Invasion of Java ( 1811 ) 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 . A 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 laid siege to , 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 , and was restored to the Dutch in the Treaty of Paris 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 . He arrived in Java in April 1811 aboard the French frigates " Méduse " and " Nymphe " and the corvette " Sappho " , accompanied by several hundred French troops ( light infantry ) and some senior French officers . 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 14 Dutch gunvessels off Surabaya , capturing nine of them . Marrack , in north - western Java , was attacked and the fort defending the town largely demolished by a party from and on 30 July . On the same day attacked a squadron of six Dutch gunboats flying French colours , capturing five and destroying the sixth . Java Expedition . The British force , initially under the command of Vice - Admiral William O ' Bryen Drury , and then after his death in March 1811 , under Commodore William Robert Broughton , assembled at bases in India in early 1811 . The first division of troops , under the command of Colonel Rollo Gillespie , left Madras on 18 April , escorted by a squadron under Captain Christopher Cole aboard the 36 - gun . They arrived at Penang on 18 May , and on 21 May the second division , led by Major - General Frederick Augustus Wetherall , which had left Calcutta on 21 April , escorted by a squadron under Captain Fleetwood Pellew , aboard the 38 - gun joined them . The two squadrons sailed together , arriving at Malacca on 1 June , where they made contact with a division of troops from Bengal under Lieutenant - General Sir Samuel Auchmuty , escorted by Commodore Broughton aboard the 74 - gun . Auchmuty and Broughton became the military and naval commanders in chief respectively of the expedition . With the force now assembled Auchmuty had roughly 11 , 960 men under his command , the previous strength having been reduced by approximately 1 , 200 by sickness . Those too ill to travel on were landed at Malacca , and on 11 June the fleet sailed onwards . After calling at various points en route , the force arrived off Indramayu on 30 June . There the fleet waited for a time for intelligence concerning the Dutch strength . Colonel Mackenzie , an officer who had been dispatched to reconnoitre the coast , suggested a landing site at Cilincing , an undefended fishing village east of Batavia . The fleet anchored off the Marandi River on 4 August , and began landing troops at 14 : 00 . The defenders were taken by surprise , and nearly six hours passed before Franco - Dutch troops arrived to oppose the landing , by which time 8 , 000 British troops had been landed . A brief skirmish took place between the advance guards , and the Franco - Dutch forces were repulsed . Fall of Batavia . On learning of the successful British landing , Janssens withdrew from Batavia with his army , which amounted to between 8 , 000 and 10 , 090 men , and garrisoned themselves in Fort Cornelis . The British advanced on Batavia , reaching it on 8 August and finding it undefended . The city surrendered to the forces under Colonel Gillespie , after Broughton and Auchmuty had offered promises to respect private property . The British were disappointed to find that part of the town had been set on fire , and many warehouses full of goods such as coffee and sugar had been looted or flooded , depriving them of prize money . On 9 August 1811 Rear - Admiral Robert Stopford arrived and superseded Commodore Broughton , who was judged to be too cautious . Stopford had orders to supersede Rear - Admiral Albemarle Bertie as commander in chief at the Cape , but on his arrival he learnt of Vice - Admiral Drury ' s death , and the planned expedition to Java , and so travelled on . British advances . General Janssens had always intended to rely on the tropical climate and disease to weaken the British army rather than oppose a landing . The British now advanced on Janssens ' s stronghold , reducing enemy positions as they went . The Dutch military and naval station at Weltevreeden fell to the British after an attack on 10 August . British losses did not exceed 100 while the defenders lost over 300 . In one skirmish , one of Janssens ' s French subordinates , General Alberti , was killed when he mistook some British troops in green uniforms for Dutch troops . Weltevreeden was six miles from Fort Cornelis and on 20 August the British began preparing fortifications of their own , some 600 yards from the Franco - Dutch positions . Siege of Fort Cornelis . Fort Cornelis measured in length by between and in breadth . Two hundred and eighty cannon were mounted on its walls and bastions . Its defenders were a mixed bag of Dutch , French and East Indies troops . Most of the locally raised East Indian troops were of doubtful loyalty and effectiveness , although there were some determined artillerymen from Celebes . The captured station at Weltevreeden proved an ideal base from which the British could lay siege to Fort Cornelis . On 14 August the British completed a trail through the forests and pepper plantations to allow them to bring up heavy guns and munitions , and opened siege works on the north side of the Fort . For several days , there were exchanges of fire between the fort and the British batteries , manned mainly by Royal Marines and sailors from HMS " Nisus " . A sortie from the fort early on the morning of 22 August briefly seized three of the British batteries , until they were driven back by some of the Bengal Sepoys and the 69th Foot . The two sides then exchanged heavy fire , faltering on 23 August , but resuming on 24 August . The Franco - Dutch position worsened when a deserter helped General Rollo Gillespie to capture two of the redoubts by surprise . Gillespie , who was suffering from fever , collapsed , but recovered to storm a third redoubt . The French General Jauffret was taken prisoner . Two Dutch officers , Major Holsman and Major Muller , sacrificed themselves to blow up the redoubt ' s magazine . The three redoubts were nevertheless the key to the defence , and their loss demoralised most of Janssens ' s East Indian troops . Many Dutch troops also defected , repudiating their allegiance to the French . The British stormed the fort at midnight on 25 August , capturing it after a bitter fight . The siege cost the British 630 casualties . The defenders ' casualties were heavier , but only those among officers were fully recorded . Forty of them were killed , sixty - three wounded and 230 captured , including two French generals . Nearly 5 , 000 men were captured , including three general officers , 34 field officers , 70 captains and 150 subaltern officers . 1 , 000 men were found dead in the fort , with more being killed in the subsequent pursuit . Janssens escaped to Buitenzorg with a few survivors from his army , but was forced to abandon the town when the British approached . Total British losses in the campaign after the fall of Fort Cornelis amounted to 141 killed , 733 wounded and 13 missing from the Army , and 15 killed , 45 wounded and three missing from the Navy ; a total of 156 killed , 788 wounded and 16 missing by 27 August . Later actions . Royal Navy ships continued to patrol off the coast , occasionally making raids on targets of opportunity . On 4 September two French 40 - gun frigates , the " Méduse " and the " Nymphe " attempted to escape from Surabaya . They were pursued by the 36 - gun and the 18 - gun , until " Barracouta " lost contact . " Bucephalus " pursued them alone until 12 September , when the French frigates came about and attempted to overhaul her . " Bucephalus " s commander , Captain Charles Pelly , turned about and tried to lead the pursuing French over shoals , but seeing the danger , they hauled off and abandoned the chase , returning to Europe . On 31 August a force from the frigates , and , and the sloop captured the fort and town of Sumenep , on Madura Island in the face of a large Dutch defending force . The rest of Madura and several surrounding islands placed themselves under the British soon afterwards . Suspecting Janssen to be in Cirebon , a force was landed there from , , , and on 4 September , causing the defenders to promptly surrender . General Jamelle , a member of Janssens ' s staff , was captured in the fall of the town . The town and fort of Taggal surrendered on 12 September after and arrived offshore . While the navy took control of coastal towns , the army pushed on into the interior of the island . Janssens had been reinforced on 3 September by 1 , 200 mounted irregulars under Prince Prang Wedono and other Javanese militia . On 16 September Salatiga fell to the British . Janssen attacked a British force under Colonel Samuel Gibbs that day , but was repulsed . Many of the native militia killed their Dutch officers in the ensuing rout . With his effective force reduced to a handful of men , Janssens surrendered two days later , on 18 September . Aftermath . The Dutch - held islands of Amboyna , Harouka , Saparua , Nasso - Laut , Buru , Manipa , Manado , Copang , Amenang , Kemar , Twangwoo and Ternate had surrendered to a force led by Captain Edward Tucker in 1810 , while Captain Christopher Cole captured the Banda Islands , completing the conquest of Dutch possessions in the Maluku Islands . Java became the last major colonial possession in the East not under British control , and its fall marked the effective end of the war in these waters . Stamford Raffles was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Java . He ended Dutch administrative methods , liberalized the system of land tenure , and extended trade . Britain returned Java and other East Indian possessions to the newly independent United Kingdom of the Netherlands under the terms of the Treaty of Paris in 1814 . One enduring legacy of the British occupation was the road rules , as the British had decreed that traffic should drive on the left , and this has endured in Indonesia to this day . British order of battle . Stopford ' s fleet on his arrival on 9 August to assume command of the expedition , consisted of the following ships , dispersed around the Javanese coast : In addition to the official navy forces , the East India Company provided the services of several of their ships , led by the " Malabar " under Commodore John Hayes . These were the " Ariel " ; " Aurora " ; " Mornington " ; " Nautilus " ; " Psyche " ; " Thetis " ; " Vestal " . With the transport vessels , and several gunboats captured as the campaign progressed , Stopford commanded nearly a hundred ships .