Second Aceh Expedition (1873-1874)

The Second Aceh Expedition (1873-1874) was the Dutch invasion force sent against Atjeh after the failure of the First Aceh Expedition (1873). Under Jan van Swieten, it landed on the east side of the Aceh River in December 1873, fought its way through the Acehnese outer defenses, and occupied the Kraton on 24 January 1874. Within a week, Van Swieten issued the Van Swieten’s Proclamation of 31 January 1874, declaring Groot-Atjeh annexed by right of conquest.

The expedition was a major Dutch military success, but it did not end the Aceh War. From the first months after the occupation of the Kraton, critics pointed out that the country had not submitted and that Acehnese resistance remained active.

Preparation after the first defeat

The second expedition was prepared after the failure of the first Dutch attack in April 1873 and the death of General Köhler. The Dutch gathered a much stronger force, improved the armament, and assembled better artillery, transport, medical support, bridging material, and supplies. Contemporary Dutch accounts gave the strength as 6,354 infantry besides officers, 75 cavalry, 656 artillerymen with 74 guns, 306 engineers, and about 250 free native auxiliaries. Jan van Swieten was recalled from retirement and placed in supreme command, with General Verspijck as second-in-command.

The expedition also combined civil and military authority in one person, because Van Swieten acted both as military commander and as government commissioner.

Landing east of the Aceh River

The landing plan differed from the first expedition. The Dutch decided to land east of the Aceh River, both because resistance there was expected to be lighter and because they wanted to spare Marassa, whose chief Toekoe Nek had shown goodwill toward them. The landing at Kwala Loë on 9 December 1873 met only light resistance.

From the beachhead the Dutch moved inland. Kota Moesapi was occupied on 13 December 1873. The next day the Acehnese line at Tiban was stormed. On 15 December 1873 the mouth of the river was reached, and on 18 December 1873 a column under Pel reached Penajoeng.

The slow advance inland

From Penajoeng the expedition advanced toward the inner defenses of the Acehnese capital. During this phase Van Swieten still tried negotiation. He sent two letters to the sultan, one offering peace on Dutch terms and one proposing to conduct the war in the manner of civilized nations. The messenger, Mas Soemo Widikdjo, a guide and interpreter who was described in Dutch sources as the son of a British-Indian officer, left on 26 December 1873 and was later killed at Longbatta.

Meanwhile the land campaign continued. The Dutch moved against Lemboe, where the fighting was severe, and later accounts remembered the bravery of men such as adjutant-under-officer Von Bredow, who planted the Dutch flag at the parapet, and Captain Van Daalen, who brought reinforcements forward. On 6 January 1874 the Dutch captured the Great Missigit. Advice from Toekoe Nek then helped shape the next move. After a secret meeting with controller Kroesen on 11 January 1874, Toekoe Nek advised the Dutch to seize the Taman, a fortified pleasure-garden southwest of the Kraton, and on 12 January 1874 the Dutch stormed it. This made the royal position much harder to hold.

Capture of the Kraton

On 24 January 1874, Dutch troops entered the Kraton and found it abandoned. The Dutch flag was raised, and the fall of the royal center became the great symbolic success of the expedition. Two days later, on 26 January 1874, the sultan died of cholera at Pagger Ajer.

On 31 January 1874, Van Swieten declared Groot-Atjeh annexed and invited chiefs to submit in writing. The Dutch now presented themselves as the new sovereign power.

Support from the navy

The naval side of the campaign also mattered. When the ruler of Pedir was reported to have gone to help defend the capital, a Dutch squadron bombarded Pedir between 29 December 1873 and 31 December 1873. Dutch accounts named the ships as the Zeeland, Metalen Kruis, Citadel van Antwerpen, Borneo, and Banda. The action was meant to punish support for the resistance and show that the Dutch could strike along the coast as well as inland.

Why the expedition did not end the war

Although the expedition took the Kraton, it did not end the war. This was clear almost at once. The Dutch still had to fight actions after the fall of the capital, including the expeditions to Expedition to Bital (12 February 1874), Expedition to Ketapang Doewa (15 February 1874), and the reverse at Battle of Lampoe Oek (16 April 1874).

At the same time, Van Swieten’s own short public signals seemed hopeful. The General van Swieten War Telegrams suggested that the struggle was nearly over and that important districts were close to submission. Later critics seized on those words when resistance continued.

The printed controversy

The second expedition quickly became the subject of one of the first large printed controversies of the war. General Knoop judged that the expedition had been only partly successful. In Open Letter by Brutus to General Knoop, Brutus argued in detail that the Dutch had moved too slowly after each success and had relied too much on the hope that occupation of the capital would bring submission by itself.

The reply came in Atjeh gedurende de tweede expeditie en later (1876), where an anonymous former officer defended Van Swieten by using the Commander’s Journal of the Second Aceh Expedition, the General van Swieten War Telegrams, and other official material. This later defense argued that the critics underestimated the effect of climate, transport problems, disease, and the practical limits of campaigning.

Significance

The Second Aceh Expedition changed the course of the war. It succeeded where the first expedition had failed, and it gave the Dutch possession of the old royal center. But it also created the central paradox of the early Aceh War: the Dutch could hold the capital and still fail to subdue the country. That is why the expedition remained both a military success and the beginning of a much longer struggle.

Source

De Atjeh-Oorlog: Kort Overzicht van Oorsprong, Verloop en Gevolg, door J. A. Kruijt (The Hague: Loman & Funke, 1896), pp. 13–18.

Atjèh. Algemeen samenvattend overzicht van land en volk van Atjèh en onderhoorigheden, door J. Kreemer, deel I (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1922), pp. 15–17.

Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, door G. F. W. Borel (The Hague: D. A. Thieme, 1878), pp. 9–49, 58–73, 118–122.

Open brief aan den Generaal Knoop over de Atjeh-kwestie, door Brutus (L. van Bakkenes en Co., 1874), pp. 4–33.

Atjeh gedurende de tweede expeditie en later, Een Oud Officier (Batavia: Ogilvie & Co., 1876), pp. 5–75.

tags	event, expedition, military, dutch, aceh-war, colonial, van-swieten
aliases	Tweede Atjeh-expeditie, Second Dutch Expedition to Aceh, Second Atjeh Expedition, Van Swieten's expedition, Tweede Atjeh-expeditie (December 1873 – April 1874), Second Aceh Expedition (1873–1874)

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