Royal Dutch East Indies Army

KNIL was formed by royal decree on March 10, 1830 for the defense of the Dutch East Indies, unlike the Royal Dutch Army , which serves to protect the metropolis.

The army for a long time participated in the suppression of the national liberation movement in the Dutch East Indies. After 1904, the performances of the local population noticeably weakened, and before the Second World War, the role of the Royal Dutch East Indies Army was reduced to defending the colonial possessions from the encroachment of unfriendly countries.

KNIL was the main defensive force in the colonies of Holland during World War II with the repulsion of the Japanese invasion in 1941-1942 . The Dutch armed forces were significantly weakened by the loss of the mother country after its occupation by fascist Germany in 1940. However, by the beginning of the war with Japan at the Pacific Theater of Operations in December 1941, the Dutch armed forces in the East Indies totaled about 85,000 people and consisted of both European soldiers and Indonesians. In addition, it included detachments of organized militia, border guards and civilian volunteers. The Royal Dutch East Indies Army Air Force ( Dutch: Militaire Luchtvaart KNIL ) numbered 389 aircraft of all types, mostly inferior to Japanese aircraft ^[1] .

After the end of World War II, the newly created Royal Dutch East Indies Army was intensively used in 1947 and 1948 to suppress the national liberation movement in Indonesia . However, the Dutch efforts to maintain control of their colonies in Southeast Asia failed, and on December 27, 1949, Indonesia gained independence ^[2] .

The Royal Dutch East Indies Army was officially dissolved by the Queen's decree of July 26, 1950. However, its traditions to this day live in parts of the modern Royal Dutch Army .

Before the uprisings of the local population, volunteers from among the Dutch, mercenaries from European nations (mainly Germans, Belgians and Swiss), the local population from the Molluk archipelago, Manado and Timor , and even representatives of some African tribes were recruited into the Royal Dutch East Indian Army. The ratio of the number of foreigners to the number of soldiers from the local population was 60-40%. Later, KNIL soldiers became Dutch, recruited directly in the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies, as well as Indonesians.

In 1890, a colonial reserve was organized ( Dutch: Koloniale Reserve ), which recruited and sent Dutch volunteers from the mother country to serve in the Dutch East Indies.

By the start of the Japanese invasion in December 1941, the Royal Dutch East Indies Army consisted of approximately 1,000 officers and 34,000 soldiers, of whom 28,000 were Indonesians.

• Operation in the Dutch East Indies
• Dutch East Indies

• Armored forces of the Dutch East Indies
• Bosma, Ulbe: “Emigration: Colonial circuits between Europe and Asia in the 19th and early 20th century” , EGO - Europäische Geschichte Online Mainz: Institute of European History