The 1880s — the decade from 1880 to 1889 — was the middle decade of the Atjeh War, marked by the continuation of the Dutch campaign in Atjeh after the fall of the kraton in 1874, the experiment with civil administration in 1881–1884, the adoption of the concentration strategy in 1884–1885, and the ensuing period of defensive warfare that would last until the pacification of the late 1890s and early 1900s. The decade is the period of the contemporary Dutch pamphlet literature on the war, of which the Beschouwingen over Atjeh en onzen oorlog met dat rijk by Een Ooggetuige is an example.
The Atjeh War in the 1880s
The Atjeh War entered its middle phase in the 1880s. The Dutch, having taken the kraton of the Sultan in 1874 and established their administrative centre at Kota-Radja, spent the years 1874–1884 in offensive operations aimed at extending their control over Groot-Atjeh and the surrounding areas. An experiment with separate civil administration was introduced in 1881 but proved unsuccessful in maintaining order. The oorlogspartij (war party) and the heilige oorlog (holy war) movement gained strength during this period.
The concentration decision of 19 August 1884 marked a strategic shift from offensive to defensive operations. Dutch forces withdrew from scattered posts to a geconcentreerde stelling (concentrated position) around Kota-Radja and Olehleh, completed on 1 March 1885. The concentration system would remain in place through the late 1880s and the first half of the 1890s, and would be the subject of debate in the Dutch pamphlet literature of the war.
The pamphlet literature
The 1880s was the period of the contemporary Dutch pamphlet literature on the Atjeh War. The Beschouwingen over Atjeh en onzen oorlog met dat rijk by Een Ooggetuige, published by Van Meurs & Stufkens in Rotterdam with the map of the theatre of war, is an example of this literature. The pamphlet debates the conduct of the war, the strategic and commercial value of Atjeh, and the question of whether the Netherlands should continue the war or withdraw. The pamphlet’s comparison of Atjeh with Singapore, and its argument for the development of the Atjehnese coast as a station for world trade, place it within the wider nineteenth-century debate on the sea approaches to the archipelago.
Significance
The 1880s is significant within the AcehWiki corpus as the middle decade of the Atjeh War and as the period of the contemporary Dutch pamphlet literature on the war. The decade’s events — the concentration decision of 1884, the withdrawal to the concentrated position in 1885, and the ensuing period of defensive warfare — set the conditions for the later, final phase of the war under Van Heutsz and Snouck Hurgronje in the late 1890s and early 1900s.
See Also
- Aceh War
- Beschouwingen over Atjeh en onzen oorlog met dat rijk
- Een Ooggetuige
- Van Meurs & Stufkens
- Kaart van het Oorlogstooneel
- Concentratie-stelsel (1884-1896)
- Kota-Radja
- Olehleh
- Groot-Atjeh
- 1880
- 1881
- 1882
- 1883
- 1884
- 1885
- 1886
- 1887
- 1888
- 1889
Source
Beschouwingen over Atjeh en onzen oorlog met dat rijk, door Een Ooggetuige, met een Kaart van het Oorlogstooneel, de Vaarwaters en vereischte Kustlichten voor den Wereldhandel (Rotterdam: Van Meurs & Stufkens, [c. 1880s]). Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague, shelfmark 1830 C17 2611 / 1830 0947 8285.
The Achehnese War — general background on the Atjeh War and its periodisation, drawn from the AcehWiki corpus.