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Book Cover
E-book
Author Dijk, Kees van.

Title The Netherlands Indies and the Great War, 1914-1918
Published Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2007

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Description 1 online resource (xiii + 674 pages)
Series Free online access: JSTOR
Contents Introduction – The colonial race – A new century, a new elan – Indiërs – The threat from the north – The Dutch fleet – August 1914 – Guarding strict neutrality – The European community in the Netherlands Indies – Loyal subjects – A native militia – The Turkish factor – The German menace – The consequences of economic warfare – Adjusting to economic warfare – The dangers of war and shipping – Gloomy prospects – Growing domestic unrest – The end of Dutch international shipping and trade – Rice and sugar – Restlessness – November 1918 – Peace : missed opportunities
Summary World War I had just broken out, but colonial authorities in the Netherlands Indies heaved a sigh of relief: The colonial export sector had not collapsed and war offered new economic prospects; representatives from the Islamic nationalist movement had prayed for God to bless the Netherlands but had not seized upon the occasion to incite unrest. Furthermore, the colonial government, impressed by such shows of loyalty, embarked upon a campaign to create a 'native militia', an army of Javanese to assist in repulsing a possible Japanese invasion. - - Yet there were other problem: pilgrims stranded in Mecca, the pro-German disposition of most Indonesian Muslims because of the involvement of Turkey in the war, and above all the status of the Netherlands Indies as a smuggling station used by Indian revolutionaries and German agents to subvert British rule in Asia. - - By 1917 the optimism of the first war years had disappeared. Trade restrictions, the war at sea, and a worldwide lack of tonnage caused export opportunities to dwindle. Communist propaganda had radicalized the nationalist movement. In 1918 it seemed that the colony might cave in. Exports had ceased. Famine was a very real danger. There was increasing unrest within the colonial population and the army and navy. Colonial authorities turned to the nationalist movement for help, offering them drastic political concessions, forgotten as soon as the war ended. The political and economic independence gained by the Netherlands Indies, a result of problems in communications with the mother country, was also lost with the end of the war. - - Kees van Dijk examines how in 1917 the atmosphere of optimism in the Netherlands Indies changed to one of unrest and dissatisfaction, and how after World War I the situation stabilized to resemble pre-war political and economic circumstances. - - Kees van Dijk (1946) has worked as a researcher at KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies from 1968 to 2007 and has been professor of the history of Islam in Indonesia at Leiden University since 1985. Among his publications are Rebellion under the banner of Islam; The Darul Islam in Indonesia (Leiden, KITLV Press 1981) and A country in despair; Indonesia between 1997 and 2000 (Leiden, KITLV Press 2001)
Analysis Colonial history
Economic implications
Economische gevolgen
Europa
Europe
Indonesia
Indonesie
Islamic reform movements
Islamitische hervormingsbeweging
Koloniale geschiedenis
Nationalism
Nationalisme
Nederland
Netherlands
Neutraliteit
Neutrality
Political development
Politieke ontwikkeling
Wereldoorlog I
World War I
In Books at JSTOR: Open Access JSTOR
OAPEN (Open Access Publishing in European Networks) OAPEN
Subject World War, 1914-1918 -- Indonesia
Humanities.
HISTORY / General
SUBJECT Indonesia -- History -- 1798-1942. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85065744
Subject Indonesia
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9789004260474
9004260471
9789067183086
9067183083