Indonesia declared its independence from the Dutch on 17 August 1945, but the Dutch refused to recognize the proclamation. A four-year struggle followed, in which the Indonesian nationalists were supported by the Japanese forces that had occupied the archipelago since 1942. In 1949, after the Dutch had been defeated by the Indonesians in a bitter military campaign, the two sides reached a settlement in the form of the Netherlands-Indonesian Union, which granted Indonesia full independence.
The roots of the Indonesian …