The Departement van Oorlog (“Department of War”) was the Dutch colonial department responsible for military affairs in the Netherlands East Indies, including the conduct of the Atjeh-war and the military administration of Atjeh from the 1873 outbreak of the war to the post-pacification consolidation. In the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s volume De Buitenbezittingen 1904 tot 1914, the Department of War is the colonial department under whose authority the Atjeh-tramway was built and administered for most of its first quarter-century — from the 1875 construction of the first small military line between Oelèe Lheuë and Kota Radja to the post-1891 reversion of the line’s management from the B.O.W. back to the War Department.
Account from De Buitenbezittingen (1917) — Departement van Oorlog
The Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account of the Atjeh-tramway places the Departement van Oorlog at the centre of the line’s early history. The Bureau notes that “1875 [saw] the Department of War have a small railway built between the roadstead of Oelèe Lheuë and our principal military station at Kota Radja.” In 1882 the management of the line was transferred to the B.O.W., which “narrowed” (versmald) the line into a tramway. In 1891 “the management of these lines reverted to the Department of War” — a reversion that the Bureau frames as the recognition that, despite the 1882 attempt to recast the Atjeh line as a civil tramway, the lines remained essentially military instruments serving the campaign against the Atjehnese resistance.
The 1891 reversion to the War Department closed the first chapter of the Atjeh-tramway’s history — the chapter of small, local lines around Kota Radja — and prepared the ground for the second chapter that opened with the betrayal of Toekoe Oemar in 1896 and the long-line construction beginning in 1897. The Bureau notes that the Atjeh-tram “was built with exclusively politico-military intentions, without sufficient regard, at the time of the decision to build, for the economic demands that such a connecting route ought to meet” — a characterisation that places the War Department’s role in the line’s construction at the centre of the Bureau’s account of the Atjeh-tram’s military phase.
The Bureau’s account of the Gewapende Politie (armed police) likewise notes the continuing military character of the Atjeh and Dependencies residency: “Atjeh and Dependencies was the only Buitenbezittingen gewest in which the armed police division was not under the command of a retired or active army officer (as was the rule in every other gewest).” This continuing military exception reflects the still-recent character of the Pacificatie and the continuing role of the War Department in the administration of the residency.
Significance
The Departement van Oorlog is, in the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account, the principal colonial department of the military phase of the Dutch presence in Atjeh — from the 1873 outbreak of the Atjeh-war to the post-pacification consolidation. The Department’s role as the constructor and administrator of the Atjeh-tramway from 1875 to 1882 and from 1891 onward places it at the centre of the line’s early history, and the continuing military command of the armed police in Atjeh reflects the still-recent character of the pacification even at the end of the 1904–1914 decade.
See Also
- Atjeh-tram
- Aceh War
- Pacificatie van Atjeh
- Postenlinie
- Ceintuur-trambaan
- Departement der Burgerlijke Openbare Werken
- Departement van Binnenlandsch Bestuur
- Gewapende Politie
- Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- Kota Radja
- Oelèe Lheuë
- 1873
- 1875
- 1882
- 1891
- 1896
- 1897
- 1914
Sources
De Buitenbezittingen 1904 tot 1914, Deel I, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen, Aflevering X (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), p. 19 (Politie), p. 68 (section “De Atjeh-tram”).
The Departement van Oorlog (“Department of War”) was the Dutch colonial department responsible for military affairs in the Netherlands East Indies, including the conduct of the Atjeh-war and the military administration of Atjeh from the 1873 outbreak of the war to the post-pacification consolidation. In the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s volume De Buitenbezittingen 1904 tot 1914, the Department of War is the colonial department under whose authority the Atjeh-tramway was built and administered for most of its first quarter-century — from the 1875 construction of the first small military line between Oelèe Lheuë and Kota Radja to the post-1891 reversion of the line’s management from the B.O.W. back to the War Department.
Account from De Buitenbezittingen (1917) — Departement van Oorlog
The Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account of the Atjeh-tramway places the Departement van Oorlog at the centre of the line’s early history. The Bureau notes that “1875 [saw] the Department of War have a small railway built between the roadstead of Oelèe Lheuë and our principal military station at Kota Radja.” In 1882 the management of the line was transferred to the B.O.W., which “narrowed” (versmald) the line into a tramway. In 1891 “the management of these lines reverted to the Department of War” — a reversion that the Bureau frames as the recognition that, despite the 1882 attempt to recast the Atjeh line as a civil tramway, the lines remained essentially military instruments serving the campaign against the Atjehnese resistance.
The 1891 reversion to the War Department closed the first chapter of the Atjeh-tramway’s history — the chapter of small, local lines around Kota Radja — and prepared the ground for the second chapter that opened with the betrayal of Toekoe Oemar in 1896 and the long-line construction beginning in 1897. The Bureau notes that the Atjeh-tram “was built with exclusively politico-military intentions, without sufficient regard, at the time of the decision to build, for the economic demands that such a connecting route ought to meet” — a characterisation that places the War Department’s role in the line’s construction at the centre of the Bureau’s account of the Atjeh-tram’s military phase.
The Bureau’s account of the Gewapende Politie (armed police) likewise notes the continuing military character of the Atjeh and Dependencies residency: “Atjeh and Dependencies was the only Buitenbezittingen gewest in which the armed police division was not under the command of a retired or active army officer (as was the rule in every other gewest).” This continuing military exception reflects the still-recent character of the Pacificatie and the continuing role of the War Department in the administration of the residency.
Significance
The Departement van Oorlog is, in the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s account, the principal colonial department of the military phase of the Dutch presence in Atjeh — from the 1873 outbreak of the Atjeh-war to the post-pacification consolidation. The Department’s role as the constructor and administrator of the Atjeh-tramway from 1875 to 1882 and from 1891 onward places it at the centre of the line’s early history, and the continuing military command of the armed police in Atjeh reflects the still-recent character of the pacification even at the end of the 1904–1914 decade.
See Also
- Atjeh-tram
- Aceh War
- Pacificatie van Atjeh
- Postenlinie
- Ceintuur-trambaan
- Departement der Burgerlijke Openbare Werken
- Departement van Binnenlandsch Bestuur
- Gewapende Politie
- Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- Kota Radja
- Oelèe Lheuë
- 1873
- 1875
- 1882
- 1891
- 1896
- 1897
- 1914
Sources
De Buitenbezittingen 1904 tot 1914, Deel I, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen, Aflevering X (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), p. 19 (Politie), p. 68 (section “De Atjeh-tram”).