British-Dutch War for Java
The British-Dutch War for Java was an armed conflict between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands in 1811 that took place on the Indonesian island of Java . The war ended in a British victory and resulted in the appointment of Thomas Stamford Raffles as governor.
At the end of the 18th century, the failure of the commercial empire of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) became increasingly evident. The decline of the spice trade and falling profits, which meant higher costs for territorial control, together with poor economic efficiency and corruption ultimately led to the demise of the VOC. On December 31, 1799, the VOC was declared bankrupt and taken over by the Dutch government with a debt of 140 million guilders. In 1806, the government of the Batavian Republic transferred control of the Dutch East Indies to the Ministry of Colonies. Napoléon Bonaparte reintroduced the monarchy and installed his brother Louis as king.
The colonial administration feared that the war against Great Britain could lead to the occupation of their properties in Southeast Asia and appointed Herman Willem Daendels as governor general, who ruled the colony "with an iron hand". He built fortifications on Java and obliged young men to do military service. Forced laborers had to build a 1000 kilometer long road - Dutch Grote Postweg - along the north coast. Rumors that Daendels wanted to split off the colony from the Netherlands, however, led to his recall and the appointment of Jan Willem Janssens as the new governor general, who took up his post in June 1811.
The British, who had occupied the Moluccas with the islands of Ambon and Ternate the year before , feared that enemy France would take over the remaining Dutch possessions and attacked Java at the end of August under the command of Samuel Auchmuty and accompanied by the Indian Governor General Gilbert Elliot . On August 28, 1811, British troops stormed the heavily fortified position of Meester Cornelis , now in the Jatinegara sub-district in Jakarta , and after conquering the city of Semarang in September, Janssens capitulated.
The British government took over the properties and made Thomas Stamford Raffles , the later founder of Singapore , lieutenant-governor. As chief administrative officer of the colony, Raffles launched a series of political and economic reforms. Based on the view that no trading company or government could exist if the people were exploited, he first reduced the influence of the local nobles and carried out a land reform (Dutch Land Rent ) in October 1813 .
With Napoleon's defeat in the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815 and the ensuing end of the coalition wars, the British surrendered Java to the Netherlands in 1816.
See also
literature
- MC Ricklefs: A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300 . 2nd edition. MacMillan, London 1991, ISBN 0-333-57689-6 .