5 - The Empire’s Downfall (1780–1811)

Summary

In the 1770s, the voc was still the largest European colonial power in Asia. Through times of relative decline, the Company had managed to keep its territory together comparatively unscathed. After the Seven Years’ War the Company had continued to maintain its neutrality towards other European powers. When wars were fought, they were with Asian adversaries. Only in 1780, with the Republic facing a strong European opponent in the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780–1784), did it become clear how vulnerable and toothless the voc had become. It proved to be no match for the British and, after the war, was also faced with serious military resistance from Asian opponents around the Malacca Strait, in Malabar, and in the eastern Archipelago. The geopolitical consequences of the French Revolution of 1789, in particular, rapidly undermined the voc, so that by the turn of the century it had become a plaything of an increasingly powerful Great Britain. By the end of the eighteenth century, the Dutch empire had become isolated from its homeland and in 1810, as a result, it would rapidly crumble. This chapter is primarily devoted to the military aspects of that debacle. What was the course of the struggle, what did the Dutch do to turn the tide, and what — in spite of all efforts to improve their military position — were the causes of their military collapse?

The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War

The relative decline of the voc's power directly related to the rising star of the British in Asia. The Company could hold its own against local indigenous opponents, but was at a disadvantage when facing a better equipped European enemy. The direct damage of defeat by the British in Bengal in 1759 remained limited, as at that time Great Britain wanted to keep the neutral Dutch Republic as a friend. The eic quickly restored relations with the Dutch. Having tightened their grip on Bengal, however, the British were able to impose export quotas on the Dutch for products such as opium and saltpetre. The limited short-term damage notwithstanding, nothing could conceal the fact that the British share of trade in Asia systematically increased in the second half of the eighteenth century. This did not only mean the eic. The trading interests of private British merchants from Bombay, Madras and Calcutta, the so-called ‘country traders’, also grew.