Of Rajahs and Hornbills: A timeline of Brooke Sarawak
- Thread starter Al-numbers
- Start date
Will Kürlich Kerl
Banned
The problem with that scenario is that Luxembourg and the Netherlands are in personal union during the 1870s; they do not separate until the 1880s with the ascent of Wilhelmia to the throne of the Netherlands. So any Luxembourgian expedition is, until that point, a Dutch expedition.
On the other hand, San Marino is independent and not in any personal union.
Gian
Banned
And the country is both too small and too neutral to do anything (After all, this is a state that rejected Napoleon's expansion deal)
Nay, it is Andorra! Andorra I tell you!!
Aceh and Johor coming up soon, followed by updates here and there around the world. I planned to have them written by now, but internet issues took over and forced me to put it on hold. It'll probably get posted by next week so stay curious till then, everyone!
1870's: Aceh and Johor
I'm back, people!
Effendi Latif, The Tumultuous History of Aceh, (Umaria Publishing: 1979)
...To say that the Aceh War was inevitable is perhaps a misnomer, but during the conditions of the time, it seemed there was no other alternative. For over three decades, the sultanate of Aceh tried to avoid becoming an economic or political colony of the Dutch East Indies, which desired a firm foothold over northern Sumatra and control over the East Indies' pepper trade. From having the greatest naval power of the age guarantee the state's independence to submission as a protectorate to the Ottoman Empire, the Acehnese royal court tried everything they could to ensure being separate from Batavia and the Dutch.
When the Italians reached Sumatra in 1869, the Acehnese sultan eagerly signed a commercial treaty to make ties with yet another potential helper. However, the arrival of Italy into the colonial game rang alarm bells in London and Amsterdam, and both powers quickly re-drew the map of Southeast Asia in the wake of the Italian Expedition. With its independence guarantee revoked by the British in 1871, the royal court had to act fast. Acehnese representatives secretly met with foreign diplomats in Singapore to buy weapons and supplies while emissaries were sent to France, Italy and the Ottoman Empire to gain outside support for an anti-Dutch alliance.
Despite the secrecy, it wasn't long before Batavia caught wind of the negotiations, and in late 1872 the capital formulated a casus belli to cut the talks short: a letter to the sultanate regarding the condition and treatment of several Dutch sailors from a beached cargo vessel. When discovering that the local lords treated the sailors poorly, the Dutch East Indies swiftly declared war. From our perspective, the outcome was predetermined even if the court itself treated the sailors nicely. Still, it is worth mentioning that, at the time, even the American Consul to Singapore thought of the pretext as "...impressively flimsy, even by the standards of war."
With that in mind, no one really expected the outcome of the initial battles. On December 16th, a Dutch force of around 3500 men quickly sailed from Batavia to the sultanate's capital, Kutaraja, and quickly took the city. However, the royal court had known that such an event would happen and immediately decamped to the interior while warriors armed with modern weaponry fought back with furious zeal, cutting the European force to pieces. The Dutch commander of the expedition ended up being among the dead, and what was left of the offensive sailed back to Batavia in disgrace by the end of the month.
On the international side of things, Acehnese diplomats continuously pleaded with Europe to help their kingdom. Of the three, the French were the most indifferent to the crisis as the nation focused itself more on stitching together after the calamitous act that was the Franco-Prussian War. The Ottomans were very sympathetic, but their weakened international status meant that little to no help came from the Porte. Italy was the most supportive of the group, with the Italian Consul in Johor offering weapons and aid* while nationalists in Rome clamoured for an "Atjeh Intervention". [1]
This greatly disturbed Batavia, and they quickly harangued the British into helping them for their new offensive as per their new agreement. They needn’t have worried; the British were becoming wary of the new Italian state, and the Italian government had just recently approved the construction of new armed vessels that would, as one Italian put it, "...improve our connection to our colonies and our friendly states, both of which lie far beyond our shores." There were some voices asking on just how unfair the tables have turned for a sultanate that was formally protected by the Royal Navy, but they were drowned out by increasing calls for mutual cooperation.[2]
And so by 1873 a new Dutch expedition headed itself to Kutaraja while a blockade was imposed on Aceh's ports, conducted by British ships. This quickly ticked off Italy, which had an eye towards the East Indies, but also because their vessels were particularly watched as they sailed towards their prestige outpost of Biak. The expansion of Italian power in New Guinea was another sore spot for both Singapore and Batavia, but at the time, both powers considered Aceh to be the bigger issue.
However, what both powers didn’t know – but will soon find out – was that subduing the sultanate of Aceh was a task easier said than done. The state always had a bit of an independent streak over the centuries, flouting conventional laws and openly warring with the neighbouring Princely States of Sumatra and Malaya. Batavia had stirred up a hornet's nest, and one that was incredibly enraged....
*records show that at least some of the weapons acquired in Johor came from the Kangchu turf wars.
Mustapha Shamsuddin bin Abdul Rahman, Johor and the making of Malaya, (Kosmo Press: 2000)
If there is a word that encapsulated Abu Bakar's early modernization policy towards Johor, it would be "shrewd". Johor stood on a tightrope by the end of the 1860's, and the royal court knew that social and economic advancement of the sultanate depended on walking that tightrope well.
For one, the use of the Kangchu System had brought the state unimaginable wealth and power, but it also brought out opium and weapons smuggling as well as violent turf wars between rival Chinese associations. The royal court was also divided in itself, with one side favouring progress and reform – primarily those who had travelled with the sultan in his 1866 tour of Europe and wanted to emulate the Continent’s successes, and the traditionalists who opposed reform and are convinced that Johor would stay as it is forevermore.
The situation was no less precarious on the international stage. That same overseas tour had the desired effect of turning European attention towards the sultanate, but it also caught the attention of more dubious heads. It wasn't long after the trip before scores of colonial architects began looking overseas at Asia and Africa, and several of them were looking right at the East Indies.
With all this in mind, Abu Bakar and the royal court began embarking on a slow program of modernization and reform. The aim? To make Johor a state worthy of being in the international world, as well as sufficient enough to deter all but the most ardent colonial heads. Abu Bakar packed the royal court full with reformers and pragmatists, as well as several high-raking Chinese heads of the Kangchu System. Books on the Industrial Revolution were readily bought and read, as were treatises on business, international commerce and private enterprise. The business-leaning Kangchu and the reformist Malays quickly saw their interests align with one another, and as Abu Bakar intended, the reformist Malay-Chinese alliance quickly stopped the traditionalists at almost every future policy, save for religious and cultural issues.
The royal court first tested their new muscle with infrastructure upgrades. New roads were laid down and old ones widened to better connect the capital to the Kangchu farms and outlying villages. The use of boats was also encouraged to extend the reach of the capital further to the hinterlands. Johor also began openly flirting with the international world, mostly favouring the British on foreign affairs yet leaving room for the Italians and other consuls to have a say or two on several occasions.
It wasn't until 1873 that the state truly began embarking on full-out reform, and its first target was the education system. Until then, Johorean schools were primarily run by Muslim imams whom taught based on personal experience with no central oversight. That changed quickly as court functionaries began codifying the Johorean dialect of Malay and a new Education Board began instructing secular teachers on new curriculum systems modelled on British schools. New schoolhouses were also erected in and around the capital, Johor Bahru, whilst the state's first broadsheet newspaper, the Suara Negara Johor (The Voice of Johor), was established by the royal court in this year.[3]
While most historians agree that the education reforms were borne out of pragmatism and high ideals, recent archival breakthroughs have suggested more personal reason for the endeavour. At the time, Abu Bakar was particularly irked that the neighbouring, underdeveloped Kingdom of Sarawak could have both a successful (if informal) education system and even its own newspaper by 1871, whilst his own state had neither. The Maharajah had wanted to place the education reforms first, but had to wait until the kingdom's infrastructural upgrades were fully carried out before attempting them.
Alongside this, the sultan also tried to include the Chinese community in the nation-building process, knowing that the bulk of Johor's capital was tied to their hands. Besides placing Kangchu leaders in the royal court, he also instructed courtiers to understand Chinese dialects to better communicate with the settlers and business leaders (Abu Bakar himself learned to understand Teochew) as well as elevating a Teochew association, the Ghee Hin Kongsi, to oversee the development of various pepper farms and Kangchu towns. Nevertheless, he also tried to lessen the brutal turf battles by forcing a roundtable conference of Chinese association leaders in 1874 to settle out their differences.[4]
This relationship between the Chinese and the reformist Malays, and the infrastructural development of the sultanate itself, would lend itself to a strange conclusion as the 1870's came to a close. However, the cowed traditionalists would also try and find a way to get their voices heard...
__________
Footnotes:
[1]. See Post #345. ITTL, Italy had an eye towards Aceh for over half a decade.
[2]. See Post #374. Due to Italy’s involvement in the East Indies, both the British and the Dutch have banded together to try and keep the East Indies theirs.
[3]. IOTL, the education reforms were carried out in the 1880’s. Here, they are made nearly a decade earlier. Abu Bakar’s ego would certainly be irked if he knew just how much had his neighbours advanced.
[4]. Surprisingly, this was based in OTL. The Johorean court had several Kangchu leaders in its midst during this time and there were even Chinese-speaking Malay liaisons who would form a bridge between different communities.
Effendi Latif, The Tumultuous History of Aceh, (Umaria Publishing: 1979)
...To say that the Aceh War was inevitable is perhaps a misnomer, but during the conditions of the time, it seemed there was no other alternative. For over three decades, the sultanate of Aceh tried to avoid becoming an economic or political colony of the Dutch East Indies, which desired a firm foothold over northern Sumatra and control over the East Indies' pepper trade. From having the greatest naval power of the age guarantee the state's independence to submission as a protectorate to the Ottoman Empire, the Acehnese royal court tried everything they could to ensure being separate from Batavia and the Dutch.
When the Italians reached Sumatra in 1869, the Acehnese sultan eagerly signed a commercial treaty to make ties with yet another potential helper. However, the arrival of Italy into the colonial game rang alarm bells in London and Amsterdam, and both powers quickly re-drew the map of Southeast Asia in the wake of the Italian Expedition. With its independence guarantee revoked by the British in 1871, the royal court had to act fast. Acehnese representatives secretly met with foreign diplomats in Singapore to buy weapons and supplies while emissaries were sent to France, Italy and the Ottoman Empire to gain outside support for an anti-Dutch alliance.
Despite the secrecy, it wasn't long before Batavia caught wind of the negotiations, and in late 1872 the capital formulated a casus belli to cut the talks short: a letter to the sultanate regarding the condition and treatment of several Dutch sailors from a beached cargo vessel. When discovering that the local lords treated the sailors poorly, the Dutch East Indies swiftly declared war. From our perspective, the outcome was predetermined even if the court itself treated the sailors nicely. Still, it is worth mentioning that, at the time, even the American Consul to Singapore thought of the pretext as "...impressively flimsy, even by the standards of war."
With that in mind, no one really expected the outcome of the initial battles. On December 16th, a Dutch force of around 3500 men quickly sailed from Batavia to the sultanate's capital, Kutaraja, and quickly took the city. However, the royal court had known that such an event would happen and immediately decamped to the interior while warriors armed with modern weaponry fought back with furious zeal, cutting the European force to pieces. The Dutch commander of the expedition ended up being among the dead, and what was left of the offensive sailed back to Batavia in disgrace by the end of the month.
On the international side of things, Acehnese diplomats continuously pleaded with Europe to help their kingdom. Of the three, the French were the most indifferent to the crisis as the nation focused itself more on stitching together after the calamitous act that was the Franco-Prussian War. The Ottomans were very sympathetic, but their weakened international status meant that little to no help came from the Porte. Italy was the most supportive of the group, with the Italian Consul in Johor offering weapons and aid* while nationalists in Rome clamoured for an "Atjeh Intervention". [1]
This greatly disturbed Batavia, and they quickly harangued the British into helping them for their new offensive as per their new agreement. They needn’t have worried; the British were becoming wary of the new Italian state, and the Italian government had just recently approved the construction of new armed vessels that would, as one Italian put it, "...improve our connection to our colonies and our friendly states, both of which lie far beyond our shores." There were some voices asking on just how unfair the tables have turned for a sultanate that was formally protected by the Royal Navy, but they were drowned out by increasing calls for mutual cooperation.[2]
And so by 1873 a new Dutch expedition headed itself to Kutaraja while a blockade was imposed on Aceh's ports, conducted by British ships. This quickly ticked off Italy, which had an eye towards the East Indies, but also because their vessels were particularly watched as they sailed towards their prestige outpost of Biak. The expansion of Italian power in New Guinea was another sore spot for both Singapore and Batavia, but at the time, both powers considered Aceh to be the bigger issue.
However, what both powers didn’t know – but will soon find out – was that subduing the sultanate of Aceh was a task easier said than done. The state always had a bit of an independent streak over the centuries, flouting conventional laws and openly warring with the neighbouring Princely States of Sumatra and Malaya. Batavia had stirred up a hornet's nest, and one that was incredibly enraged....
*records show that at least some of the weapons acquired in Johor came from the Kangchu turf wars.
**********
Mustapha Shamsuddin bin Abdul Rahman, Johor and the making of Malaya, (Kosmo Press: 2000)
If there is a word that encapsulated Abu Bakar's early modernization policy towards Johor, it would be "shrewd". Johor stood on a tightrope by the end of the 1860's, and the royal court knew that social and economic advancement of the sultanate depended on walking that tightrope well.
For one, the use of the Kangchu System had brought the state unimaginable wealth and power, but it also brought out opium and weapons smuggling as well as violent turf wars between rival Chinese associations. The royal court was also divided in itself, with one side favouring progress and reform – primarily those who had travelled with the sultan in his 1866 tour of Europe and wanted to emulate the Continent’s successes, and the traditionalists who opposed reform and are convinced that Johor would stay as it is forevermore.
The situation was no less precarious on the international stage. That same overseas tour had the desired effect of turning European attention towards the sultanate, but it also caught the attention of more dubious heads. It wasn't long after the trip before scores of colonial architects began looking overseas at Asia and Africa, and several of them were looking right at the East Indies.
With all this in mind, Abu Bakar and the royal court began embarking on a slow program of modernization and reform. The aim? To make Johor a state worthy of being in the international world, as well as sufficient enough to deter all but the most ardent colonial heads. Abu Bakar packed the royal court full with reformers and pragmatists, as well as several high-raking Chinese heads of the Kangchu System. Books on the Industrial Revolution were readily bought and read, as were treatises on business, international commerce and private enterprise. The business-leaning Kangchu and the reformist Malays quickly saw their interests align with one another, and as Abu Bakar intended, the reformist Malay-Chinese alliance quickly stopped the traditionalists at almost every future policy, save for religious and cultural issues.
The royal court first tested their new muscle with infrastructure upgrades. New roads were laid down and old ones widened to better connect the capital to the Kangchu farms and outlying villages. The use of boats was also encouraged to extend the reach of the capital further to the hinterlands. Johor also began openly flirting with the international world, mostly favouring the British on foreign affairs yet leaving room for the Italians and other consuls to have a say or two on several occasions.
It wasn't until 1873 that the state truly began embarking on full-out reform, and its first target was the education system. Until then, Johorean schools were primarily run by Muslim imams whom taught based on personal experience with no central oversight. That changed quickly as court functionaries began codifying the Johorean dialect of Malay and a new Education Board began instructing secular teachers on new curriculum systems modelled on British schools. New schoolhouses were also erected in and around the capital, Johor Bahru, whilst the state's first broadsheet newspaper, the Suara Negara Johor (The Voice of Johor), was established by the royal court in this year.[3]
While most historians agree that the education reforms were borne out of pragmatism and high ideals, recent archival breakthroughs have suggested more personal reason for the endeavour. At the time, Abu Bakar was particularly irked that the neighbouring, underdeveloped Kingdom of Sarawak could have both a successful (if informal) education system and even its own newspaper by 1871, whilst his own state had neither. The Maharajah had wanted to place the education reforms first, but had to wait until the kingdom's infrastructural upgrades were fully carried out before attempting them.
Alongside this, the sultan also tried to include the Chinese community in the nation-building process, knowing that the bulk of Johor's capital was tied to their hands. Besides placing Kangchu leaders in the royal court, he also instructed courtiers to understand Chinese dialects to better communicate with the settlers and business leaders (Abu Bakar himself learned to understand Teochew) as well as elevating a Teochew association, the Ghee Hin Kongsi, to oversee the development of various pepper farms and Kangchu towns. Nevertheless, he also tried to lessen the brutal turf battles by forcing a roundtable conference of Chinese association leaders in 1874 to settle out their differences.[4]
This relationship between the Chinese and the reformist Malays, and the infrastructural development of the sultanate itself, would lend itself to a strange conclusion as the 1870's came to a close. However, the cowed traditionalists would also try and find a way to get their voices heard...
__________
Footnotes:
[1]. See Post #345. ITTL, Italy had an eye towards Aceh for over half a decade.
[2]. See Post #374. Due to Italy’s involvement in the East Indies, both the British and the Dutch have banded together to try and keep the East Indies theirs.
[3]. IOTL, the education reforms were carried out in the 1880’s. Here, they are made nearly a decade earlier. Abu Bakar’s ego would certainly be irked if he knew just how much had his neighbours advanced.
[4]. Surprisingly, this was based in OTL. The Johorean court had several Kangchu leaders in its midst during this time and there were even Chinese-speaking Malay liaisons who would form a bridge between different communities.
Last edited:
Matter are heating up. This unexpectedly difficult war will likely make the Dutch and British more keen to tighten their respective grips. And try to keep other local countries from becoming so troublesome. But with Italy running amok...
I wonder if Britain will take interest in Vienna? With the Italians drawing London's ire and of course the matter of Russia?
I wonder if Britain will take interest in Vienna? With the Italians drawing London's ire and of course the matter of Russia?
Well, Italy won't see itself as running amok, so much as they regard the British and the Dutch as being too greedy and stingy with their Far Eastern colonies; sort of like those bullies in the playground who won't give the other children the swing set
. Also, due to this the OTL Italian Empire in Africa will become more of a side project, though Tunisia and a Red Sea port is in Rome's sights.I'll say this though; Italy will be the least of Anglo-Dutch worries as the decade goes on. I've already said in previous posts that I plan for the Ottomans to win in the 1877 Russo-Turkish War, and the consequences of that would reshape European politics (and world politics) all the way until this TL's Great War*. If Britain wants another guarantee against a revenge-fueled Russia, they might try hooking up with the Ottomans and either Vienna or Berlin, depending on which side is the better for them.
*Also, there might be a chance that what happens in 1877 might effect faraway Aceh and Sulu. After all, wasn't the colonial game more than just Britain, the Netherlands, and Italy?
Yep!
and chances are they will fight just as long and hard as their OTL counterparts. The struggle for Aceh will form an important side factor in Southeast Asian diplomacy, not least because of all those Acehnese diplomats who might have clinched a potential deal or two by the end of the decade. Then again, history sometimes throws curveballs in war, and there might be a chance that Britian and the Dutch would not want any "upstart" Great Powers to try and interfere in the Aceh War, no matter how much the outside world wants to...That will take place waaay far off in the future. I'll tell you this though: If an ordinary Sarawakian (say, a Malay civil servant) from our world would watch this kingdom's TV dramas, they might not understand a quarter of the words the actors are saying!
Sulu would definitely be in the Spanish's sights, and by now the government in Manila would have ordered a blockade of the islands to force the sultan to the conference table. The Dutch, Great Britain, and Sarawak would be seeing the events closely, but will not interfere in the beginning stages; partly to not experience another squabble and partly to see if there's anything to gain from letting the Spanish duke it out with Sulu alone.
I will say this though, this TL's sultan of Sulu will be like his OTL counterpart, and he might follow in his alternate self's footsteps in pleading for foreign intervention against the Spanish, regardless of the nationalities of the foreigners themselves...
That outcome could change things drastically of course. Hmm, in particular the Ottoman Empire being seen as resurgent might be quite good for the Habsburgs. And there is no guarantee the Sublime Porte would make the most out of such a victory, the politics in iStanbul are complicate to say the least and this is an age of nationalism.
Deleted member 67076
Hmm, you mentioned the French lost the Franco-Prussian war and the Ottomans had a weakened international position at the time. Does that mean the Russo-Turkish war is going on schedule?
Well, Italy won't see itself as running amok, so much as they regard the British and the Dutch as being too greedy and stingy with their Far Eastern colonies; sort of like those bullies in the playground who won't give the other children the swing set
Tunisia will be another 'sore' spot in the Italian-British relations, usually London really don't like it if both side of the straits of Sicily were owned by the same powers as this now had the possibility to cut the Mediterrean in half; so the italian moves in North Africa will be diplomatically oppossed or at least not really supported.
In this scenario much of the future of Tunisia depend on how France and Italy are friendly, in case they are better than OTL France can let Italy get Tunisia and settle for Libya or let the italians get Libya but with assurance regarding italian economic interests and rights of the italian community there.
Or settle for a co-dominium of Tunisia and the italians get Libya (OTL North Africa was more or less only nominally Ottoman except some cities on the Libian coast)
In any case italians time and resources that even if somewhat better than OTL will be not enough for great adventure and so North Africa and Far East will see a concentration of the national effort.
True, and by this point, there could have been enough butterflies to make an Ottoman victory sound nice on paper, but bad in reality. I admit that Stamboul's politics are really beyond me, but an Ottoman victory might be just able to force some changes that could not have happened OTL. The Habsburgs not having Bosnia would butterfly a lot of problems with Serbia on both sides. Then again, that might not stop Serb nationalism or the call for a "greater Serbia", regardless of the illogical nature of such a thing*.
*whitn the ITTL historical forces of the late 19th century.
In short, yes. By this point the butterflies have begun to flap around Europe, but not enough to prevent major conflicts just yet. However, there will differences in troop strength and other minutia due to "butterflies", and that might make all the difference ITTL (also, no assassination of the finance minister in Stamboul).
Ohh, this will form one of two GIANT incidents that will mark the late 1870's. Let's just say this: Heads. Will. Roll.
Last edited:
Ah, yes. The famous phrase "futility of war". Almost as frequent as "cause of war".
It should be interesting to see how far Abu Bakar goes with his reforms now that he's got them to an earlier start. A lot will depend on how much breathing space the imperial powers give him, but if he can play them off successfully, then Johor might get to modernize on its own terms.
Well, Italy won't see itself as running amok, so much as they regard the British and the Dutch as being too greedy and stingy with their Far Eastern colonies; sort of like those bullies in the playground who won't give the other children the swing set
I'll say this though; Italy will be the least of Anglo-Dutch worries as the decade goes on. I've already said in previous posts that I plan for the Ottomans to win in the 1877 Russo-Turkish War, and the consequences of that would reshape European politics (and world politics) all the way until this TL's Great War*. If Britain wants another guarantee against a revenge-fueled Russia, they might try hooking up with the Ottomans and either Vienna or Berlin, depending on which side is the better for them.
*Also, there might be a chance that what happens in 1877 might effect faraway Aceh and Sulu. After all, wasn't the colonial game more than just Britain, the Netherlands, and Italy?
Oh boy, there's so much potential stuff hidden in these three short paragraphs... I for one am looking forward to how the German entry into the world of colonial powers will go (and where they will end up at). Also a "Red Sea port" can be so much
And about Britain seeking an ally on the continent against Russia... Germany has the advantage of being naturally stronger, while Austria has less "overlap" with the British when it comes to stuff that London wants, so it could really go either way.
Ohh, this will form one of two GIANT incidents that will mark the late 1870's. Let's just say this: Heads. Will. Roll.
Now i'm curious about the other incident
A red sea port for Italy can mean an interest on just Eritrea (or part of it)...and this can create some nasty problem in the future. OTL the italian colonial troops took the city of Cassala in Sudan from Mhadi forces and the original plan was to keep it and not give it back to the Egyptian/British but the defeat at Adua caused a general reatreat on Eritrea original border.
Taking in consideration the scenario where Italy just grab Eritrea and things go more or less like OTL this can be a scenario where, while both powers really don't want to start a war for a African city, relationships can become very soured (like Fashoda with the French).
On the other hand a diminished presence on Africa of the italians mean a possible Mahdist expansion on Abyssinia (attempted other time but the locals stopped them) as the Italian colony functioned as buffer (one of the reason for the British to help the local italian effort, apart hinder the French one, was to have someone that will help against the Mhadi).
The British in that case can try to prop up Abyssinia or/and get all Somalia under their control (a German colonial effort there can be used as Wild card)