Tiban was the Acehnese defensive position south of Kota Moesapi on the route from the Dutch landing area toward Penajoeng during the Second Aceh Expedition (1873-1874). On 14 December 1873, Dutch forces under Verspijck stormed the line at Battle of Tiban (14 December 1873), making Tiban one of the first important inland battle sites of the renewed invasion of Atjeh.
Place in the campaign
After landing at Kwala Loë on 9 December 1873, the Dutch moved inland in stages. Kota Moesapi was occupied on 13 December 1873, and the next day the army struck the next strong Acehnese line at Tiban. Contemporary Dutch accounts treated the place as one of the early gateways to the inner defenses that protected the road toward Penajoeng, the Great Missigit, and the Kraton.
Historical role
Tiban became important not only because fighting took place there, but because later critics of the campaign used the victory at Tiban as the first example of a success that was not exploited quickly enough. Brutus argued that the Dutch should have pressed forward harder after the battle, before the Acehnese could strengthen their next line.
Modern identification
The exact modern administrative identification of Tiban is not clear from the cited sources. In the printed record, it appears mainly as a battlefield name in the inner war zone between the landing area and the old capital of Atjeh.
Significance
Tiban is significant because it marks the first major inland Dutch victory of the second expedition. As both a place and a battle site, it belongs to the chain of locations that structured the Dutch advance toward the Kraton in December 1873 and January 1874.
Account from Verstege’s Een beroep op het Nederlandsche volk (1886)
Verstege names Tiban the penultimate link — after Lamara Noord — on the chain of posts of the position of April 1875 before reaching Kota Moesapie (see Verstege’s folding map of Groot-Atjeh (1886)).
See Also
- Battle of Tiban (14 December 1873)
- Second Aceh Expedition (1873-1874)
- Kota Moesapi
- Penajoeng
- General Verspijck
- 14 December
- 1873
Source
De Atjeh-Oorlog: Kort Overzicht van Oorsprong, Verloop en Gevolg, door J. A. Kruijt (The Hague: Loman & Funke, 1896), pp. 13–14.
Open brief aan den Generaal Knoop over de Atjeh-kwestie (naar aanleiding van den brief van Generaal Van Swieten in Het Vaderland), door Brutus (L. van Bakkenes en Co., 1874), pp. 7–8.
Een beroep op het Nederlandsche volk in zake het Atjeh-vraagstuk, door J. J. W. E. Verstege (Amsterdam: J. H. de Bussy, 1886), p. 53. OCR: DLP-158.