Some Potential POD's leading to an independant Aceh

Fatal Wit

Banned
Hey. I was reading a forum known as "All Empires", and found an interesting post from a guy called Sander. He is quoted below.
"When the portugese came in the 1500's they managed to get some footholds in the Malacca straits region. In 1511 they had conquered the capital of Malacca sultanate ( 1511 ) in Malay peninsula and they also gained a foothold in Acheh. This proved to be short and in 1523 they were defeated and ousted by Achenese Sultan Ali Mughayat Syah.

In the 1600's Acheh grew dramitically in power. It became a well organized state and important islamic entre of learning . It had a strong organized army with a large fleet equipped with cannons etc. It also became the most important entrepot for muslim and other foreign traders. It was rather Acheh than the Portugese, that controlled the straits making Portugese Malacca decline in importance.

All this time Acheh and the Portugese were having countles battles in wich to protect their commercial interests . The portugese attempted to conquer Aceh several times but without succes. The Achenese on their turn beseiged and bombed Portugese Malacca several times( see picture below ) but without desired result either.

image06acehwyKL-1.jpg



Inspite all the wars with the Portugese, Aceh itself became an imperialist power in the region and conquered several sultanates in Sumatra and Malay peninsula up to southern Thailand .

Because of expansionist wars, its rival the Johor sultanate ( extreme south part of Malay peninsula) alliied with the Portuguese . Together they inflicted a defeat on Aceh in a naval battle ( A few years later the same Johor sultanate sided with the Dutch to defeat the Portugese in Malacca by which Malacca fell in Dutch hands in 1641 ). After this battle Aceh had lost its possesions in Malay peninsula but it kept an an independent and significant power.

Its interesting to note that Acheh had good contacts with the Ottomans. In fact, due to their common aversion against the Portugese, the Ottomans send weapons (guns and cannons ) to aid them. An intresting fact is that Acheh eventually produced cannons and guns as well and supplied others with it , for exampe the Sultan of the Maledives (Male ) who defeated the Portugese with cannons casted in Acheh.

In the 1800's the 2 main colonial powers in the region were the Dutch and The British . They signed a treaty (1824 ) in wich Aceh would fall in the Dutch influence sphere.

Eventually, the first Aceh war war started in 1873 . The Dutch were defeated and several commanders ( like general Kohler ) were killed. Kolonel van Daalen made the Dutch army withdraw. ( see Van 't Veer , the Atjeh oorlog, 1980 )

The events were a great shock for the Netherlands, so everything had to be done to conquer it. The next year the Dutch started a new war and invaded the place (1874 ) with 10.000 soldiers. They captured the capital Banda Aceh (Kotaradja ) but this had been abonded the nights before and the war went on in the outer regions without much result for the Dutch. Little more than 50 square kilometer was controlled. ( Van 't veer 1980)

Around 1900, after some 30 years of costly wars, the state of Aceh had still not surrendered and Dutch control was limited to a few coastal cities. Now the 4 th Acehwar (1898-1910 ) started. The new Dutch general Van Heutzsch had a new "strategy" . Part of it was random killing of civillians, including children and women ( Van 't Veer , 1980 ).

The "Van Heutsch method " combined with the capturing of some guerilla leaders finally worked. The reigning Sultan Tuanka Daud Shah gave in. In 1903 he signed the treaty by which it would be loyal to the Dutch Crown. "
I don't know about you, but this seems to have a number of cool possible divergences. Namely:

1)What if Aceh had succeeded in besieging Portuguese Mallacca, thus driving them out?
2)What if Aceh had won the naval battle against the Johor-Portugal alliance?
3)What if the Ottomans had supported Aceh against the Dutch in the 19th century?
4)What if Aceh defeated the Dutch in the second war, retaining its independance?

It seems to me that 1 and 2 might see the Achens unify much of South-East Asia like prior empires in the region had. The difference being they would have to defend themselves against European imperialism.

Still, if they can fight of the Portuguese, then maybe they can resist other Europeans.
 
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