Learning to Write Properly: A Different Dutch East Indies and Europe TL

Few days ago I've tried to make some quite long TL about a completely different Asia but I decided to narrow the scope a little bit involving mainly about Dutch East Indies and Europe only. How can you make the colonization process more effective and so on. The time line started in 1800. Please bear in mind that I'm still learning so please forgive me if there's any historical mistake. I hope this will not make you run away form this puny TL.

The format is just normal, nothing fancy, though I will try to make it fancier to reduce boring-ness. :)

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First Turning Point:


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1798: VOC went bankrupt because of severe internal corruption and debts. The debts and the territories previously controlled by VOC were subsequently taken by the Dutch Batavian Republic. From now on the territory was called “Dutch East Indie”. City of Batavia located in Java was made the center of the new Dutch administration.

1801: Rebellious and uprising movement led by the Javanese local leader started to spring up here and there, pushing the Dutch garrison to their breaking point. Most of the movements were backed up by the islands quite huge number of population. Despite the heavy pressure given, the uprisings were usually not very organized and could be defeated easily piece by piece.

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1808: A new military governor arrived at Batavia. Hermann Willem Daendels, a former general himself, quickly tried to reorganize the island weak defense to prepare the island from the British invasion. He built formidable fort in Meeste Cornelis, several magazines and planned for a massive infrastructure program, the building of Java Great Post Road. This overall building program pushed the already oppressed Javanese population further down. Great rebellion ensued when a dozen Javanese forced-labors refused to work and started attacking their Dutch superiors. When the rebellion finally ended most of the rich farm lands and infrastructure were left devastated. The planned post road was never completed in 1809.

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The Original Plan

Daendels, unwilling to accept the fact that the infrastructure program could never be carried out brought thousands of forced labors from another island. But the plan was very badly planned that it only made the scarce food situation worst and famine soon ensued, killing many workers and the Javanese population. Infuriated by this he blamed the corrupt local and even the Dutch civil servants, reaching a point where he actually ordered hundreds civil servant together with their family out of the comfort in Batavia and left them starving in the countryside.

1809: Not satisfied with the result as his action hampered most of the colonial activities he ordered another massive purge to locate corrupt officials in whole Java, the plan includes several denouncements of sultans. The remaining Dutch civil servant and officials in Batavia were deeply scared that if they did anything wrong again they will all be sent out and thus they were motivated to plan the purge carefully. Hundreds of local Javanese influential figures, leaders and Sultans were listed carefully in the purge-list. Corrupt or no corrupt if they had once proved that they supported the rebellions years ago they were on the list.

At this very time Daendels also wrote dozens pages of letter to Napoleon Bonaparte on why he should send more troops and statesman to Dutch East Indies for the prospect of having a rich colony is good. Most of the evidence included in the letters was cock-and-bull talk.

When the letters arrived in Europe, the situation was completely different. At the end of the year Napoleon’s French Empire continued to expand as the last British soldiers in the Iberian Peninsula with the exception of the strong Gibraltar garrison were evacuated. Portugal had just fallen and Napoleon was free to do anything as he wishes, for now.

Napoleon, seeing the prospect of having a long term base against the British and had succeeded in defeating Austria and Britain in the Peninsular War agreed to send more troops and statesmen to East Indies albeit not knowing the rising locals tension.

But first he told Daendels to wait for two or three years more as he was trying to re-build the French Navy after Trafalgar with serious care. The reason was clear enough, not only that he was trying to have his Empire a colony he also wanted to defeat or possibly invade Great Britain once and for all.

1810: Back again in East Indies, Daendels ordered “Directive No.6378” to be executed. Swiftly without remorse the Dutch began killing and kidnapping the people on the list. Using the traditional tactic of “Divide et Impera” the Dutch was able to eliminate nearly third of the people who were supposed to be taken care manually. At one time the Dutch summoned dozens of local Bupatis (equivalent to “Count”) in one place in Madiun, Malang with the promise that they will be rewarded. Unbeknownst of the Dutch plan to the Bupatis and fired with tremendous amount of greed they all flocked to Madiun. Some chose to stay but their numbers were not big enough.

Dozens and a half drum of high-explosive were prepared and rigged secretly by the Dutch officials during midnight under the quite luxurious Wisma. When the time came in the morning and all of the Bupatis were already assembled the Dutch via the local servants started to distributing brown bags filled with fake gold coins. The doors were all locked and the first explosive, a small one was ignited outside of the building. Hearing the explosion most of the local Bupatis guards quickly ran to the site where their masters were assembled together. Chaos quickly ensued as the civilians from nearby village flocked into the area as well, trying to see what had happened.

One Dutch soldier fired intentionally fired a warning into shot to the air, creating an impression that they and the Bupatis were being attacked by someone inside the building wisma. Panicked, thinking that most of the Bupatis were still alive they all ran into the building not knowing about the second explosives that were about to explode. Satisfied with the plan the Dutch ignited the second explosive, creating a huge and spectacular explosion killing most of the Bupatis, the nearby civilians and their guards as well. The building and the surrounding area were quick to be engulfed in flame and the remaining survivors were finished by the Dutch soldiers who shot them in place cruelly. Thousands people were presumed dead.

On the other day in Yogyakarta, Raden Mas Ontowiryo – still a teenage boy – saw dozens of Dutch soldiers infiltrating the palace. Raden Mas Ontowiryo, quite an expert in Silat wounded three of the soldiers who infiltrated his father chamber but alas in the ensuing fighting his father together with most of the royals family was all killed or badly wounded. He survived and went into the jungle, determined to avenge his family.

At the end of the year the Directives No.6378 was deemed a success by Daendels with most of the influential figures in Java killed or assassinated. He established a series of military district along Java, serving the purpose to rule the land with a strict military efficiency as well. Forts and strongholds were built, again using the local population but this time without any corrupt officials or rebellious Javanese trying to slow him down the building project was largely successful.

He also tried to complete the Great Postal Road but again because of starvation the amount of able-workers was very small and the work progressed slowly. Daendels decided to import grain from other islands notably Sulawesi and Sumatra where the same purge was also ordered to be executed albeit with lower efficiency and less success. He also introduced some kind of ration rules to the people even to the Dutch families and officials to press for the lack of food.

But nevertheless despite his hard work, he was no civil administrator and because the lack of civil servant to maintain everything the Dutch East Indies government coffers continued to deplete. Worst the overall condition of Java was just desperate, farms and plantation had no worker, colonial administration in the brink of disaster, and food scarcity.

As the last measure to prevent collapse he significantly weakened the rule on plantation and gave a sum of subsidy to the remnants of Javanese farmers. They were now allowed to fully use their own land entirely for food production. He also introduced a limited education to the new generation of population to prepare them so that they can work in the colonial administration in long-term. Because of significant decrease in corruption this measures will later prove to be workable and slowly gained its result.

Another thing that Daendels might intentionally achieve was increasing the Dutch anti-corrupt reputation among the people. Some were even grateful because they only needed to pay the tax to the official Dutch instead of being forced to pay money to the landlord and to the corrupt officials and local chiefdom.

In Batavia Daendels anxiously waited for the French reinforcement to come.

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1811: At February a watch tower in the coastal area of Batavia suddenly saw several sails coming. Were they the dreaded British Royal Navy or the long waited French reinforcement? They waited and waited nervously until they could properly identify the mast flag. It was the French tri-color. The garrison cheered.

In overall there were six ships that arrived throughout February one by one. The French commodore had intentionally done so to prevent their tiny fleet from being spotted by the British Royal Navy in the voyage.

At first Daendels was unimpressed when he first saw half dozen of the frigates but he was very surprised when the three hundred French of one thousand French soldiers were in fact consisted of French Guard Voltiguer and Guard Marines detachment, including a squadron of Dragoon, veterans of the European War themselves . Accompanying them was several high-ranking French officers and several experienced France civil administrator ordered personally by Napoleon to help Daendels administration. They also delivered Napoleon reply letter that told Daendels to wait. Unbeknownst to Daendels and most of the Dutch officials, Napoleon had his own agenda.

It was the turn for Daendels French counterpart to be disappointed now when they all saw the real situation of Java. They expected everything should be all already nicely packed and tidied for them, they also warned the that the British had already occupied the Moluccas and Ambon, previously a Dutch possession. Daendels surprisingly replied “Forget every other Island, for now we have Java only and we shall defend it to death!”

And there he went riding his horse and setting up a march in Batavia. At this point several officials noted that Daendels attitude had begun to change drastically. Sometime he was as kind as an angle and sometime he was as cruel as a devil. He also began to develop a sign of serious nervous breakdown slowly.

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Not far from Java was India. Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles successfully convinced Lord Minto that East Indies could prove dangerous for the British Empire hegemony once it stayed in the French hand. On April 1811 the British fleet finally departed and set sail to East Indies. The main target was not Java for the British knew that there were significant amount of strong French-Dutch soldiers in the island and that the fortification was stronger than in other island. They also heard the cruel treatment of the locals and decided that Java could be taken care of later on.

Several weeks afterward the complete and strong British force gathered at Penang, Malacca. Everything was planned carefully in details. On June the complete force crossed the Strait of Malacca and landed on Sumatra, with the help of the strong naval support the British quickly overwhelmed the local Dutch garrison. The remaining sultanate chose to stay put, sit and wait whilst they observed how the situation will develop. In just two months Sumatra was occupied and secured. Short engagement occurred when three British ships of the line tried to probe the Dutch-French defense in Batavia. The British pulled back realizing that the garrison was in fact very strong and will not be easily subdued.

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The Royal Navy

At this month Raden Mas Suryo, having travelled hundreds of kilometers across Java had succeeded in reaching Batavia. He intended to wait until the British came.

Having Sumatra under control Borneo and Celebes soon followed suit but Raffles decided to focus on Sumatra first. His first reform was to eliminate the Dutch policy of forced agriculture which still largely remained in effect albeit the rule was already significantly weakened and lifted in Java under Daendels. He introduced a system of land tenure and thanks for the Daendels Purge Directives the overall corruption rate had been significantly lowered if not eliminated. The overall corruption rate in Sumatra was not as high as in Java also. With such reasons the process of implementing land tenure was not altogether difficult and achievable. The locals were happy enough to accept anything other than the Dutch especially because the British more lenient and caring policy. Soon Sumatran nobles were forced to accept that their position was in danger.

In Europe Napoleon’s naval agenda proved to be unsuccessful as the Continental System began to show crack here and there. The cost of having big and huge navy to match the RN was believed to be very difficult to achieve, if not impossible with the current condition of the French economy. Napoleon turned his sight to Russia. In the following year he will invade Russia.

To be continued...
Comments or suggestions?

I'm also planning to make a map to show the situation in Europe and in Asia. Do you guys know where I can get a good high-res blank map of them?


 
@maps:

Have you tried the blank map thread or the ah.com wiki map repository?

@comments:

I can't say I have much to say so far other than I'll be reading, but I do have a wish to see Napoleon act less ineptly in the Russian campaign and maybe even emerge victorious. Russia+Code Napoleon could be better than Russia winning :p
 
Looks promising. It seems that Napoleon will act through Dutch proxies to expand his colonial possessions while he focuses on Europe. Is that where we're going.

Keep up the good work, you've got my interest :).
 
Thank you for your comments guys, I help the following section is acceptable.
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The Stalemate:

1812: Napoleon invaded Russia with his half-million Grand Armee. The progress was swift at first. The French successfully defeated the Russian Army in Borodino albeit sustaining very heavy casualties. The Russian employed scorched-earth tactic to hamper the French down. Napoleon, alarmed of the casualty decided to change his tactic considerably by employing his cavalry more thoroughly.

Back in East India the British Army tried to evade the Dutch stronghold in Batavia by landing near the village of Anyer, West Java. The Royal Marines stormed the beach which was empty nonetheless and established a beach-head for the rest of the British Army to come. Unfortunately the movement was spotted by one patrolling Dutch mounted garrison who rode fast to Batavia to alert the landing.

In Batavia though Dandels was alerted the information that the mounted garrison gathered was very sketchy and unreliable. He even reported a huge amount of British numbering up to 50.000 men, which in fact an exaggeration in his part only. Nevertheless Daendels was determined to kick the British out before she could establish a stronghold in the region. He mobilized his 10.000 man Dutch East Indies army and marched west via the half-finished Great Postal Road to Anyer immediately.

Daendels marched together with thousand French guard troops and cannon which were significantly better trained and equipped than his regular Dutch soldiers. The numbers, combined with the very unreliable militia levy numbered almost 20.000 men with 150 horses and a battery of cannon.

Before twilight of the same day the scouts and the vanguard of 20.000 men strong joint Dutch-French Army had reached the location and spotted a quite intense activity just south of the village. The scout reported that the British were also preparing to deploy their cannon. Daendels deducted that it was imperative to destroy the cannon before they could be deployed to face his army if battle was about to be commenced. Daendels requested that the French attached their mounted Dragoons to his command and that he would launch a night attack. The French promptly refused:

“The Dragoons are not trained for a night attack” said the French commander deadpan.

This event marked the first Dutch-Franco friction in East India but did not stop Daendels to plan for the night attack for he would have another advantage during the night which was the unavailability of the British naval support.

When the night fell Daendels gathered two battalion from the Dutch infantry and ordered them to move just near the British encampment. Everything was done slowly and carefully as to avoid any noise that can alert the enemy. By the time the battalions were ready he promptly ordered them to charge.

Screaming and shouting the Dutch surprised the British very much. The Dutch fired a volley to the encampment and then rushed toward the cannons. A dozen of 6th pounder was spiked and disabled before the Dutch retreated back out of the village and encampment.

Seeing the chance to oust the British at that time Daendels ordered the rest of his troops to attack but because of the nighttime situation the attack order was poorly executed. The already-alerted British sentries were able to repulse several Dutch successive attacks and mounted a raid themselves to the Dutch position during the night, causing casualties. The Dutch cannons were saved.

When the sun started to rise on the next day, Major Rollo Gillespie acting as the field commander of the British troops assembled his men in a usual European line formation, not knowing the fact that the Franco-Dutch Army had a possession of Napoleon Imperial Guard and a battery of cannon. He thought the Dutch Army could be easily defeated in an open battle but that was what the French commander actually waited.

Hiding in the wood and thick bushes the French Guard Voltiguer and Guard Marines deployed in column formation ready to attack whilst their Dutch counterpart formed a line to counter the British. The first cannon fire was heard at 6 o’clock in the morning, giving a signal that the Battle of Anyer was about to be commenced.

The British attacked first led by Gillespie personally. The Dutch cannons opened a volley after volley to the advancing British line formation, inflicting quite many casualties upon the British formation. Gillespie ordered his British light foot and Sepoy infantries to charge. The Dutch opened a volley at point blank range causing the first wave of attack to falter. Dutch canister fire started to inflict more and more casualty as the battle ensued. Major General Rollo Gillespie was hit by one of the fragment and fell off his horse.

It was the time for the Dutch to attack the British back. The Dutch musketeers fixed bayonet and charged. The counter-attack was quite successful at first but the British soon reorganized themselves and fend off the attack in an intense melee combat, eventually charging back to the Dutch cannon position whilst shouting, screaming and shooting here and there. The Dutch ran away back fast but the British ran faster with their bayonet fixed. Several kilometers farther Daendels observed the movement carefully. The British seemed to be attacking with their last reserve.

He ordered the French Dragoons to mount their horses and flank the British from East, closing any escape position. The appearance of mounted soldiers, especially the Dragoons surprised the British infantry and decreased their morale tremendously. They never expected the Dutch to have a unit of real mounted horses.

At the same time from the west the French Voltiguers and Marines appeared in the clearing of the wood, marching in column to the British encampment. The Marines quickly overwhelmed the British rearguard in the fire fight and melee. The voltiguers formed a line facing the British and began firing aimed volley to the British.

Got fired from their rear some British sepoys dropped their arms and surrendered but the remnants remained stubborn as ever, eventually forming a double-faced line and forcing their way out of the encirclement. The Dutch crew and artillerymen regained their cannon and start pouring heavy fire but ammunition reserve was already low and the Dutch could not proceed with the fire.

At dusk nearly 6.000 of the British were able to make their way into the coast and got evacuated promptly. The French Dragoons rounded up the remaining prisoners and marched them back to Batavia whilst Daendels tried to secure the coastal area unsuccessfully because of the British Navy cannonade but chose to fortify the area nevertheless to anticipate another assault.

It was a decisive victory for the Franco-Dutch army if not the first one against the British in South-East Asia as it stopped the British conquest of Indonesian Archipelago dead in its track. Previously the locals only knew the existence Portuguese, Spanish, British or Dutch colonials but never heard the name of “France” before. Well the locals soon knew it when the story of the French Imperial Guard in Java was spread across the archipelago.

Hearing the news of the defeat it was decided that further advance into Java was not feasible and too costly. The British reorganized and strengthened their position in Sumatra, Borneo and Celebes including the Moluccas. Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles as the Governor General of Sumatra observed that the decisive Franco-Dutch victory was highly contributed by Daendels rapid response and the Great Postal Road. He discussed the possibility of having the similar road from Aceh in the North to Lampung in the South. It was proven that the project was possible albeit with expensive cost. Raffles argued that it was nothing against losing Sumatra and soon planned the building project in details.

Raffles then wrote a letter to Lord Minto in India and to the British Government in London informing the situation. The first East Indies ship containing goods and riches from Sumatra and the other islands also departed for the first time. He waited for the answer to come.


1813: In Russia Marshall Kutuzov of the Russian Imperial Army managed to inflict more and more casualty through the use of raid and partisan tactic but when he tried to force Napoleon into retreating back with his same invasion route Napoleon, tactical master, again managed to outmaneuver the Russian cavalry in several engagement and managed to march home via more safest and efficient route. Nevertheless Napoleon was unable to maintain its position in Russia and all of them collapsed during the retreat.

In France itself situation soon deteriorate as General Francois Mallet attempted a coup de etat against Napoleon by forging a document saying Napoleon was killed. The coup itself was thwarted but Napoleon grew more paranoid with the disaster in Russia and in France. Napoelon soon turned his head to the former Dutch colony of East Indies, now half-occupied by the British.

Returning back to France Napoelon conscripted more than 400.000 men from all over France and Europe, preparing for the last German campaign. But at this very time he also ordered the building of several ships of the line and transport in highly secret environment. The French General Staff were puzzled but soon knew why. Napoleon was preparing a plan to save-guard the existence of his Dynasty and his French Empire.

Having almost being completed defeated in Russia, Napoleon with his 400.000 conscripts army marched to Germany again, initiating another German campaign. In May he was able to defeat the Allied in two consecutive battles. The British tried to regain Portugal from the Napolenic claws and succeeded in landing troops on the Portuguese coast but was soon stopped dead in their track.

Another great battle was then fought at Dresden where Napoleon seemed to turn the tide of war into his hand but again because of slow maneuver and Germans resistance the Allied was able to strike a thrust in Leipzig where the Allied outnumbered the French. On the verge of defeat Napoleon decided to withdrew his remaining army back to the west bank of Rhine where the natural obstacle slew the Allied advance down. The war turned into a stalemate following several successive battles in which the Allied failed to establish a beachhead on the other side of the river. The French attempted to counter-attack and to re-cross the river but was stopped dead in their tracks because of the Allied superiority in numbers and equipment.

The joining of Austria also did not help the overall situation. The Austrian did try to march into France proper via the Alps but was halted by the French and their Italians allied – notably Naples and Two Sicilies up high on the mountainous passes where the Austrian superiority in numbers was useless. The French tried to counter-attack but was stopped and vice-versa for several months. Both-sides inflicted massive casualties on each other and soon were reluctance to make another attack. The same Rhine stalemate occurred in the Italian front.

In East Indies Daendels were working hard together with the French administrator to rebuild Java after a serious of conflict and rebellion in early 1800. The Great Postal road was still progressing with its snail pace and Dutch colonial coffer was still in minimum numbers. Nevertheless having eliminated most of local opposition the Dutch had no trouble in putting their rules and regulation in effect. Soon the famine would be offer and Java would recover in the following decades.

Some problems exist though and one of them was the matter of educating the new generation or not. Most of the Dutch colonials save Daendels were very reluctant in having any of the local population educated. The French view on the other hand – by that time had its own influence in the government too – was more progressive, the French wanted the new generation to be educated so they can serve in the government or even in the army later on. The debacle continued on and on, eventually creating some friction between the Dutch and French officials.

Another set of privateer and ship of the line arrived at Batavia after successfully evading British blockade. The Dutch were expecting more or less another shipment of weapons but instead the ships were filled with immigrants from mainland Europe who were very sick of war but refused to go to the completely wild African continent.

Most of them were Dutch farmers or middle-class population but other nationalities such as French or even German were also dominant. The combined Franco-Dutch administration quickly put them into use as a civil servant or administrators. Strong community of European speaking people would later form all across Java, notably in Surabaya. Some would later assimilate into the local population and form a new a group of people.

The same thing also happened in Sumatra, Borneo and Celebes. British upper-middle class population was interested in the story of Sumatra and Malaya, some of them moved to improve their position in the society but some also moved to have a better job in the administration. This would later create all around profit to the colonials’ administration and the land they settled on.

One could note the coming of several hundreds of Hanoverians and German speaking settlers in Borneo and most notably Chinese and Arabs immigrants.

The settlers and immigrants did not know that they cannot escape war.

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Blue: Franco-Dutch Controlled Java; Red: British Empire; Yellow: Loose territory; White: Unrelated, Insignificant..for now
 
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Cheers !! It's not that often to sea a TL where Indonesia gets an extensive portion of spotlight ! :)


Though I have to doubt on the ever possibility of the purge plan to be able to be really successfully conducted at all :eek: It does seem to defy many laws of physics, but frankly I'm eager to hear your defense as to why it is not, because I admit it is a deviously interesting idea >=D I honestly want to know more about it

Bonus point for rewriting virtually the whole life of Diponegoro :eek::cool: (though you've just started this part yet)

Though seeing how likely this is to be your first experience with alternate history, judging from your overall style. You may likely have missed some important historical facts and things, though I can't really blame you for that, while I can't let it slip away, eventhough I can't really able to point exactly at the problems.... :eek:

However, at the map-related technical issue, I have to say that you should refrain from coloring all of the islands which has British presence all monolithically British red, so that it will be more obvious to people that colonial consolidation is not without process. I'm pretty sure that the British will only get to subdue Aceh, the interior and northern side of Kalimantan, the hinterland of Sumatra, and all of Malay Peninsula by the mid 19th century at the earliest. Papua should also be ignored for now because it would be just to unimportant wilderness for Europeans of this time, at least anything beyond the immediate coastal areas of the western part of the island.... (And this will be virtually at whole Maluku traders' matter anyway)
 
So Napoleon's going to try and flee into exile in Southeast Asia? I'm definitely intrigued.

Okay, I definitely missed that part... :eek::eek:

And of course, with all the emigration of Europeans to East Indies... This is interesting to me, but also worrying. I just hope that the author won't go for making a European Java. A kind of apartheid European-dominated state in Java is kinda doable though, but I can see it going to be in constantly dangerous position with being surrounded by the pro-Natives Rule British. So I think I'm beginning to see where he's going by killing all of Javanese aristocrats.

Regarding on the purge though, I really think it just won't be able to achieve a satisfying success. At best maybe the Central Javanese nobility can be large devastated but there will be an enough time for the news to make head into East Java, and for the nobility there to give some thoughts on the situation....
 
Amazing TL! Keep up the amazing work, Mauser! And it is NOT, i repeat NOT boring at all! I have subscribed and I am pretty sure more people will do (and have done) the same!
 
Cheers !! It's not that often to sea a TL where Indonesia gets an extensive portion of spotlight ! :)

Though I have to doubt on the ever possibility of the purge plan to be able to be really successfully conducted at all :eek: It does seem to defy many laws of physics, but frankly I'm eager to hear your defense as to why it is not, because I admit it is a deviously interesting idea >=D I honestly want to know more about it

Bonus point for rewriting virtually the whole life of Diponegoro :eek::cool: (though you've just started this part yet)

Though seeing how likely this is to be your first experience with alternate history, judging from your overall style. You may likely have missed some important historical facts and things, though I can't really blame you for that, while I can't let it slip away, eventhough I can't really able to point exactly at the problems.... :eek:

However, at the map-related technical issue, I have to say that you should refrain from coloring all of the islands which has British presence all monolithically British red, so that it will be more obvious to people that colonial consolidation is not without process. I'm pretty sure that the British will only get to subdue Aceh, the interior and northern side of Kalimantan, the hinterland of Sumatra, and all of Malay Peninsula by the mid 19th century at the earliest. Papua should also be ignored for now because it would be just to unimportant wilderness for Europeans of this time, at least anything beyond the immediate coastal areas of the western part of the island.... (And this will be virtually at whole Maluku traders' matter anyway)

Well since last year I've been actually reading several famous TLs and other TLs in this forum and most of them only includes like China, Japan and so on. I also think it would be boring if I would start with another different China or Japan TL, not considering the fact also that I don't know too much about them. Now Indonesia is different because there are so many opportunities to twist and taper the history of the country.

Having said that I also would like to inform you that I'm not a professor in Indonesian history too :p so forgive me if what I've done and included in this TL is offending or inaccurate.

But anyway seeing that you are Indonesian I would be very thankful if you could at least follow this TL so that you can give the information or advise or even hidden facts that is not written in Wikipedia that you know and very interesting. :)

Regarding the map whilst I would be changing it time by time let us just um presume now that the islands marked Red include British claims too. So the British are claiming that islands to be their possession but at the same time that does not mean that they are controlling the islands they have laid claim 100%.

Okay, I definitely missed that part... :eek::eek:

And of course, with all the emigration of Europeans to East Indies... This is interesting to me, but also worrying. I just hope that the author won't go for making a European Java. A kind of apartheid European-dominated state in Java is kinda doable though, but I can see it going to be in constantly dangerous position with being surrounded by the pro-Natives Rule British. So I think I'm beginning to see where he's going by killing all of Javanese aristocrats.

Regarding on the purge though, I really think it just won't be able to achieve a satisfying success. At best maybe the Central Javanese nobility can be large devastated but there will be an enough time for the news to make head into East Java, and for the nobility there to give some thoughts on the situation....

No, no I'm not going to make the Dutch East Indies as an apartheid nation that is for sure. But I will also show that it exist some groups of people who want to have that to happen and the opposition to that move as well just to make the story more interesting for all. (I hope you're not angered by this and leave...:()

Well the problem is quite simple, the Dutch administrators are scared to s**t when some of them were purged at first. They never experienced that before and struggled to see that the plan is executed no matter what happen and no matter what the problem is. Does it never come to you that the Eastern Java nobility might be happy to see their Central Java rival is killed? Divide et Impera... But I would add several things maybe in the time line later to clear up and spice up some things.

So Napoleon's going to try and flee into exile in Southeast Asia? I'm definitely intrigued.

If the situation in Europe turned really bad he will go but apparently...;)

Amazing TL! Keep up the amazing work, Mauser! And it is NOT, i repeat NOT boring at all! I have subscribed and I am pretty sure more people will do (and have done) the same!

Thank you for your compliment! :D
 
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The Rhine


1814: Early in this year because of the massive casualties caused by the stalemate, the Allied forces in all theatre decided to temporarily stop further operation on Napoleon and started to consolidate their gain. Napoleon initiated a big building project to fortify the west bank of Rhine involving hundreds thousands of German and French labors. The Rhine defensive ran continuously along the Dutch border on the north to the Swiss Alps on the south. Endless rings of fortification after fortification, redoubt after redoubt and cannon after cannon populated the west bank of the river Rhine with nearly half-million of newly conscripted French troops manned the line.

But still despite the Rhine line, Napoleon was not satisfied for he knew that the Allied could break in anywhere where they wanted and he would not have the sufficient reserve to response any large breech in the line without having to abandon all of his position and retreat to France. But on the other hand and though the scouts warned about the massive line being erected on the west bank of river Rhine, the Allied commanders were indecisive, confident that they could defeat the French at any time they did not make any sufficient plan and instead went on debating how Europe should look like after the war. This even caused friction that which later on compromised the alliance integrity.

When the snow started to melt and the spring time came the Allied decided to spread their attack along the Rhine line instead of concentrating into one sector. The Prussians, the Austrians, and the Russians even agreed that the one who reached Paris first would be given a prize to march first into the city and to take the bounty. And so they went. The Russian allied forced crossing near the city of Cologne and Dusseldorf in hoping to reach the open ground whilst the Austrians attacked farther south and Prussian farther north near Holland.

Napoleon when first hearing the news about the attack responded in a quite different way. He eagerly mounted his favorite horse along with the Imperial Guard and ordered the line to hold tight. The allied attacked exactly where he expected and along the broad front where he could destroy the attack by pieces. The ground on the west bank was also higher and sloped, offering better protection for the French defenders.

Expecting only a small fragment of defensive line the Allied soldiers were surprised when the first French cannon thundered. The French cannons were positioned on the high ground where as their counter-part was not. This caused the allied counter-battery fire to be practically ineffective and harmless. The French even inflicted more casualties amongst the Allied cannon.

Nevertheless the brave Allied soldiers charged with improvised barges and boats for the river were not easily swimmable and remaining large bridges were already demolished, some even tried to swim across the river. The French canister fires on the opposite bank made the operation a hell for the Allied. Barges after barges were destroyed killing hundreds of men in one instance. In the large city such as Koblenz or Mainz the French had fortified every building and castles facing the river making the crossing horrendous and suicidal.

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Even when the Allied had succeed in putting men across the river the French they were not able to put them in significant numbers or to exploit the breech for the French easily recovered the lost ground through smart usage of Dragoons and cavalry. Napoleon had intentionally put his limited light cavalry as his mobile reserve, using it as an improvised “firing brigade” to plug-in any hole created in the line.

For days the attack continued day and night consecutively. The Russians were the most resilience amongst all, at the second day the Russian field commander, General Barclay de Tolly, poured more than 100.000 men in just one attack hoping to create a breech large enough for the rest of the Allied army to push through. But because of pure luck in the French part, Barclay mistakenly attacked the most concentrated French line in the whole region.

The local French colonel commanding the sector first told his men to hold fire amid the Russian hordes. He waited until the very last moment where the Russians were at the point blank range of his cannon canister fire range. “FEU!”

Simultaneously dozen pieces of the French artillery cannons opened fire at point blank range into the mass of Russian soldiers. The voltiguer and the musketeer entrenched behind their improvised stone wall quickly followed suit, firing musket fire rapidly. At this range, accuracy hardly matter as the French could just push the trigger and killed at least one or two Russians.

Regiment after regiment the Russian charged into the valley of death as the musket and cannon firing from the stone wall proved to be very deadly. Veterans of Moscow, veterans of Vyazma and Borodino all ran into the same death as everybody in the Russian ranks. There was no mercy as the French men were also eager to inflict casualty upon their Russian adversary after the disaster in Russia. The Russian army continued to charge, eventually depleting the French of their ammunition supplies. Hard and desperate melee ensued when the first Russian crossed the Rhine at the twilight.

Not far from the threatened sector Napoleon was impressed when he heard the status of his men defending ferocious Russian attack wave after waves. They would not be left alone, the Russians would never set foot on our soil, and all of you follow me for the final victory is near! He bellowed and personally led one detachment of cuirassier and Imperial Guard as his most capable reserves to relief the French troops.

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Shouting, cheering and screaming the Old of the Imperial Guard ran and charged their Russian counterpart with Napoleon in front. But, Napoleon to the back! Emperor to our rear! The guards yelled. At the last moment before Napoleon reached the enemy musket range. His staff promptly slew his horse down and brought Napoleon to the safety of the rear where he could observe the battle.

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The men of the Imperial Guard opened fire at point blank range and joined in their comrade to push the Russian back whilst the Cuirassier attacked the narrow Russian breach by flank. The Russians were totally caught off guard. Already tired and exhausted for they just passed a hell of French fire they were faced with a new, refreshed and legendary foe. The Russians could not stand the thing anymore and retreated – no they just ran and swam as fast they can back across the Rhine where they clashed with the advancing guard. Napoleon reinforcement also brought some artillery rounds and soon the cannons started firing canister shot after shots again.

The Russian casualties were unimaginable but yet Barclay persisted in ordering the cavalry to charge forgetting everything. He even ordered everything to charge and attack. His subordinate had had enough and refused to move. Barclay threatened to shoot and execute all of them but one Russian soldier, having his nervous broken attacked Barclay wildly with his musket. Barclay survived for his bodyguard quickly dispatched the crazy soldier but he was incapacitated and was pushed back to the very rear of the army.

His subordinate took command, trying to restore the situation but when he and the staff saw a massive horde of men coming to his position in dusk he mistakenly thought that the hordes were French where as in fact it was the retreating Russians. He ordered the cannon to fire but fortunately the men were already retreating and running. In panic, he ordered a full retreat and transmitted a warning message that the French had successfully crossed the river and destroyed the bulk of the Russian Army.

Prince Wittgenstein, who was supposed to be one of the Russian rational commander was found missing. The Russian Army effectively had no central command and was practically broken. The Russian retreated several miles east to Germany leaving thousands of their wounded behind. The French would later on discover nearly 75.000 thousand bodies scattered on the east and west banks of Rhine.

The retreat caused a wide-spread panic amongst the Allied commander still busy attacking. Up in the north the Prussians under Blucher had made a considerable gain up north in Holland where the formidable Rhine was absent, he even proclaimed the liberation of Holland and could theoretically rolled the French Rhine line from north. But the news about the Russian retreat arrived. It thwarted Blucher plan to press on. He was forced to abandon Holland which was soon got re-occupied by the French troops returning back from their southward retreat.

The Austrians, have not done anything save probing the French line followed suit and retreated.

Everywhere the Allied forces were retreating. In the next day Napoleon was informed about this matter and ordered all of his troops to advance along the front. The allied would retreat further to Germany as the whole front collapsed. Only the Prussians, having most of their army intact were able to significantly delay the French advance, even stopping the French advance at some point. But practically Napoleon could march all the way to Vienna or Berlin before the Allied could establish anything to oppose him. Napoleon, in contrary to its subordinate and enemy expectation, decided to withdraw back to the Rhine defense line after having marched all the way to central Germany and liberated Hamburg and several other German cities. He offered the Allied a truce to end the war in Europe once and for all. He knew that his French troops would not be able to stand another war again if he persisted to push forward.

At first the Allied were reluctant but seeing the prospect of another devastating war and starting everything from the beginning again agreed with only Britain refusing to sign anything in regard to having a peace with Napoleon. At first the Allied signed the truce and then a conference soon followed in Switzerland but then reached stalemate because of both-sides claimed that they were still undefeated and thus did not need to abide into each other demands. The conference soon ended with no significant result save extending the armistice into one full year.

But for Napoleon the armistice was recognized as one of his both diplomatic and military victory for not only that he was able to put the Allied at bay but he could now turn his attention to his old adversary, the British Empire.

In the end of the year in Europe Napoleon focused in mobilizing his naval industry by building more and more ships and naval academy. He also strengthened his foothold in Northern Italy and in Spain where he ousted the British completely out of the Peninsula and partitioned Portugal to Spain. The moved increased the overall Spanish and French relation and soon the painful resistance movement plummeted.

A brand new French-flotilla consisted of 6 ships of the line, 12 frigates and several dozen utilities ship notably transports and privateer sailed from Brest in early December. Due to bad weather in the sea the British was unable to maintain their blockade and the flotilla slipped away with a direct order from Napoleon to sail directly to East Indies and to secure the island for the new French Empire colony.

Nevertheless Napoleon did not understand several matters when ordering the flotilla to depart. The first was the long range and the lethality of the voyage. One ship of the line was already wrecked due to storm on the Bay of Biscay which can be considered just as one small footstep mostly caused by the French crewman that were not experienced in long-range voyage. Attrition rates increased exponentially during the voyage.

Starting on from January 1814 in East Indies there were nothing much happening other than Daendels and Raffles continuous building program and reform both in Java, Sumatra and in the rest of the Island.

When the news arrived that Napoleon was winning in Europe Raffles grew more considerably resilience and determined in building up Sumatra as one of the British stronghold. Forts, redoubts and stone tower were built near important coastal area and on the straits of Malacca. The British also increased their "cooperation" with the Aceh Sultanate, even signing a fake defensive-pact with the Sultanate.

Several sultanates that did not want to co-operate with the British East Indies Company ruling were quickly dispatched by the British Army and Navy in Sumatra though the British presence outside Sumatra was not strong.

Raffles following his fellow governor footstep and policy in India applied a very different approach regarding education in East India. In opposite to his Dutch adversary in Java he envisaged that a complete education would be very useful to both the company and the native as well. He also predicted that by educating the locals the British would be able to gain more popularity amongst them, even in some point might surpass the popularity of the local sultanate which did not even educate its subject.

In the middle of 1814 whilst the European war was at its peak Raffles founded several schools in Sumatra, notably in Bengcoloon. Raffles envisioned that his perfect East Indians subject would be able to both read and speak English fluently. He must also be a civilized person with nothing in mind but to serve the company, the empire, and his people. In case his majesty himself decided to meet one of his subject he must also know many subject such as history, science, or philosophy to prevent him being embarrassed in the his majesty’s court back in London.

Not only that but if his British administrators could know the locals better, then surely they could administer the territory even better. Raffles was ecstatic especially after knowing that the land tenure was successful. Raffles gave full support to educate the local population. Raffles knew that the population would later be part of the British Empire.

At the end of the year Raffles enacted a law to begin conscripting and training the local population to strengthen the British garrison in Sumatra.

To be continued...
 
1815: When the snow started to melt again in Europe the situation was still a stalemate between Napoleon and his Allied adversary. The armistice was again extended up to one more year to accommodate several new talks that started again in Switzerland.

After countless hours of talks, shouting, head-banging and head-scratching both-sides finally agreed to sign the first peace treaty. In summary the result of the treaty was as follow:

The French agreed to abandon their River Rhine position save some stronghold where several battalions of French garrison would still be positioned as a sentry. Both parties agreed to recognize the Confederation of Rhine consisting of several southern German states such as Bavaria, Baden, and Wurttemberg to act as a buffer between the Allied and Napoleon. Full independence was given to the state. The French removed most of their influences in several states as agreed in the treaty. The Prussian and the Austrian did the same thing to the German states.

In the Northern Italy a buffer state was also formed. The Lombardian Confederation which would act as a buffer between the French and the Austrians though the French still maintained an overall strong influence due to the presence of Marshall Joachim Murat as the head of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies.

In the East Napoleon persisted that the Congress of Poland be preserved as another Buffer between Russia and the Europe. At first the Russian delegation did not agree, even threatening to resume the war when they heard Napoleon offer. But Napoleon simply pointed out that the Russian had lost nearly 90% of his Army during the Rhine disaster. The Russian delegation succumbed, musing.

In the Low Country Napoleon gained several things, he extended the French border by annexing the French speaking part of the Dutch territory and practically made Holland and Spain his vassal state.

The cease fire and armistice was extended up to 50 years in total. Napoleon knew that the peace will not last as long as that.

The overall effect of this treaty was just meager save in French were Napoleon was considered victorious. The Allied population tired of war was happy to have peace again but at the same time discontented knowing that Napoleon was still in power. Some radicals group had begun campaigning and even creating riot in some allied cities notably in states across Germany and in Austria. They claimed the current leader as a weak and timid one and that the tyrant Napoleon must be kicked out.

Anti-French sentiment and nationalism will later form throughout the century in Europe. One of them will fuel the birth of one united Germany.

Great Britain was utmost displeased but without the rest of the allied forces she could not invade France just one handedly, but at the same time Great Britain and France were still at war and the population in both country refused to sign a peace with each other. The conflict will later shift into small minor one consisting of small skirmishes and engagements, notably in East Indies.

But for now the population can forget what will happen next and most of Europe was now at peace, for now at least.

In Asia the situation was completely different, if not intensifying. The so-called “La flotte expéditionnaire Asie” arrived at the Indian Ocean at May and after brief engagement with several British patrol ships the fleet managed to arrive at Batavia albeit with very heavy casualty. One can actually say that only luck and divine intervention which saved the fleet from its imminent destruction.

Half of the French frigates from the original 12 were already sunk to the bottom of the ocean or too heavily-damaged that they could not proceed and were abandoned by their crew. From the original 6 ship of the line only two survived the horrendous voyage. The utility and the transport ships shared the same fate. From 5.000 expeditionary forces only less than 2.000 men survived.

Upon arrival the French and the Dutch officials were not very impressed save Daendels who saw the newly arrived troops, veteran from the European War, as a great opportunity for him to launch another attack to regain the area lost by the British invasion. But unfortunately at the same time he knew that his combined troops and especially his navy were badly outnumbered and outclassed by the British if he would launch an invasion. He would need to think another way…

At the next day Daendels got a quite ingenious idea to gain the support of the local Sultanate in Celebes but at first he would need to write a letter to Napoleon asking for a something that is very unusual.



Now at least I got the Napoleonic war finished...any comments?
 
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Empire in Danger


1816:“And what is this thing Daendels are asking?” Napoleon asked, both hands on the back, face overlooking the city of Paris when the letter arrived.

“I’m not sure my dear Emperor, but he is inquiring if we still hold several artifacts our expedition team had collected during the Egypt campaign few years ago.”

“And do we have those artifacts in reality?” Napolon asked again, turning his sight to Ney with a thorough gaze.

Ney nodded abruptly, “Yes we do of course have the artifacts and the holy book as well but I’m wondering why he would need such thing to accomplish his task my Emperor.” Ney straightened his stance. “As far as I’m concerned, he still needs to beat that damn British Navy if we would cross the sea to invade other islands.”

“Yes, yes, I know that as well but,” Napoleon raised his fore finger, pointing upward to the sky, “I seem to understand what he is planning Ney…”

A silent for a moment before Napoleon decided to speak again, “All right send the required goods as soon as possible to Daendels. And oh, tell him that I want to hear good news after that. No more nonsense thing and furthermore no more losses is acceptable. I do not want to hear that he could not accomplish this and that because of this and that. He is a cruel man, yes, but he must be well informed that he is no longer working for his Dutch Empire. He’s working for me now, Napoleon Bonaparte and I’m not too patient now!”

“Yes my emperor, I will see to it that he knows what he is supposed to do.”

“And oh another thing Ney, I want you to tell the Navy that I do not want to see this precious thing got washed out in the middle of nowhere. The ship must arrive safely at all cost.”

Not long after the brief conversation orders started to fly from Paris, the artifacts and the requested goods were shipped from the museum in Paris to the ships mooring in the port of Brest would. They would start setting up their sails and set off.

Outside Paris and especially outside France things were not going as well as planned. Huge riots erupted in the Confederation of Rhine, and everywhere in Germany in protest to the Swiss peace accord and armistice. Group of angry mobs and populations were formed here and there. Their number increased in every hour. At the end of the day hundred thousands of men were marching and giving hell to the French troops garrisoned in cities throughout Confederation of Rhine.

In Frankfurt everything that had something to do with France were destroyed, crushed and stormed by the mob. Strong amount of sympathizers in the combined French and Germans police units rendered the organization useless and practically ineffective. The Frankfurt city police and the German garrison refused to qualm the riot or to guard any French properties in the city. The French garrison, unable to stop the crowd was forced to open fire and thus creating a small skirmish throughout the city.

In the town hall the situation was worst when the French and the Germans police both fired on each other but the French were at the advantage for they had strong chokepoint consisting of several cannons in Schillerplatz and in other important squares. Yes they were routed and overwhelmed at first but the crack French units were able to defend the city center. The city major and the government of the confederation itself were indecisive when asked by the crowd to join the fight against the French.

It would eventually took one full day for the French garrison to qualm the largest breakout in the city, one full week to clear out several holdouts on the suburb of Frankfurt and nearly two months to clear up remaining rioters and militias in the confederate territory and that too did not clear many die hard anti-French militias whom would later on retreated to Prussia or to Austria. If the confederate government decided to mobilize its army to fight the French, the French could really be defeated.

First, the French Rhine River line was far weaker than in the peak of the last coalition war. The bulk of the French army was already demobilized, leaving only several guard armies which were located far in France proper. The French garrison in Rhine and other Germanic cities would not be able to face such overwhelming opposition but instead the confederate government, the Prussian and the Austrian government did nothing. Not knowing the real situation, they all agreed not to provoke Napoleon into launching another war of aggression.

Nevertheless with such consideration in mind, the rebellion gave a strong signal to Napoleon and the French government that like in the case of Roman Empire, the Germanic people would not be easily conquered or subdued. In fact the rebellion also showed how fragile the French Empire was. More nationalistic movement would later on occur; some would even reach a decisive and tipping point that would change the balance of power in a completely different way.

In South-East Asia, Daendels in conjunction with the French administrator started the season by imposing stricter and centralized administration in Java. A series of more précised and detailed reform were enacted, one of them was Directive 2004 Land reform in the early February which was quite similar to the British Land Tenure system. Irrigations, infrastructure and amenities were also increased as well. For the first time a complex road network in Western Java was finished. Months after several workshops and cloth processing factory were also built, albeit with minimum effectiveness as capable manpower was very scarce.

Sick with the disease stricken, dirty Batavia Daendels decided to decisively move his center of capital to the relatively peaceful town of Buitenzorg, West Java. Daendels reasoned that in the time of war and invasion the city could be easily defended from all sides unlike Batavia which could be bombarded from sea and land by the invading forces. In short he was trying to make Java self-sufficient.

The British did not do anything significant other than to improve its building and expansion effort in the island of Sumatra. The plan for the postal road was also accepted, initiating the start of road that will later connect the island from north to south. Both Java and Sumatra at this time experienced a slight increase in the population growth. The growth and the number of population in the both island differed not significant but Sumatra was growing well…

Good god...what I've done so far, messed up with Napoloen?! :eek:
 
And oh I just realized it now that I have not write any information regarding South America and the Spanish Colony after the peace. I'll try to include it later if possible but please do not run away because of that, forgive my newbie-ness. :eek:
 
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