Kees van Dijk

World War I had just broken out, but colonial authorities in the Netherlands Indies heaved a sigh of relief. The colonial export sector had not collapsed and war offered new economic prospects; representatives from the Islamic nationalist movement had not seized upon the occasion to incite unrest. The Colonial government embarked on a campaign to create an army of Javanese to repulse a possible Japanese invasion. By 1917 the optimism of the first war years had disappeared. Trade restrictions, the war at sea, and a worldwide shortage in tonnage caused export opportunities to dwindle. Communist propaganda had had radicalized the nationalist movement. By 1918, it seemed that the colony might cave in. Kees van Dijk examines how the initial wartime atmosphere of optimism changed to one of unrest and dissatisfaction, and how after World War I the situation stabilized to resemble pre-war political and economic circumstances.

Kees van Dijk professor of the history of Islam in Indonesia at Leiden University.

Introduction

I. The colonial race
II. A new century, a new elan
III. Indiers
IV. The threat from the north
V. The Dutch fleet
VI. August 1914
VII. Guarding strict neutrality
VIII. The European community in the Netherlands Indies
IX. Loyal subjects
X. A native militia
XI. The Turkish factor
XII. The German menace
XIII. The consequences of economic warfare
XIV. Adjusting to economic warfare
XV. The dangers of war and shipping
XVI. Gloomy prospects
XVII. Growing domestic unrest
XVIII. The end of Dutch international shipping and trade
XIX. Rice and sugar
XX. Restlessness
XXI. November 1918
XXII. Peace: Missed opportunities

Bibliography
General index
Index of geographical names
Index of personal names

Pub Date: 2008 ISBN: PAPER:    90-6718-308-3    978-90-6718-308-6 Price: Paper: $47.50s Subject Listing: Asian Studies Bibliographic information: 674 pp., illus., 6 x 9 in. Distributed for: KITLV Press, Leiden Territorial rights: Rights in U.S. and Canada only