Main article:British East India Company
See also: Anglo-Maratha Wars, First Anglo-Sikh War and Second Anglo-Sikh War
Robert Clive's victory at the Battle of Plassey transformed the East India Company from a trading empire into a leading military force. Painter Francis Hyman (1708-1776), oil on canvas, c.1760
During the first hundred years of its activity, the British East India Company focused on trading operations in the Indian subcontinent. She never thought of challenging the Mughal Empire, from which she received trading rights in 1617. However, by the 18th century, the Mughal Empire was in decline, and the company entered into a struggle with its competitor, the French East India Company. At the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the British, led by Robert Clive, defeated the French and their Indian allies. The British gained control of Bengal and became the leading military and political force in India.
In the second half of the 18th century, the company expanded its holdings, ruling Indian territories either directly or through local puppet rulers under the threat of the British Indian Army, which consisted mainly of mercenary Indian sepoy soldiers. The main method of the colonial takeover of India was “subsidiary agreements,” a system of which was first invented by the French colonialists, but was used on a larger scale by the British. Under this system, the company successively forced one Indian princely state after another to sign an agreement to pay a "subsidy" for the maintenance of its mercenary army, and also to conduct its international affairs only through a British resident.
The collapse of the centralized Mughal state led to the disintegration of India into several hundred independent princely states, greatly facilitating British expansion. Only twice did the company encounter serious armed resistance, in the first case from the Maratha Confederation, and in the second from the Sikh state. The British fought three Anglo-Maratha wars against the Marathas, forming an alliance with their neighbors, who were counting on military booty and territory. The first clashes with the Sikhs were unsuccessful for the British. However, from 1839, the Sikh state plunged into internal strife and fell into decay. The British then managed to defeat the Sikhs in the second Anglo-Sikh War.
By 1857, all of India was under the rule of the East India Company. But this year the Sepoy Mutiny broke out. It ended the company's reign in India. Instead, direct rule by the crown was introduced.
Pacific Research[edit | edit source text]
Beginning in 1718, the British Empire exiled convicted criminals to America, at a rate of approximately one thousand per year. After the loss of the thirteen colonies in 1783, the British government used Australia for this purpose.
The West Coast of Australia was discovered in 1606 by Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon. The Dutch East India Company named the new continent New Holland, but made no attempts to colonize it.
In 1770, Captain James Cook, while exploring the South Pacific, discovered the eastern coast of Australia and claimed the continent as British property. In 1778, Joseph Banks argued to the government the need to establish a colony of convicted exiles in Australia. The first ship carrying convicted criminals sailed to the colony of New South Wales in 1787 and arrived in Australia in 1788. Britain continued to send exiles to New South Wales until 1840. The population of the colony by this time had reached 56 thousand people, most of whom were convicts, former convicts and their descendants. The Australian colonies eventually became exporters of wool and gold.
During his voyage, Cook also visited New Zealand, first discovered by the Dutch navigator Tasman in 1642, and claimed the North and South Islands for the British Crown in 1769 and 1770. At first, relations between Europeans and the indigenous population - the Maori - were limited to trade. In the first decades of the 19th century, permanent English settlements and numerous trading posts appeared in New Zealand, concentrated mainly on the North Island. In 1839, the New Zealand Company announced extensive plans to purchase land and establish new colonies. In 1840, William Hobson and about 40 Maori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi.
In the 17th century, the Netherlands became one of the largest maritime powers in Europe. Several trading companies responsible for the country's overseas trade and essentially engaged in colonial expansion in South and Southeast Asia were united in 1602 into the Dutch East India Company. The city of Batavia (now Jakarta) was founded on the island of Java, becoming an outpost of Dutch expansion in Indonesia. By the end of the 60s of the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company had become a serious organization with its own merchant and military fleet and ten thousand private armed forces. However, the defeat of the Netherlands in the confrontation with the more powerful British Empire contributed to the gradual weakening and collapse of the Dutch East India Company. In 1798, the company's property was nationalized by the Netherlands, which at that time bore the name of the Batavian Republic.
Indonesia under Dutch rule
By the beginning of the 19th century, the Dutch East Indies was, first of all, a network of military trading posts on the coast of the Indonesian islands, but the Dutch practically did not advance deeper into the latter. The situation changed during the first half of the 19th century. By the middle of the 19th century, the Netherlands, having finally suppressed the resistance of local sultans and rajas, subjugated the most developed islands of the Malay Archipelago, now part of Indonesia, under their influence. In 1859, 2/3 of the possessions in Indonesia that previously belonged to Portugal were also included in the Dutch East Indies. Thus, the Portuguese lost the competition for influence in the islands of the Malay Archipelago to the Netherlands.
In parallel with the displacement of the British and Portuguese from Indonesia, colonial expansion continued into the interior of the islands. Naturally, the Indonesian population met colonization with desperate and long-term resistance. To maintain order in the colony and its defense from external opponents, among which there could well be colonial troops of European countries competing with the Netherlands for influence in the Malay Archipelago, it was necessary to create armed forces intended directly for operations within the territory of the Dutch East Indies. Like other European powers with overseas territorial possessions, the Netherlands began to form colonial forces.
On March 10, 1830, a corresponding royal decree was signed on the creation of the Royal Dutch East Indian Army (Dutch abbreviation - KNIL). Like the colonial troops of a number of other states, the Royal Dutch East Indian Army was not part of the armed forces of the metropolis. The main tasks of the KNIL were to conquer the interior of the Indonesian islands, fight rebels and maintain order in the colony, and protect colonial possessions from possible attacks from external opponents. During the XIX - XX centuries. colonial troops of the Dutch East Indies participated in a number of campaigns in the Malay Archipelago, including the Padri Wars in 1821-1845, the Java War of 1825-1830, the suppression of resistance on the island of Bali in 1849, the Acehnese War in northern Sumatra in 1873-1904, the annexation of Lombok and Karangsem in 1894, the conquest of the southwestern part of the island of Sulawesi in 1905-1906, the final “pacification” of Bali in 1906-1908, the conquest of West Papua in 1920- e years
The "Pacification" of Bali in 1906-1908 by colonial forces received widespread coverage in the world press due to the atrocities committed by Dutch soldiers against Balinese independence fighters. During the "Bali Operation" of 1906, the two kingdoms of Southern Bali - Badung and Tabanan - were finally subdued, and in 1908 the Dutch East Indian Army put an end to the largest state on the island of Bali - the Klungkung Kingdom. By the way, one of the key reasons for the active resistance of the Balinese rajahs to Dutch colonial expansion was the desire of the East Indies authorities to control the opium trade in the region.
When the conquest of the Malay Archipelago could be considered a fait accompli, the use of the KNIL continued, primarily in police operations against rebel groups and large gangs. Also, the tasks of the colonial troops included suppressing the constant mass popular uprisings that broke out in various parts of the Dutch East Indies. That is, in general, they performed the same functions that were inherent in the colonial troops of other European powers based in African, Asian and Latin American colonies.
Recruitment of the East Indian Army
The Royal Dutch East Indian Army had its own recruitment system. Thus, in the 19th century, the recruitment of colonial troops was carried out primarily through Dutch volunteers and mercenaries from other European countries, primarily the Belgians, Swiss, and Germans. It is known that the French poet Arthur Rimbaud was also recruited to serve on the island of Java. When the colonial administration waged a long and difficult war against the Muslim Sultanate of Aceh on the northwestern tip of the island of Sumatra, the number of colonial troops reached 12,000 soldiers and officers recruited in Europe.
Since Aceh was considered the most religiously “fanatical” state in the Malay Archipelago, which had a long tradition of political sovereignty and was considered the “stronghold of Islam” in Indonesia, the resistance of its inhabitants was especially strong. Realizing that the colonial troops manned in Europe, due to their numbers, could not cope with the Acehnese resistance, the colonial administration began recruiting natives for military service. 23 thousand Indonesian soldiers were recruited, primarily natives of Java, Ambon and Manado. In addition, African mercenaries arrived in Indonesia from the Ivory Coast and the territory of modern Ghana - the so-called “Dutch Guinea”, which remained under Dutch rule until 1871.
The end of the Aceh War also contributed to the cessation of the practice of hiring soldiers and officers from other European countries. The Royal Dutch East Indian Army began to be staffed by residents of the Netherlands, Dutch colonists in Indonesia, Dutch-Indonesian mestizos and Indonesians themselves. Although the decision was made not to send Dutch soldiers from the mother country to serve in the Dutch East Indies, volunteers from the Netherlands still served in the colonial forces.
In 1890, a special department was created in the Netherlands itself, whose competence included the recruitment and training of future soldiers of the colonial army, as well as their re-rehabilitation and adaptation to peaceful life in Dutch society after the end of their contract service. As for the natives, the colonial authorities gave preference when recruiting for military service to the Javanese as representatives of the most civilized ethnic group, in addition to everything, they were included in the colony early (1830, while many islands were finally colonized only a century later - in the 1920s. ) and the Ambonians - as a Christianized ethnic group under the cultural influence of the Dutch.
In addition, African mercenaries were also recruited for service. The latter were recruited primarily among representatives of the Ashanti people living in the territory of modern Ghana. Residents of Indonesia nicknamed the African riflemen who served in the Royal Dutch East Indian Army as “Black Dutch”. The skin color and physical characteristics of African mercenaries terrified the local population, but the high cost of transporting soldiers from the west coast of Africa to Indonesia ultimately contributed to the gradual abandonment of the colonial authorities of the Dutch East Indies from recruiting the East Indian army, including African mercenaries.
The Christian part of Indonesia, primarily the South Molluc Islands and Timor, has traditionally been considered the most reliable supplier of military personnel for the Royal Dutch East Indian Army. The most reliable contingent were the Ambonians. Despite the fact that the inhabitants of the Ambonese Islands resisted Dutch colonial expansion until the beginning of the 19th century, they eventually became the most reliable allies of the colonial administration among the native population. This was due to the fact that, firstly, at least half of the Ambonians converted to Christianity, and secondly, the Ambonians strongly mixed with other Indonesians and Europeans, which turned them into the so-called. "colonial" ethnic group. By taking part in suppressing the uprisings of Indonesian peoples on other islands, the Ambonese earned the full trust of the colonial administration and, thus, secured privileges for themselves, becoming the category of local population closest to the Europeans. In addition to military service, the Ambonese were actively involved in business, many of them became rich and Europeanized.
Javanese, Sundanese, Sumatran soldiers who professed Islam received less pay compared to representatives of the Christian peoples of Indonesia, which was supposed to encourage them to accept Christianity, but in reality it only sowed internal contradictions among the contingent of military personnel, based on religious hostility and material competition . As for the officer corps, it was staffed almost exclusively by the Dutch, as well as European colonists living on the island and Indo-Dutch mestizos. The strength of the Royal Dutch East Indian Army at the beginning of World War II was about 1,000 officers and 34,000 non-commissioned officers and soldiers. At the same time, 28,000 military personnel were representatives of the indigenous peoples of Indonesia, 7,000 were Dutch and representatives of other non-indigenous peoples.
Mutinies in the colonial fleet
The multi-ethnic composition of the colonial army repeatedly became a source of numerous problems for the Dutch administration, but it could not change the system of recruiting the armed forces stationed in the colony. There would simply not be enough European mercenaries and volunteers to cover the needs of the Royal Dutch East Indian Army in private and non-commissioned officers. Therefore, one had to come to terms with serving in the ranks of the colonial troops of Indonesians, many of whom, for obvious reasons, were not really loyal to the colonial authorities. The most conflict-prone contingent were military sailors.
As in many other states, including the Russian Empire, sailors were more revolutionary than ground forces. This was explained by the fact that people with a higher level of education and professional training were selected for service in the navy - as a rule, former workers of industrial enterprises and transport. As for the Dutch fleet stationed in Indonesia, it was served, on the one hand, by Dutch workers, among whom were followers of social democratic and communist ideas, and on the other hand, representatives of the small Indonesian working class, who learned in constant communication with revolutionary ideas with his Dutch colleagues.
In 1917, a powerful uprising of sailors and soldiers broke out at the naval base in Surabaya. The sailors created the Councils of Sailors' Deputies. Of course, the uprising was harshly suppressed by the colonial military administration. However, the history of performances at naval facilities in the Dutch East Indies did not stop there. In 1933, a mutiny broke out on the battleship De Zeven Provincial (Seven Provinces). On January 30, 1933, at the Morocrembangan naval base, a sailor uprising took place against low pay and discrimination by Dutch officers and non-commissioned officers, suppressed by the command. Participants in the uprising were arrested. During exercises in the area of the island of Sumatra, the revolutionary committee of sailors created on the battleship "De Zeven Provincien" decided to raise an uprising in solidarity with the sailors of Morocrembangan. The Indonesian sailors were joined by a number of Dutchmen, primarily those associated with communist and socialist organizations.
On February 4, 1933, while the battleship was off base at Kotaradia, the ship's officers went ashore for a banquet. At this moment, the sailors, led by helmsman Kavilarang and engineer Bosshart, neutralized the remaining watch officers and non-commissioned officers and captured the ship. The battleship put to sea and headed for Surabaya. At the same time, the ship's radio station broadcast the demands of the rebels (by the way, they did not contain a touch of politics): to raise the salaries of sailors, to stop discrimination against native sailors by Dutch officers and non-commissioned officers, to release the arrested sailors who took part in the riot at the Morocrembangan naval base (this riot took place a few days earlier, January 30, 1933).
To suppress the uprising, a special group of ships was formed, consisting of the light cruiser Java and the destroyers Piet Hein and Everest. The group's commander, Commander Van Dulm, led it to intercept the battleship De Zeven Provincien in the Sunda Islands area. At the same time, the command of the naval forces decided to transfer to coastal units or demobilize all Indonesian sailors and staff the crew exclusively with Dutchmen. On February 10, 1933, the punitive group managed to overtake the rebel battleship. The marines who landed on deck arrested the leaders of the uprising. The battleship was towed to the port of Surabaya. Kavilarang and Bosshart, like other leaders of the uprising, received serious prison sentences. The uprising on the battleship De Zeven Provincien went down in the history of the Indonesian national liberation movement and became widely known outside Indonesia: even in the Soviet Union, years later, a separate work was published devoted to a detailed description of the events on the battleship of the East India squadron of the Dutch naval forces .
Before World War II
By the time of the outbreak of World War II, the number of the Royal Dutch East Indian Army stationed in the Malay Archipelago reached 85 thousand people. In addition to 1,000 officers and 34,000 soldiers and non-commissioned officers of the colonial forces, this number included military personnel and civilian personnel of the territorial security and militia units. Structurally, the Royal Dutch East Indian Army included three divisions: six infantry regiments and 16 infantry battalions; a combined brigade of three infantry battalions stationed in Barisan; a small combined brigade consisting of two marine battalions and two cavalry squadrons. In addition, the Royal Dutch East Indian Army had a howitzer battalion (105 mm heavy howitzers), an artillery battalion (75 mm field guns) and two mountain artillery battalions (75 mm mountain guns). A “Mobile Squad” was also created, armed with tanks and armored vehicles - we will talk about it in more detail below.
The colonial authorities and military command took frantic measures to modernize the units of the East Indian Army, hoping to turn it into a force capable of defending Dutch sovereignty in the Malay Archipelago. It was clear that in the event of war, the Royal Dutch East Indian Army would have to face the Imperial Japanese Army - an enemy many times more serious than rebel groups or even the colonial troops of other European powers.
In 1936, trying to protect themselves from possible aggression from Japan (the hegemonic claims of the “land of the rising sun” to the role of suzerain of Southeast Asia were long known), the authorities of the Dutch East Indies decided to modernize the restructuring of the Royal Dutch East Indies Army. It was decided to form six mechanized brigades. The brigade was to include motorized infantry, artillery, reconnaissance units and a tank battalion.
The military command believed that the use of tanks would significantly strengthen the power of the East Indian army and make it a serious adversary. Seventy Vickers light tanks were ordered from Great Britain just on the eve of the outbreak of World War II, and hostilities prevented most of the shipment from being delivered to Indonesia. Only twenty tanks arrived. The British government confiscated the rest of the shipment for its own use. Then the authorities of the Dutch East Indies turned to the United States for help. An agreement was concluded with the Marmon-Herrington company, which was engaged in the supply of military equipment to the Dutch East Indies.
According to this agreement, signed in 1939, it was planned to deliver a huge number of tanks by 1943 - 628 units. These were the following vehicles: CTLS-4 with a single turret (crew - driver and gunner); triple CTMS-1TBI and medium quadruple MTLS-1GI4. The end of 1941 was marked by the beginning of the acceptance of the first batches of tanks in the United States. However, the very first ship sent from the United States with tanks on board ran aground when approaching the port, as a result of which most (18 out of 25) of the vehicles were damaged and only 7 vehicles were usable without repair procedures.
The creation of tank units required the Royal Dutch East Indian Army to have trained military personnel capable of serving in tank units based on their professional qualities. By 1941, when the Dutch East Indies received the first tanks, the East Indian Army had trained 30 officers and 500 non-commissioned officers and soldiers in the armored field. They were trained on previously purchased English Vickers. But even for one tank battalion, despite the presence of personnel, there were not enough tanks.
Therefore, the 7 tanks that survived the unloading of the ship, together with 17 Vickers purchased in Great Britain, formed the “Mobile Detachment”, which included a tank squadron, a motorized infantry company (150 soldiers and officers, 16 armored trucks), a reconnaissance platoon ( three armored vehicles), an anti-tank artillery battery and a mountain artillery battery. During the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies, the Mobile Force, under the command of Captain G. Wulfhost, together with the 5th Infantry Battalion of the East Indian Army, entered into battle with the Japanese 230th Infantry Regiment. Despite initial success, the Mobile Unit was eventually forced to retreat, leaving 14 men killed, 13 tanks, 1 armored car and 5 armored personnel carriers disabled. After this, the command redeployed the detachment to Bandung and no longer sent it into combat operations until the surrender of the Dutch East Indies to the Japanese.
The Second World War
After the Netherlands were occupied by Nazi Germany, the military-political situation of the Dutch East Indies began to rapidly deteriorate - after all, the channels of military and economic assistance from the metropolis were blocked, in addition to everything, Germany, which until the end of the 1930s remained one of the key military - trading partners of the Netherlands, now, for obvious reasons, has ceased to be such. On the other hand, Japan has become more active, having long been planning to “take control” of almost the entire Asia-Pacific region. The Imperial Japanese Navy delivered units of the Japanese army to the shores of the islands of the Malay Archipelago.
The very progress of the operation in the Dutch East Indies was quite rapid. In 1941, Japanese aviation began flying over Borneo, after which units of Japanese troops invaded the island with the goal of capturing oil enterprises. Then the airport on the island of Sulawesi was captured. A force of 324 Japanese defeated 1,500 Royal Dutch East Indian Army marines. In March 1942, battles began for Batavia (Jakarta), which ended on March 8 with the surrender of the capital of the Dutch East Indies. General Pooten, who commanded its defense, capitulated along with a garrison numbering 93,000 people.
During the 1941-1942 campaign. Almost the entire East Indian army was defeated by the Japanese. Dutch military personnel, as well as soldiers and non-commissioned officers from among the Christian ethnic groups of Indonesia, were interned in prisoner of war camps, and up to 25% of prisoners of war died. A small part of the soldiers, mainly from among the Indonesian peoples, were able to go into the jungle and continue the guerrilla war against the Japanese occupiers. Some units managed to hold out completely independently, without any help from the allies, until Indonesia was liberated from Japanese occupation.
Another part of the East Indian army managed to cross to Australia, after which it was attached to the Australian troops. At the end of 1942, there was an attempt to reinforce the Australian special forces, who were waging a guerrilla fight against the Japanese in East Timor, with Dutch soldiers from the East Indian army. However, 60 Dutch in Timor died. In addition, in 1944-1945. small Dutch units took part in the fighting in Borneo and the island of New Guinea. Under the operational command of the Royal Australian Air Force, four Dutch East Indies squadrons were formed from Royal Dutch East Indies Army Air Force pilots and Australian ground personnel.
As for the Air Force, the aviation of the Royal Dutch East Indian Army was initially seriously inferior to the Japanese in terms of equipment, which did not prevent the Dutch pilots from fighting with dignity, defending the archipelago from the Japanese fleet, and then joining the Australian contingent. During the Battle of Semplak on January 19, 1942, Dutch pilots in 8 Buffalo aircraft fought against 35 Japanese aircraft. As a result of the collision, 11 Japanese and 4 Dutch aircraft were shot down. Among the Dutch aces, it is worth noting Lieutenant August Deibel, who during this operation shot down three Japanese fighters. Lieutenant Deibel managed to go through the entire war, surviving after two wounds, but death found him in the air after the war - in 1951 he died at the controls of a fighter plane in a plane crash.
When the East Indian Army capitulated, it was the Dutch East Indies Air Force that remained the most capable unit to come under Australian command. Three squadrons were formed - two squadrons of B-25 bombers and one of P-40 Kittyhawk fighters. In addition, three Dutch squadrons were created as part of the British Air Force. The RAF was controlled by the 320th and 321st bomber squadrons and the 322nd fighter squadron. The latter, to this day, remains part of the Dutch Air Force.
Post-war period
The end of World War II was accompanied by the growth of the national liberation movement in Indonesia. Having freed themselves from Japanese occupation, the Indonesians no longer wanted to return to the rule of the mother country. The Netherlands, despite frantic attempts to keep the colony under its rule, were forced to make concessions to the leaders of the national liberation movement. However, the Royal Dutch East Indian Army was rebuilt and continued to exist for some time after World War II. Its soldiers and officers took part in two major military campaigns to restore colonial order in the Malay Archipelago in 1947 and 1948. However, all the efforts of the Dutch command to preserve sovereignty in the Dutch East Indies were in vain and on December 27, 1949, the Netherlands agreed to recognize the political sovereignty of Indonesia.
On July 26, 1950, the decision was made to disband the Royal Dutch East Indian Army. By the time of its disbandment, 65,000 soldiers and officers were serving in the Royal Dutch East India Army. Of these, 26,000 were recruited into the Indonesian Republican Armed Forces, the remaining 39,000 were demobilized or transferred to serve in the Dutch Armed Forces. Native soldiers were given the option of demobilization or continued service in the armed forces of a sovereign Indonesia.
However, here again interethnic contradictions made themselves felt. The new armed forces of sovereign Indonesia were dominated by Muslim Javanese - veterans of the national liberation struggle, who always had a negative attitude towards Dutch colonization. The main contingent of the colonial troops was represented by the Christianized Ambonese and other peoples of the South Molluk Islands. Inevitable tensions arose between the Ambonese and Javanese, leading to conflicts in Makassar in April 1950 and an attempt to create an independent Republic of the South Moluccas in July 1950. Republican troops managed to suppress the Ambonese protests by November 1950.
After this, more than 12,500 Ambonese serving in the Royal Dutch East Indian Army, as well as their families, were forced to emigrate from Indonesia to the Netherlands. Some Ambonese emigrated to Western New Guinea (Papua), which remained under Dutch rule until 1962. The desire of the Ambonians, who were in the service of the Dutch authorities, to emigrate was explained very simply - they feared for their lives and safety in post-colonial Indonesia. As it turned out, it was not in vain: periodically, serious unrest breaks out on the Molluk Islands, the cause of which is almost always conflicts between the Muslim and Christian populations.
( Verenigde Oost— Indische Compagnie – VOC) – East India Company (OIC) (1602 – 1798); area of activity: Indonesia, Moluccas, Japan (Nagasaki coast), Iran, Bangladesh, Thailand (formerly Siam), Guangzhou, China (formerly Canton), Taiwan (before 1662 - Formosa), South India.
OIC was a joint stock company, it raised money for its activities through the issue and sale of shares (total capital amounted to 6.5 million guilders).
OIC action
The company was headed by 17 directors, the so-called XVII Lords (Heeren XVII). The goal of the OIC was not territorial conquest, but a trade monopoly. Colonial expansion in the Far East was made possible by the weakening of Portugal and due to constant competition with Spain and England - the latter of which was constantly increasing in strength. The following stages of this expansion can be distinguished:
1605 - conquest of the island of Ambon and then the following islands of the Moluccas Archipelago;
1619 - capture of part of the island of Java and the founding of the city of Batavia there;
1624 - capture of the island of Formosa;
1641 - capture of the Moluccas;
1658 – reverse seizure of Portuguese Ceylon;
1669 – capture of Makassar;
1682 - capture of the Bantam state.
In its colonial policy, the OIC followed three tactics:
- conquest and seizure of the entire territory;
- obtaining a monopoly on trade as a result of monopolistic agreements with local rulers;
- Negotiating agreements in compliance with the law of free competition from trading companies in other countries.
Tactic No. 2 was preferred.
The city of Batavia (now Jakarta), founded on the island of Java, was the center of the crossing routes, linking the largest cities in Asia.
OIC commercial routes
Replica of an eighteenth century ship Amsterdam
In trade, the Netherlands focused mainly on spices: pepper, cloves and nutmeg. In areas where the OIC exercised territorial control, supplies were subject to established quotas and the price was fixed. Suppliers who failed to fulfill their obligations were punished by death or slavery (they were forced to work on OIC plantations). When prices fell, the Dutch destroyed plantations and even the products themselves. In other areas, the Dutch received goods by agreement with local rulers, who received “protection” in return for supplies. Of course, they also benefited from cooperation with Dutch merchants.
Dutch Plantation in Bengal (India), Hendrick van Schuilenberg, 1665
The OIC also maintained trade relations with Persia, Siam, Japan and China. For two centuries, Dutch trade relations with Japan were based on the privilege of exclusivity. This exceptional position was achieved by avoiding the mistakes of the Dutch predecessors - the Spaniards and Portuguese. The Dutch were not trying to manipulate, but rather to be missionaries, and, in addition, they told the Japanese that they were not Catholics! But they were not allowed into the Empire of Japan, and the Dutch were forced to remain on the artificial island of Decima, which was built especially for them.
Interesting note
Once a year, Dutch merchants were allowed to enter the territory of the empire under the pretext of presenting tribute and respect to the emperor (the Dutch considered this to be payment of a tax) - the ban, at the same time, was formally supported. During this trip, merchants had the opportunity to conduct business meetings. These trips were described in interesting reports that have survived to this day.
The Dutch on the way to Edo to pay tribute to the emperor, 1727.
The same ban was in effect in China - direct trade began only in 1729, when Guangzhou became a place of exchange. (The Chinese were prejudiced against the Dutch because of the Portuguese, who made them look bad). One of the goods purchased in those countries and exported to Europe was tea (the Dutch were the first to bring Chinese tea to Europe, this happened in 1610). Even in the 18th century, Amsterdam was the largest market for this product. OIC also exported porcelain to Europe. Attempts to imitate the famous Chinese porcelain gave impetus to the creation of the famous Delft porcelain, which became very popular in Europe.
There were also strong trade ties with Arab countries - Saudi coffee was brought by the Dutch to Europe. The OIC did not escape the role of intermediary in trade between Asian countries, from which the company also received enormous benefits. How big the profit was can be tracked by the dividends paid to shareholders. In the best period (early 18th century) dividends were as much as 40%, then for a long time the commission was between 15-25%.
OIK warehouse in Oostenberg, Amsterdam
The decline of the OIC occurred during the crisis of the Republic of the United Provinces (at the end of the 18th century). Official bankruptcy was declared in 1798, and the East India Company then ceased to exist. Currently, its archives are stored in the state archive on many kilometers of shelves. Besides the weakness of the United Provinces, there were several other reasons for the decline of the OIC. A characteristic feature of OIC colonization was that colonization did not lead to mass migration of the population of the Netherlands. Without landed peasants tended to seek happiness in other European countries rather than in the Far East (Europe was underpopulated in the first half of the 17th century). They did not care about a quick and easy career in the colonies. OIC officials also refused to leave the Netherlands and often traveled to East Indies only for the conclusion of contracts. The salaries of minor officials, soldiers, sailors and other employees were so low that large-scale smuggling flourished, and illegal transactions, falsified accounts and corruption were common. The Republic of the United Provinces was unable to exercise effective control over its outlying lands. And this was her mistake - to squeeze out maximum profits with minimum costs. Therefore, the Dutch colonies were underfunded, had too little money for defense, and could not effectively counter their colonial competitors, mostly England. In the photo: Amsterdam OIC flag
Despite the scarcity of the European population, especially decent white women (those who emigrated to the East Indies were usually shrews), the Dutch for a long time avoided racial mixing with the indigenous peoples. Then they gradually recognized marriages with local Christian women, and then with non-Christian women, but did not allow them and their children to enter the territory of the republic. They were not Dutch. Those born in Asia, regardless of race, were always inferior to Europeans and had to give way to them in obtaining jobs and positions.
The OIC was also active in Africa, as described in Chapter .
II Dutch Indies. 19th century
After the fall of the OIC, the composition of the Dutch colonies changed. Ceylon and Malaya (in 1824) were irrevocably ceded to England. The British failed to maintain control over the islands of Sumatra and Java, which they captured in 1811 for only three years, and in 1814 they were returned to the Netherlands. Since then, the former East Indies began to be called the Dutch Indies. From the creation of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815 until 1848, the sovereignty of the colonies was represented by the king, and from 1848 this function was transferred to the States General.
Dutch India
The fall of the OIC and the abolition of the trade monopoly, along with increasing competition from England, forced the Netherlands to define new forms of exploitation of the Dutch Indies. From this time on, peasants, subject to the new cultuurstelsel (cultivation system) imposed by the Dutch, had to use 1/5 of their land for cultivating plants, while landless people had to 
were to work on plantations for 1/5 of the year. This system proved to be very effective and profits from the sale of sugar and coffee increased significantly. (Income from investments in the colonies was spent in the Netherlands.) But in the mid-19th century, under the influence of liberal ideas, a certain part of Dutch society demanded reform in the colonies: reducing government control and increasing freedom for private enterprise, which led to the legalization of private capital. This was introduced in 1870 by government decree, which was in force until 1925. A significant change was the replacement of compulsory supplies of agricultural products with taxes; poll taxes, land taxes and indirect taxes were introduced. In the photo: collecting resin from a damarov acacia tree, o. Celebes.
During the presence of the Dutch in the Dutch East Indies, protests from the local population periodically broke out. In 1825 on the island. Java experienced an uprising against the colonists, local rulers and Chinese traders. The revolt lasted until 1830, but was brutally suppressed, with approximately 200,000 Javanese killed. Another rebellion, involving Sumatra, Sulawesi and Bali, was stopped by punitive expeditions. Local wars and conflicts were common.
1873 was the year of the sudden outbreak of war with the Sultanate of Aceh, located in northern Sumatra. In the 16th and 17th centuries it was the most important country in the region. The Sultanate used to support piracy, but as long as it did not affect the most important sea routes, the OIC did not care much about it. The situation changed with the creation of the Suez Canal, which meant that ships had to pass by the coast of Aceh. This forced the Dutch to conquer the sultanate, which led to a long and costly war (1873 - 1903), eventually the sultanate fell and the Dutch lost control of the entire island.
Dutch officers in Aceh, 1900
From about 1910, the Netherlands controlled the entire Malay Archipelago, but the status of its territories varied. More than half of the territory was included in the Dutch Indies, the rest of the territory had formal autonomy. Owning these colonies had both pros and cons. Private business benefited, making profits from the trade in sugar, tobacco, tin, oil and coal. Great profit opportunities in trade, industry, services and agriculture, as well as investment in infrastructure, have attracted residents of the Netherlands. Approximately 90,000 Dutch moved here from Europe after the First World War. On the other hand, for the state this meant huge costs for defense and warfare (the war with the Aceh Sultanate was especially expensive), although the state only partially participated in making a profit. The situation in the Dutch treasury only improved after the tax reform of 1908.
At the end of the 19th century, part of Dutch society began to think about the moral aspect of the exploitation of the Far Eastern colonies, people came to the conclusion that the state had a serious moral duty to those colonies. It was estimated that the state profit from the use of the colonies was approximately 1.5 billion guilders. This is how the so-called “ethical policy” arose. The new policy meant the need to improve living conditions for the local population through accessible education, healthcare, improved communications, the establishment of a modern system of government and justice, etc. However, this was not done without interest for the Netherlands itself, since a better standard of living for the local population was beneficial for the sale of Dutch goods.
Interesting fact:
Despite intensive commercial contacts with the colonies, the Northern Netherlands for a long time did not consider it necessary to modernize 
b your own fleet - replace sailing ships with steamships. The goods were delivered regularly and there was no reason to rush. In 1858 the Dutch merchant fleet consisted of 2,397 sailing ships and only 41 steamships; in 1900 there were still 432 sailing boats in use. But there were reasons for this. Steam engines required coal refueling stations along the way and in Indonesia itself. These stations also required protection and maintenance. Due to difficult working conditions, it was difficult to recruit a team. Moreover, the coal ships had to return empty, as they were too dirty to transport food: tea, coffee, rice, spices, etc. Thus, on remote routes, sailing ships were cheaper than steamships. In the photo: a ship sailing to the colony.
III 20th century – on the way to independence
At the beginning of the 20th century, dark clouds began to gather over the Dutch leadership of the Dutch East Indies. This was due to the awakening of national consciousness and the increase in anti-imperialist and revolutionary sentiment (as echoes of the October Revolution of 1917). Economic and social changes have had a major impact on these areas. Feudal relations were replaced by capitalism, and industrial development led to the birth of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, which each began to develop in its own direction. In 1927, the Indonesian National Party was founded.
Dutch colonial residence
The colonial government, representing the interests of the Dutch capital and having a thriving business there, put up strong resistance to the liberation tendencies of the Indonesians. Although political reforms were introduced, the capital maintained strict control over the colonies. Any action against the colonial authorities (for example, the uprising in 1926 on the island of Java and in 1927 on the island of Sumatra) was severely punished - imprisonment, exile in camps and even the death penalty. In this situation, Indonesians began to sympathize with Japan, which was seen as a liberator (on the eve of World War II, Japan intensified its economic expansion in the archipelago).
After the outbreak of World War II, the Dutch Indies became the site of the war with Japan. In response to a Japanese request, which was rejected by the Dutch government-in-exile, the Netherlands declared war on Japan in December 1941. From 1942, the Japanese army successively occupied Dutch-held territory, leading to the surrender of the Royal Netherlands and Indian Army, signed on March 9, 1942. From this moment on, the situation for the Dutch population became critical. The Dutch were exiled to camps, and soldiers were forced into slave labor. Several thousand civilians and prisoners could not survive it.
Capture of Governor General Tjard van Starkenborgh Stachoover, 1942
Some Indonesians, including former President Sukarno, saw Japanese rule as a chance to gain independence, which they eventually received. The military defeat of Japan led to the recognition of Indonesian independence, which was declared on August 17, 1945.
For a long time, the Netherlands did not want to accept the loss of this colony and tried to restore the previous status quo through military force. However, the first attempts to solve the problem were made through negotiations and the signing of peace treaties. One such treaty provided a new status quo based on the concept of a federation - the United States of Indonesia (part of the Kingdom), consisting of the Republic of Indonesia (Java, Madura, Sumatra) and the Greater East (Borneo and other islands under the direct rule of the Netherlands). The corresponding agreement was signed on November 15, 1946 in Linggajati, but this did not satisfy either party. (The Greater East and Moluccas voted to remain in the Kingdom as they did not want to come under Javanese leadership.)
Dutch soldiers checking documents of Batavia women, 1946
In the following years (1947 and 1948), the Netherlands initiated two military interventions, but, despite signing new agreements, were unable to stop the emancipation of Indonesia. The last formal link between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Republic of Indonesia (founded 5 January 1949) was the Netherlands-Indonesian Union (signed 7 May 1949), under which the Netherlands exercised strict control over foreign policy, finance and military power in western New Guinea. This was when Batavia was renamed Jakarta, which became the capital of the republic. Indonesia dissolved the union in 1954, and Dutch property (public and private) was nationalized in 1957.
The longest battle was fought by the Netherlands to maintain control of western New Guinea, which led to the severance of diplomatic relations between the countries in 1960.
Dutch New Guinea, 1916
In 1961, the disputed territory was captured by the Indonesians. In 1962, the territory was handed over to the UN provisional government, to be incorporated into Indonesia as West Irian in 1963. Since the late 1960s, especially after the fall of Sukarno, relations between Indonesia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands began to normalize, as evidenced by the visit of Queen Juliana in 1971.
The legacy left by the Dutch in this territory is enormous, but perhaps even more can be traced in material terms. This topic was discussed separately in the chapter . It should be noted here that the Dutch were a factor in uniting the various kingdoms of ancient East India, and the territory of modern Indonesia coincides with the former Dutch Indies.
Bandung, De Groot Postweg Oos – road built by the Dutch
Photos: Wikimedia commons, Tropenmuseum collection
The Dutch East Indies in the first half of the 20th century was the largest and most important part of the colonial empire of the Netherlands. The local rubber, sugar, coffee, tin (and, from the 1930s, oil) brought great income to the Dutch. Moreover, before the Second World War, the colonialists managed to keep the local national liberation movement in check. Oddly enough, the future Indonesia had a real chance of gaining independence thanks to aggression from the Axis countries. After the Netherlands was captured in Europe by Nazi Germany, the latter's Asian ally, Japan, occupied the Dutch colony in Asia.
Dutch Indies becomes Indonesia
The very possession of vast colonial possessions, 56 times larger in area than the territory of the metropolis, was a traditional source of national pride for the inhabitants of the Netherlands. The Dutch wartime prime minister Pieter Gerbrandi said:
“Holland is not just a small country in Europe. We are spread over 4 continents. Our overseas possessions are the reason for our existence."
However, such an attitude towards their colonial empires among small European states existed not only in the Netherlands.
Netherlands Indies in 1940
Like British India, the Dutch East Indies (in the Netherlands it is usually called "Netherlands-Indië") consisted of territories under the direct control of the Dutch governor-general, as well as several dozen vassal principalities.
The country actually had a rigid caste system, at the top of which stood 280 thousand Dutch colonists and Indo mestizos, who held leading positions in the governing bodies and economy of the colony. One step below were rich Chinese traders and the “black Dutch,” Christian natives of the Moluccas, who predominantly staffed the administrative apparatus and the colonial army. At the base of the social pyramid were millions of other Indonesians.
Semarang Station at the beginning of the 20th century
After the First World War, the colonial order, which had existed under the motto Rust en Orde (“Tranquility and Order”), began to gradually disintegrate. More and more young Indonesians were carried away by the ideas of national liberation, not wanting to be second-class citizens in their home country.
In the 1920s, Islamists were active in the Netherlands Indies, and communists even tried to organize an anti-colonial uprising. In the 1930s, more moderate secular nationalists, led by Sukarno, who received an engineering education, came to the fore. By the end of the 1930s, the Dutch seemed to have succeeded in suppressing the independence movement. They made moderate attempts to reform the colonial system.
But the arrival of the Japanese during World War II broke the entire system. During the occupation, a powerful political organization was created in the country led by the recognized leaders of Indonesian nationalists Sukarno and Hatta, a network of local authorities and a volunteer militia of “Defenders of the Motherland” PETA numbering more than 37,000 people.
On August 17, 1945, with the consent of the commander-in-chief of Japanese forces in Southeast Asia, Marshal Terauti Sukarno, declared the independence of the Republic of Indonesia.
Return of the Europeans
In the autumn of 1945, in order to accept the surrender of Japanese troops, the territory of the former Dutch East Indies was occupied by British and Australian troops.
The British command limited itself to the occupation of large cities and tried to pursue a balanced policy, initiating a dialogue with nationalist leaders. However, there were regular conflicts between the British and various Indonesian forces that were weakly subordinate to the central leadership.
The largest clashes occurred in October-November 1945 in the main port of Java, Surabaya. The Battle of Surabaya is considered the official beginning of the Indonesian War of Independence.
British Indian Army patrol in the jungles of Java in 1946
On October 1, 1945, the Dutch colonial administration headed by Governor General Hubert van Mook returned to Jakarta. An old French phrase “We learned nothing and forgot nothing” describes the behavior of returning colonizers as well as possible. Even British journalists wrote with indignation about “parochial Dutch colonialism.”
The Netherlands verbally agreed to grant Indonesia independence after a transition period. Back in December 1942, Queen Wilhelmina announced that after the war a Dutch similarity to the Commonwealth would be formed, in which Indonesia and other colonies would receive self-government. But the Dutch did not intend to negotiate this with the “traitors and collaborators” Sukarno and Hatta from the leadership of the Republic.
Governor General van Mook strolls through Jakarta, 1947
Governor General Van Mook put forward a project to create the “United States of Indonesia” (USI), a federal state with broad rights for the regions. Since 1946, in certain territories, the Dutch began to energetically create these very future “states” led by their puppet rulers.
Due to the terror unleashed in Jakarta by the Dutch and their henchmen at the end of 1945, the leadership of the Republic was forced to move to the spiritual capital of Java, Yogyakarta. Here they were under the protection of Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX, one of the few Indonesian feudal rulers who supported the Republic.
KNIA infantry battalion, late 40s
In March 1946, the first Dutch units from Europe arrived in Indonesia. As more Dutch units arrived, the British withdrew their troops, handing control of the cities to the Dutch. At the same time, the colonialists recreated the Royal Netherlands East Indian Army (KNIA) formed from the local population. Now new battles were inevitable.
Self-proclaimed army
The Indonesian National Army was created on October 5, 1945. The basis of its units were PETA battalions.
29-year-old former schoolteacher Sudirman, commander of the Blitar PETA battalion, was elected the first commander-in-chief of the Indonesian army at a meeting of commanders on November 12, 1945. Over time, former officers of the colonial army who managed to graduate from the KNIA military school on the eve of the Japanese invasion began to play an increasingly important role in the leadership of the Indonesian army - Alex Kavilarang, Abdul Haris Nasution, Muhammad Suharto.
Commander-in-Chief Sudirman with his subordinates, 1946
By the summer of 1946, the Indonesians had formed 10 territorial divisions—seven in Java and three in Sumatra—with a total strength of 190,000 men. There were also approximately 470,000 lashkars in Indonesia, members of popular militias controlled by various political parties and local leaders.
Initially, weapons came to the Indonesians from Japanese warehouses. In addition, more than 2,000 Japanese soldiers and officers joined the Indonesian army to continue fighting against the European colonialists. And from fifty Japanese “Zeros” and “Hayabusas” the Indonesian Air Force was created.
Japanese fighter Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa Indonesian Air Force at the War Museum
However, the Republic was sorely lacking in modern weapons. Most of her soldiers did not even have firearms, and those who did were severely short of ammunition. With great difficulty and adventure, with the help of Europeans and Indians who sympathized with the Republic, it was possible to purchase and smuggle only small quantities of weapons to Java.
British withdrawal and Lingajat Agreement
British forces left Indonesia by the end of November 1946, having lost 1,022 troops killed or missing in action. Just before leaving, after several rounds of difficult negotiations, the British managed to achieve an agreement between Indonesia and Holland on November 15, 1946 in the mountainous town of Lingajati near Jakarta.
The Dutch recognized the authority of the Republic in the territories it controlled in Java, Madura and Sumatra. During the transition period until January 1, 1949, the USIs were to be created, in which the Republic became one of the “states”.
Signing of the Lingajat Agreement
Although both sides ratified the agreement, negotiations on its practical implementation were difficult and were actually interrupted in March 1947.
In the Netherlands, conservatives were outraged by concessions to the “Japanese quislings Sukarno and Hatta.” In 1946, the country's constitution was changed to make it possible to send ordinary conscripts to serve in the colonies. More and more Dutch units arrived in Indonesia.
After the conclusion of the Ligajat Agreement, the Dutch took control of the main cities in Sumatra - Medan, Padang and Palembang. In Sulawesi and Bali they conducted operations against local guerrillas. During the “pacification” campaigns, mass arrests and imprisonment in camps of anyone suspected of sympathizing with the Republic were practiced.
From December 1946 to February 1947, KNIA commandos - several hundred "Red Berets" under the command of Captain Raimund Westerling, a veteran of the 2nd (Dutch) platoon of the 10th Inter-Allied Commando Detachment, successfully "pacified" South Sulawesi using rather radical methods.
Captain Westerling, 1947
Before dawn, commandos surrounded the village and carried out general searches. Anyone found in possession of weapons, ammunition, or Republic propaganda materials was shot on the spot and his hut burned. Afterwards, all the villagers were driven out into the field, several dozen more “suspicious” among them were shot, and then the survivors were forced to swear on the Koran “not to support terrorists,” warning that otherwise the village would be destroyed.
Westerling himself claimed that no more than 600 people were shot in Sulawesi, while the Indonesians spoke of tens of thousands. Modern studies usually talk about three to four thousand killed.
The first "police operation"
By mid-1947, under the command of one of the Netherlands' best officers, 45-year-old Major General Simon Spoor, 120,000 troops had been assembled in Indonesia. This number included 70,000 men from the Dutch army proper, 45,000 soldiers from the KNIA and 5,000 marines.
Dutch in Troops depart for Indonesia from Rotterdam, 1947
The KNIA Air Force consisted of about 150 vehicles of various types (Mustangs, Mitchells, Spitfires, Kittyhawks and others). The main forces of the Dutch fleet, led by the aircraft carrier Karel Doorman, were also in Indonesian waters.
The long-term maintenance of such large forces placed a heavy burden on the treasury of Holland, devastated by World War II. In this regard, the government was increasingly inclined to use the army and, if not crush the Republic, then at least take control over the most important areas from an economic point of view. The colonial authorities expected that 5–6 months would be enough to put an end to the Indonesian nationalists.
On May 27, 1947, the Dutch presented an ultimatum to Indonesia. In accordance with it, it was proposed to create a single temporary administration headed by Governor-General van Mook within a month, transfer issues of defense, foreign policy and trade to the Netherlands and form a Dutch-Indonesian gendarmerie instead of the Indonesian army.
The Indonesian authorities agreed to all demands, except for the creation of a joint gendarmerie.
Commander-in-Chief Spoor driving a jeep, 1947
On July 20, 1947, Dutch Prime Minister Louis Bijl announced the termination of the Lingajat Agreements and the beginning of “a police operation designed to put an end to extremism, anarchy and banditry.” Since Yogyakarta's communications with the outside world were simultaneously cut off, the Indonesian authorities did not even suspect this until Dutch troops launched an offensive in Java and Sumatra at midnight on July 21, 1947.
About 70,000 military personnel were involved in the “police operation,” called “Product,” in Java - the 1st and 2nd infantry divisions of the Dutch army, 5 KNIA brigades and a 5,000-strong marine brigade, trained with the help of the Americans for the war on the Pacific Ocean. In Sumatra, 3 KNIA brigades with a total strength of 18,000 people took part in the operation.
Well-prepared mechanized Dutch units advanced from Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang and Surabaya in Java and from Medan, Palembang and Padang in Sumatra, easily breaching the Indonesian defenses with the support of the air force and navy.
Dutch marines landing on Java, 1947
Amphibious landings were also carried out, and on August 4, a parachute landing was launched for the first time west of the city of Demak in central Java.
Indonesian units retreated to rural areas, switching to guerrilla warfare methods. But, in general, due to the suddenness and speed of the Dutch offensive, the Indonesians were unable to organize serious resistance.
On August 5, having completed the main tasks, the Dutch agreed to the ceasefire demanded by the international community. They captured the main rice granaries in Java and Madura, half of the sugar fields of Java, the largest rubber and coffee plantations around Medan, the Standard and Shell oil fields in southern Sumatra, and the tin mines of Bangka.
Having declared the limit of the advance of the Dutch troops as the border of the Republic in the form of the “van Mook Line”, the Dutch organized new “states” of their SHI in the occupied territories.
« van Mook line» in Java (territories under the control of the Republic are indicated in red)
The Republic retained a third of Java with only two major cities (Yogyakarta and Surakarta) and three quarters of Sumatra. At the same time, it lost its most important food and mining areas, as well as its largest seaports.
Nevertheless, the struggle continued. Quite soon, the actions of Indonesian guerrillas on the roads in western Java led the Dutch to call them “roads of death.” Acts of sabotage and strikes were organized in cities.
Retaliatory actions against the guerrillas - such as the Rawageda massacre, when on December 9, 1947, a KNIA unit under the command of Major Fons Wijnen slaughtered the male population of a village 100 kilometers east of Jakarta - raised a wave of indignation throughout the world, causing increased sympathy for the Republic of Indonesia.
Dutch soldiers with captured partisans, 1948
India and some other Asian countries have banned Dutch planes and ships from entering ports and landing at airports. Australian dockers refused to service Dutch ships.
In December 1947, negotiations began on board the American military transport Renville in Jakarta Bay through the mediation of the “UN Good Offices Commission”, consisting of diplomats from the United States, Belgium and Australia.
Negotiations on board the Renville
On January 17, 1948, a peace agreement was signed, which became known as the Renville Agreement. Indonesia had to recognize the “van Mook Line” and withdraw all its armed units to the territory of the Republic. Otherwise, this document repeated the theses of the Lingajat Agreement, which provided for the creation of the United States of America.
To be continued
Literature:
- Tsyganov V. A. History of Indonesia. Part 2 - M.: Moscow University Publishing House, 1993
- Joseph H. Daves. The Indonesian Army from Revolusi to Reformasi: Volume 1 - The Struggle for Independence and the Sukarno Era – CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013
- Nicholas Tarling. Britain, Southeast Asia and the onset of the Cold War, 1945–1950 – Cambridge University Press, 1998
- Adrian Vickers. A History of Modern Indonesia. – Cambridge University Press, 2005
Plan
Introduction
1 Background
2 General chronology
2.1 Foundation
2.2 Territorial expansion
2.3 Islamic resistance
2.4 Fall of the Dutch East Indies
Bibliography
Introduction
Dutch East Indies (Dutch. Nederlands-Indië; Indon. Hindia-Belanda) - Dutch colonial possessions on the islands of the Malay Archipelago and in the western part of the island of New Guinea. It was formed in 1800 as a result of the nationalization of the Dutch East India Company. Existed until the Japanese occupation in March 1942. Also sometimes called colloquially and informally Netherlandish (or Dutch) India. It should not be confused with the Dutch Indies, a Dutch colonial possession on the Hindustan Peninsula. Like other colonial entities, the Dutch East Indies were created in intense competition both with local state formations and with other colonial powers (Great Britain, Portugal, France, Spain). For a long time it had a predominantly thalassocratic character, representing a series of coastal trading posts and outposts surrounded by the possessions of local Malay sultanates. The conquests of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as the use of powerful economic exploitation mechanisms, allowed the Dutch to unite most of the archipelago under the rule of their crown. The Dutch East Indies, with its rich reserves of oil and other minerals, were considered "the jewel in the crown of the Dutch colonial empire."1. Background
2. General chronology
- 1859: annexation of 2/3 of the territory of Portuguese Indonesia, excluding the East Timor region.
- 1942-1945: Japanese occupation of Indonesia
2.1. Base
During the Napoleonic Wars, the territory of Holland itself was captured by France, and all Dutch colonies automatically became French. As a result, the colony was ruled by a French governor-general from 1808 to 1811. In 1811-1816, during the ongoing Napoleonic Wars, the territory of the Dutch East Indies was captured by England, which feared the strengthening of France (by this time Great Britain had also managed to occupy the Cape Colony, the most important trade link between the Netherlands and Indonesia). The power of the Dutch colonial empire was undermined, but England needed a Protestant ally in the fight against the Catholic old colonial powers of France, Spain and Portugal. Therefore, in 1824, the occupied territory was returned to Holland by an Anglo-Dutch agreement in exchange for Dutch colonial possessions in India. In addition, the Malacca Peninsula passed to England. The resulting border between British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies remains to this day the border between Malaysia and Indonesia.2.2. Territorial expansion
The capital of the Dutch East Indies was Batavia, now Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia. Although the island of Java was controlled by the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch colonial administration for 350 years, from the time of Kun, full control over most of the Dutch East Indies, including the islands of Borneo, Lombok and western New Guinea, was established only at the beginning of the 20th century. .2.3. Islamic resistance
The indigenous population of Indonesia, supported by the internal stability of Islamic institutions, offered significant resistance to the Dutch East India Company and later to the Dutch colonial administration, which weakened Dutch control and tied up its military forces. The longest conflicts were the Padri War in Sumatra (1821-1838), the Java War (1825-1830) and the bloody Thirty Years' War in the Sultanate of Aceh (northwest Sumatra), which lasted from 1873 to 1908. In 1846 and 1849 the Dutch made unsuccessful attempts to conquer the island of Bali, which was conquered only in 1906. The natives of West Papua and most of the interior mountainous areas were only subdued in the 1920s. A significant problem for the Dutch was also quite strong piracy (Malay, Chinese, Arab, European) in these waters, which continued until the middle of the 19th century.In 1904-1909, during the reign of Governor General J.B. Van Hoetz, the power of the Dutch colonial administration extended throughout the entire territory of the Dutch East Indies, thus laying the foundations of the modern Indonesian state. Southwest Sulawesi was occupied in 1905-1906, Bali in 1906 and western New Guinea in 1920.
2.4. Fall of the Dutch East Indies
On January 10, 1942, Japan, in need of the minerals that the Dutch East Indies were rich in (primarily oil), declared war on the Kingdom of the Netherlands. During the Operation in the Dutch East Indies, the territory of the colony was completely captured by Japanese troops by March 1942.The fall of the Dutch East Indies also meant the end of the Dutch colonial empire. Already on August 17, 1945, after liberation from Japan, the Republic of Indonesia was proclaimed, which Holland recognized in 1949 at the end of the Indonesian War of Independence.