"The Dutch East Indies Ulcer – the Aceh Wars begin 1873-74 " Topic

"The history of the Netherlands in the 19th Century is a closed book for most non-Dutch, not least because of the incorrect perception that "little happened" and as the country was at peace in Europe from 1831 to 1940. The Netherlands were however involved in a series of colonial campaigns in the vast territory of the Dutch East Indies, which constituted most of what is the present-day nation of Indonesia.

There had been a Dutch presence on the island of Java since the early seventeenth century and the island had become the focus of intense British and French rivalry during the Napoleonic Wars. Dutch power was spread more thinly elsewhere and the nineteenth century saw a succession of campaigns to bring the entire archipelago under control. The instrument for this was the KNIL – the Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger, the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army. Established in 1830, this force was not part of the Dutch Army (which only served at home) and was not entitles to make use of Dutch conscripts. Funded by the colonial budget, it fell under the command of the Governor-General of the East Indies. It accepted volunteers of other European nationalities in addition to many from the Netherlands itself – one unlikely example being the French poet Arthur Rimbaud (1854 –1891) who joined in 1876, served for four months and then deserted. The officers and non-commissioned officers were mainly European (typically Dutch, German, Belgian and Swiss) but the majority of the troops were indigenous Indonesians, mainly from Java. In the KNIL's earlier years several thousand African soldiers were recruited from the small Dutch holdings on the Gold Coast (Modern Ghana)…."

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Amicalement
Armand

I actually have a Dutch army for this,converted many figures in 28mm ,before Tiger came out w/ theirs. They also had Zulu comp. Usually a battalion had 2 Dutch companies ,1 r 2 Javanese ,and then maybe one African. They also had convicts w/ red bandanas,who would lay down Facsines into the ditches and put up the scaling ladders on the fort walls . So those convicts who surived a campaign ,they would be pardoned.It's a fun army to game.Great article.

Interesting. Bedanke.

Quite interesting my friend!.

Amicalement
Armand

I'd love to see photos of your conversions, Jurgenation !

Me too!

Amicalement
Armand