Java War
The Java War, also known in Indonesia as the Diponegoro War, was an armed conflict in central and eastern Java from 1825 to 1830, between native Javanese rebels headed by Prince Diponegoro and the Dutch East Indies supported by Javanese princely states. It is considered a watershed in Javanese history, culture, and society.
During the early nineteenth century, declining Dutch power along with increased centralization of colonial authorities through brief French and British controls had changed the political order established after the 1755 Treaty of Giyanti, at the expense of the native Javanese princely states. After the deaths of Sultans of Yogyakarta Hamengkubuwono III and IV, along with the return of Dutch presence, Hamengkubuwono III's eldest son Diponegoro became estranged from Yogyakarta's regency of Hamengkubuwono V and with the colonial government. With a millenarian movement emerging and claimed visions of a holy war, Diponegoro would launch his rebellion following tensions caused by a government road project in July 1825.
Shortly after the outbreak of the revolt, rebel forces laid siege to Yogyakarta, which was lifted following the arrival of a large Dutch relief force under H. M. de Kock. Diponegoro and his forces moved north towards Surakarta, defeating Dutch forces in a series of engagements throughout mid-1826 before being defeated west of the city. Other leaders affiliated with the rebellion took up arms in Java's north coast and in East Java. The war transitioned into a guerilla war, with Dutch forces failing to stamp out guerilla activity due to Diponegoro's popular support and Dutch manpower shortages.
By 1827, Dutch forces began employing an extensive strategy of field fortifications, gradually limiting Diponegoro's ability to maneuver and control territory. The war turned against Diponegoro, and his territorial control began to shrink as rebel forces became confined to the west of Yogyakarta. Further rebel setbacks in 1828 and 1829 saw their remaining armies depleted, with many key commanders surrendering or killed in action. Following a defeat in September 1829, Diponegoro led just a small group of guerillas. During an attempt at negotiations, Diponegoro was captured while meeting with de Kock in Magelang, and he was exiled to Sulawesi where he died in 1855.
The war had disastrous consequences for Java, marking the last significant armed resistance to Dutch rule until the Indonesian National Revolution over a century later. The princely states lost much of their remaining powers and territories, giving the Dutch uncontested rule over the island. At least 200,000 Javanese civilians were killed by violence or resulting disease and starvation, with military losses of 15,000 dead for the Dutch military and around 20,000 dead for the rebels. While the costs of waging the war for the Dutch were heavy, the implementation of the Cultivation System in its immediate aftermath generated enormous revenues for the colonial government.
Background
The 1755 Treaty of Giyanti, signed between the Dutch East India Company and Javanese rulers, divided the Mataram Sultanate into the Vorstenlanden of the Yogyakarta Sultanate and Surakarta Sunanate; another princely state, Mangkunegaran, was formed in 1757. Ushering in a period of peace after the Javanese Wars of Succession, the treaty led to a period of major population growth in Java. Due to relative weakness of the Dutch in the late 18th century, the princely states possessed de facto sovereignty. The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and the VOC's dissolution in 1799 further weakened the Dutch position in the region, with colonial authorities in Batavia requesting assistance from the princely states to defend Dutch territories in Java.In 1806, Herman Willem Daendels became Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. Daendels aimed to weaken the princely states and prepare defences against a British invasion. He harshly enforced colonial authority, boosting anti-Dutch sentiment in the Yogyakarta court and causing an abortive armed revolt by Yogyakarta bupati in 1810. In the following year, British forces occupied Java. Anglo-Yogyakarta relations soon worsened, and 1,200 British troops sacked the Yogyakarta keraton on 20 June 1812, deposing Sultan Hamengkubuwono II in favor of his son Hamengkubuwono III. During their four-year occupation of Java, the British split off part of Yogyakarta to form Pakualaman, introduced a cash-based land tax which caused hardship to peasants, and forced the princely states to limit the size of their militaries and cede territory.
Diponegoro
Prince Diponegoro was the eldest son of Hamengkubuwono III. Through his mother, he claimed ancestry from the Wali Sanga, early apostles of Islam in Java. In 1805, Diponegoro made a pilgrimage to the southern coast of Java, and later wrote that he received visions there from Sunan Kalijaga and Nyai Roro Kidul. Diponegoro also wrote of warnings of the destruction of Yogyakarta and ruin of Java. Shortly prior to the British sack of Yogyakarta, he was offered the position of crown prince under his father, but refused the offer, passing the position on to his younger brother. Diponegoro had likely been offered the position due to the assistance he provided to the British. Hamengkubuwono III died in 1814, and with his successor still being a boy, Paku Alam I was installed as regent.Following the restoration of Dutch rule in Java in 1816, Diponegoro's view of the Dutch and the Sultanate began deteriorating due to tax collection disputes and the arrest of a well-known religious leader. He also opposed the introduction of a land rent system in the late 1810s. A millenarian movement began to emerge in the Javanese countryside, fueled by an 1821 cholera epidemic and the eruption of Mount Merapi in 1822. A minor uprising by Diponegoro's great-uncle was suppressed in 1822. Hamengkubuwono IV died in December 1822, and with the new Sultan Hamengkubuwono V being two years old, Diponegoro was appointed one of his guardians. His relationship with other guardians was poor.
In 1823, the Dutch colonial official A. H. Smissaert was appointed as the resident in Yogyakarta. Smissaert alienated the native aristocracy by offering to represent the young Sultan in a royal ceremony, and further angered them by demanding heavy indemnities after abolishing the land rent. Diponegoro was appointed to negotiate indemnities, but the negotiations went poorly, and by 1824 Diponegoro refused to be involved.
Outbreak
Political moves from other guardians of Hamengkubuwono V in 1824 resulted in the expulsion of several of Diponegoro's allies from court. Diponegoro also experienced humiliation from Smissaert and his officials. In early 1825, Dutch authorities annexed some territory from the Sultanate as a lease, without consulting Diponegoro in his capacity as the Sultan's guardian. During this period, Diponegoro claimed to have experienced a series of visions urging him to engage in a holy war. By late 1824, he began meeting with other Yogyakartan officials to plan a rebellion, prepared armaments and supplies, and contacting armed bandit groups. On 17 June 1825, Smissaert ordered a road near Yogya to be repaired, which happened to pass by Diponegoro's estate of Tegalreja. Occasional fights broke out between the road workers and Diponegoro's men, and by July, a large number of Diponegoro's supporters began gathering at Tegalreja for military action. On 20 July, a detachment of Dutch and Yogyakartan troops was sent to Tegalreja in order to arrest Diponegoro, and after a skirmish Diponegoro retreated with his men to. Diponegoro declared his rebellion on 21 July 1825.Forces
Dutch
Upon receiving news of Diponegoro's uprising, Dutch forces in the region quickly moved to Yogyakarta. Some of the Dutch forces in the archipelago was engaged in an expedition in South Sulawesi, and they were recalled to Java. Overall Dutch military command in the Indies, under Hendrik Merkus de Kock, had 12,500 men, of which half were native Indonesian recruits whose loyalties were doubted by the Dutch. He would later receive additional troops – 3,154 European soldiers from the Netherlands and over 10,000 native auxiliaries recruited during the war. De Kock's Javanese auxiliaries were equipped similarly with Diponegoro's men, and had similar issues on loyalty to the Dutch cause. A number of the Dutch soldiers and officers were veterans of the Napoleonic Wars, who had moved to Java to seek new fortunes.The Dutch also made heavy use of soldiers from elsewhere in the archipelago. In 1828, for instance, while auxiliaries from Java and nearby Madura numbered just over 5,000, auxiliaries were also recruited from North Sulawesi and Gorontalo, Buton, and the Maluku Islands. Balinese kingdoms also provided 1,000 soldiers as mercenaries to the Dutch. Regular Dutch troops were armed with flintlock muskets, and these were also captured and used by the rebels.
Princely states
The leadership of both Yogyakarta and Surakarta were split: British historian Peter Carey listed fifteen princes of the Yogyakartan royal family which sided with Diponegoro with a similar number remaining loyal to the Sultan, while Dutch records described the Surakarta Sunan Pakubuwono VI as "ambiguous" with a court divided between Dutch and Diponegoro supporters. On the other hand, the Mangkunegaran under Mangkunegara II took a more active pro-Dutch stance in the war, with the Mangkunegaran Legion campaigning independently against rebels in Surakartan and Yogyakartan territory until its defeat in 1826. He would later be given a Military Order of William award for his role in the war. The Pakualaman under Paku Alam I similarly remained loyal to the Dutch.During British rule, the Sultanate of Yogyakarta alone was able to raise around 10,000 soldiers on a short notice. The cessions of land in 1812 had weakened the states, however. Throughout the war itself, the raising of troops by the princely states was limited, and were primarily small units policing secured territories. The Mangkunegaran Legion offered more troops, but due to lack of armaments, they were not raised. Dutch commanders throughout the war complained of the performance of troops provided by the Sunanate. Out of around 9,000 native auxiliary troops recorded by the Dutch in 1828, about 2,500 were part of the Mangkunegaran Legion.