The declaration of war on Atjèh of 26 March 1873 — in Kreemer’s history, the act by which F. N. Nieuwenhuyzen, Regeeringscommissaris for Atjèh, exercised his authority to declare war on the Atjèh sultanate after the Sultan refused all explanation for his approaches to foreign powers — opened the Atjèh-oorlog, a conflict that would last, in Kreemer’s periodisation, from 1873 to 1910.
The immediate context
Kreemer situates the declaration at the end of a long chain of diplomatic failure. The Sumatra-tractaat with Britain had released the Netherlands from its 1824 obligation to respect Atjèh’s integrity. The sultanate, perceiving the threat, sought protection from foreign powers: an appeal to Turkey in 1868; an approach to the Sultan of Turkey in 1872 that delayed the Dutch peace mission; an approach to France in January 1873; and, in the same month, the Singapore embassy in which Atjèhnese envoys proposed treaties to the consuls of the United States and Italy.
The Dutch government, judging “dat al ons streven der laatste jaren gericht was geweest op het regelen onzer betrekkingen met Atjèh in dier voege, dat vreemde vestiging er zou zijn uitgesloten” — “that all our efforts of recent years had been directed to the regulation of our relations with Atjèh in such a way that foreign settlement there would be excluded” — deemed “dat de berichten uit Singapore de ernstigste complicaties deden vreezen. Onze Regeering achtte langer dralen thans ongeoorloofd” — “that the news from Singapore gave rise to fear of the most serious complications. Our Government deemed further delay now impermissible.”
The declaration
“Besloten werd den Vice-President van den Raad van Indië F. N. Nieuwenhuyzen als Regeeringscommissaris naar Atjèh te zenden om den Soeltan opheldering te vragen omtrent zijn trouweloos gedrag en van hem de erkenning onzer souvereiniteit te eischen. Maar Atjèh weigerde alle opheldering. Toen maakte Nieuwenhuyzen van zijn bevoegdheid gebruik om 26 Maart 1873 aan Atjèh den oorlog te verklaren” — “It was decided to send the Vice-President of the Council of the Indies F. N. Nieuwenhuyzen as Government Commissioner to Atjèh, to demand of the Sultan an explanation concerning his faithless conduct and to require of him the recognition of our sovereignty. But Atjèh refused all explanation. Then Nieuwenhuyzen made use of his authority to declare war on Atjèh on 26 March 1873.”
Significance
The declaration of 26 March 1873 is, in Kreemer’s narrative, the point at which the Dutch government finally abandoned the treaty-framework of 1824 and committed to the military conquest of Atjèh. The first expedition under generaalmajoor J. H. R. Kohler landed on 25 April 1873 — less than a month later — and the war thus opened would, in Kreemer’s seven-period division, run for thirty-seven years, through the second expedition, the consolidation period, the concentration and scheepvaartregeling period, the oema-period, and the final civil-government period, until the close of the war under Governor Swart in 1910.
See Also
- Acheh
- F. N. Nieuwenhuyzen
- Panglima Tibang Moehamad
- Atjèh embassy to Singapore (January 1873)
- Atjèh petition to Turkey (1868)
- Sumatra Treaty of 1871
- Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824
- First Aceh Expedition (1873)
- Aceh War
- Causes of the Atjèh-oorlog (Kreemer’s account)
- 26 March
- 1873
Source
Atjèh. Algemeen samenvattend overzicht van land en volk van Atjèh en onderhoorigheden, door J. Kreemer, Archivaris van het Atjèh Instituut. Eerste Deel. Leiden: N.V. Boekhandel en Drukkerij voorheen E.J. Brill, 1922. Hoofdstuk I, B (“Periode 1824—1873. Oorzaken van den Atjèh-oorlog”), blz. 13–14.