learned of this ploy, they exposed it to the international community. The United States Navy sortied from British Oahu with plans to stop any Soviet intervention. The Soviet fleet in Kauai likewise sortied and steamed towards the 7th Fleet. As tensions rose, both side’s atomic forces went on high alert.

With the potential of a war on Maui spread to engulf the globe, the United Nations called for an emergency session. The UN drafted resolutions calling for a cease fire in Maui, as well as both the US and USSR fleets to stand down. The former was vetoed by the Soviet Union, while the later was vetoed by the United States, Britain and France. While the meeting took place in New York, Soviet paratroopers slipped past the American air patrols and landed on Maui and Molokai. On Molokai, the small British presence was pushed into the sea by the rebels, with the aid of the Soviets. In retaliation for Soviet intervention, Allied Forces marched into East Berlin, bringing the world one step closer to World War III.