After the Pacific War, on August 1st 1947, Dutch soldiers carefully approached the bodies of Indonesian independence activists in the eastern city of Malang on the island of Java.

After the Pacific War, on August 1st 1947, Dutch soldiers carefully approached the bodies of Indonesian independence activists in the eastern city of Malang on the island of Java. If they encountered resistance from the Indonesians, the Dutch army occupied the area in a very brutal way. Thousands of innocent Indonesians were killed in the fighting.

　　Conflicts arose between Indonesian patriots and Dutch people who had been released from Japanese military detention. During the Japanese occupation, 150,000 Dutch people and Dutch military soldiers were detained in poor conditions. After liberation, the Dutch military was particularly hostile towards Indonesian rebels.

　　During the Indonesian War of Independence (1945-1949), the battle for control of Surabaya on the island of Java in October and November 1945 was one of the bloodiest. In the battle, 6,000 British troops attempted to disarm more than 100,000 Indonesian irregulars. The poorly equipped Indonesian forces suffered thousands of casualties in the three-week battle. After Surabaya, the British took a more neutral stance between the Dutch and the Indonesians.

　　From late 1945 to early 1946, the Dutch moved their troops to occupy major Indonesian cities, replacing the British and Australians who wanted to leave. In January 1946, the Dutch army expelled the Indonesian government from Jakarta and moved the capital to Yogyakarta. In order to bring the struggle for independence to a close, the Netherlands and the Republic of Indonesia signed an agreement in Linggajati on November 12, 1946. The Netherlands recognized the authority of the Republic of Indonesia, while maintaining control over the mineral-rich islands of eastern Indonesia.

　　The Dutch still wanted to regain control of the whole of Indonesia. To achieve this goal, the Dutch launched the Linggajati Offensive in July 1947, which aimed to overthrow the Linggajati Agreement and conquer Java and Sumatra. This offensive, known as the “police action”, was successful, and the Dutch occupied many cities in the Republic. On August 4th 1947, a ceasefire was agreed upon through the mediation of the United Nations. On December 7th 1949, the Netherlands transferred sovereignty to the Republic of Indonesia.