The declaration of war on Atjeh in March 1873 was the Dutch act of war against the Sultanate of Atjeh, precipitated by the ultimatum delivered by gouvernements-commissaris Nieuwenhuyzen to the Sultan on 22 March 1873 and confirmed by the bombardment of the Sultan’s residence from the warships anchored 3,600 metres offshore. The declaration triggered the first Atjeh expedition and inaugurated the Atjeh War, the longest and most costly colonial conflict in Dutch history.
The chain of telegrams
The decision to declare war emerged from a rapid exchange of telegrams between Minister Fransen van de Putte in the Hague and Governor-General Loudon in Batavia. On 18 February 1873, the Minister telegraphed “with foreknowledge of the ministerial council and the King” that further delay was impermissible and suggested Nieuwenhuyzen as commissioner. On 22 February, Loudon responded by convening the Council of the Netherlands Indies and deciding to send Nieuwenhuyzen with four battalions. On 7 March, the Minister telegraphed that sovereignty or war as a first demand would make a bad impression; on 9 March, Loudon insisted that no other guarantee was conceivable than recognition of sovereignty. On 12 March, the Minister’s telegram advised against the overly harsh first demand; Loudon persisted. The ultimatum was then delivered.
The manifest and the ultimatum
The manifest sent ashore to the Sultan stated: “This manifest will be delivered to the Sultan today, and as soon as its receipt is confirmed, it will be further confirmed by the firing of some projectiles into or near the Sultan’s residence, from which we are only 3,600 metres distant.” This language — simultaneously delivering demands and threatening bombardment — was characterised in the Tweede Kamer debate as neither a negotiation nor an ultimatum in the accepted sense, but as an act of war wrapped in the form of a diplomatic communication.
The ultimatum changed the originally stipulated 14-day period for compliance to 24 hours. Fransen van de Putte later took this modification “entirely upon myself,” arguing that once blood had been shed, the original instruction (which envisaged only sovereignty on paper) was no longer applicable and the right of establishment must be reserved.
The debate on legitimacy
The legitimacy of the war declaration was the central question of the Tweede Kamer debate of April 1874. Van Zuylen van Nyevelt argued that no justa causa existed; Godefroi argued that colonial-political necessity supplied the justification; Haffmans argued that the war had been pre-arranged between the Minister and the Governor-General and that the ultimatum was merely “an idle display” preceding war. Van Lynden demonstrated that the Government’s claim of ignorance during the February interpellations was contradicted by the submitted documents, which proved that the Government had both known and willed the war.
The alternative proposed
Several speakers argued that a naval demonstration — taking position by the ships, declaring war without a large landing, and blockading the coast — would have been sufficient to present America with a fait accompli while avoiding the disastrous land expedition. Stieltjes noted that Prussia and France had been at war without Germany blockading any French port, and that the Netherlands had been at war with Belgium in 1830 without blockading Ostend. Van Nispen argued that one could have blockaded without landing troops, and that the great landing before the kraton was the fundamental error that gave the Atjehers the opportunity to construct formidable fortifications.
Sources
Schets eener parlementaire geschiedenis van Nederland van 1849 tot 1901, by Mr W. J. van Welderen baron Rengers, 4th rev. ed., Vol. IV: Oost-Indië 1891-1918 by Dr W. H. Vermeulen (‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1955), pp. 267-269.
See Also
- T.N. Nieuwenhuyzen
- I.D. Fransen van de Putte
- Loudon
- First Atjeh expedition (March-April 1873)
- Tweede Kamer debate on Atjeh war origins (April 1874)
- Atjeh-oorlog (1873-1904)
- Sumatra-tractaat (1871)
- Gouvernements-commissaris
- Manifest aan Sultan van Atjeh (22 March 1873)
- Tractaat van 1824 (Anglo-Dutch)
- Sultan of Acheh
- P. P. van Bosse
- H. B. van Kol
- Abraham Kuyper
- Singapore
- Soezkanaal
- Straat Malakka
- Mentawai-eilanden
- 1871
- 1873
- 1897
Source
Verslag van het verhandelde in de vergaderingen der Tweede Kamer in comité-général van 16, 17, 18 en 20 April 1874: Oorlog met Atjeh, gedrukt ter Algemene Landsdrukkerij van het Koloniaal Instituut (1881), pp. 9–25, 65–72, 87–93; H. T. Damsté, “Drie Atjeh-Mannen,” Kolonial Tijdschrift (1937), pp. 356–358.