The Invasion of Java in 1811 was a successful British amphibious operation against the Dutch East Indian island of Java that took place between August and September 1811 during the Napoleonic Wars. Originally established as a colony of the Dutch Republic, Java remained in Dutch hands throughout the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, during which time the French invaded the Republic and established the Batavian Republic in 1795, and the Kingdom of Holland in 1806. The Kingdom of Holland was annexed to the First French Empire in 1810, and Java became a titular French colony, though it continued to be administered and defended primarily by Dutch personnel.
After the fall of French colonies in the West Indies in 1809 and 1810, and a successful campaign against French possessions in Mauritius in 1810 and 1811, attention turned to the Dutch East Indies. An expedition was dispatched from India in April 1811, while a small squadron of frigates was ordered to patrol off the island, raiding shipping and launching amphibious assaults against targets of opportunity. Troops were landed on 4 August, and by 8 August the undefended city of Batavia capitulated. The defenders withdrew to a previously prepared fortified position, Fort Cornelis, which the British besieged, capturing it early in the morning of 26 August. The remaining defenders, a mixture of Dutch and French regulars and native militiamen, withdrew, pursued by the British. A series of amphibious and land assaults captured most of the remaining strongholds, and the city of Salatiga surrendered on 16 September, followed by the official capitulation of the island to the British on 18 September.
The island remained in British hands for the remainder of the Napoleonic Wars, but was restored to the Dutch in the Convention of London in 1814.
Background
The Netherlands had been controlled by France for several years and was already at war with Britain. The strongly pro-French Herman Willem Daendels was appointed Governor General of the Dutch East Indies in 1807. He arrived in Java aboard the French privateer Virginie in 1808, and began fortifying the island against the threat of a British siege. In particular, Daendels established an entrenched camp named Fort Cornelis a few miles south of Batavia. He also improved the island's defences by building new hospitals, barracks, arms factories and a new military college.
In 1810, the Netherlands were formally annexed by France. As part of the resulting changes, Jan Willem Janssens was appointed personally by Napoleon Bonaparte to replace Daendels as Governor General. Janssens had previously served as Governor General of the Cape Colony, and had been forced to capitulate after being defeated by British forces at the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806. Janssens accompanied a French frigate division under Joseph-François Raoul, consisting of the Méduse and Nymphe and the corvette Sappho tasked to support Java. This force was accompanied by several hundred French troops (light infantry) and some senior French officers. They arrived in Java in April 1811 without mishap. On 2 September, the frigates arrived at Surabaya, tailed by the 32-gun frigate HMS Bucephalus. Two days later, another British ship, HMS Barracouta, joined the chase, but lost contact on 8 September. Four days later, Méduse and Nymphe chased the Bucephalus, which escaped and broke contact the next day. The squadron was back in Brest on 22 December 1811.
The British had already occupied the Dutch East Indian possessions of Ambon and the Molucca Islands. They had also recently captured the French islands of Réunion and Mauritius in the Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811. Stamford Raffles, an official of the British East India Company who had been forced to leave the Dutch settlement at Malacca when the Netherlands were annexed, suggested to Lord Minto, the Governor-General of India, that Java and the other Dutch possessions should be captured. With the large forces which had been made available to him for the Mauritius campaign, Minto enthusiastically adopted the suggestion, and even proposed to accompany the expedition himself.
Naval raids
The Navy was active off the Javanese coastline before and during the expedition. On 23 May 1811 a party from attacked a flotilla of fourteen Dutch gun vessels off Surabaya, capturing nine of them. Merak, in north-western Java, was attacked and the fort defending the town largely demolished by a party from and HMS Leda on 30 July. On the same day attacked a squadron of six Dutch gunboats flying French colours, capturing five and destroying the sixth.