Confrontation, Strategy and War Termination: Britain’s Conflict with Indonesia PDF
Preview Confrontation, Strategy and War Termination: Britain’s Conflict with Indonesia
Confrontation, Strategy and War termination military Strategy and operational art edited by Professor Howard m. Hensel, air War College, USa the ashgate Series on military Strategy and operational art analyzes and assesses the synergistic interrelationship between joint and combined military operations, national military strategy, grand strategy, and national political objectives in peacetime, as well as during periods of armed conflict. In doing so, the series highlights how various patterns of civil–military relations, as well as styles of political and military leadership influence the outcome of armed conflicts. In addition, the series highlights both the advantages and challenges associated with the joint and combined use of military forces involved in humanitarian relief, nation building, and peacekeeping operations, as well as across the spectrum of conflict extending from limited conflicts fought for limited political objectives to total war fought for unlimited objectives. finally, the series highlights the complexity and challenges associated with insurgency and counter-insurgency operations, as well as conventional operations and operations involving the possible use of weapons of mass destruction. also in this series: Joining the Fray Outside Military Intervention in Civil Wars Zachary C. Shirkey iSBn 978 1 4094 2892 3 Blair’s Successful War British Military Intervention in Sierra Leone andrew m. dorman iSBn 978 0 7546 7299 9 Russian Civil-Military Relations robert Brannon iSBn 978 0 7546 7591 4 Managing Civil-Military Cooperation edited by Sebastiaan J.H. rietjens and myriame t.i.B. Bollen iSBn 978 0 7546 7281 4 Confrontation, Strategy and War termination Britain’s Conflict with Indonesia CHriStoPHer tUCk King’s College London at the Joint Services Command and Staff College, Shrivenham, UK © Christopher tuck 2013 all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Christopher tuck has asserted his right under the Copyright, designs and Patents act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. Published by ashgate Publishing Limited ashgate Publishing Company Wey Court east 110 Cherry Street Union road Suite 3-1 farnham Burlington, Vt 05401-3818 Surrey, gU9 7Pt USa england www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data tuck, Christopher. Confrontation, strategy and war termination : Britain’s conflict with Indonesia. -- (Military strategy and operational art) 1. great Britain--foreign relations--indonesia. 2. indonesia--foreign relations--great Britain. 3. great Britain--foreign relations--1945-1964. 4. great Britain-- foreign relations--1964-1979. 5. War--termination. i. title ii. Series 327.4'10598'09046-dc23 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data tuck, Christopher. Confrontation, strategy and war termination : Britain’s conflict with Indonesia / by Christopher tuck. p. cm. -- (Military strategy and operational art) includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4094-4630-9 (hardback) -- ISBN 978-1-4094-4631-6 (ebook) 1. Borneo--History, military--20th century. 2. great Britain--History, military--20th century. 3. War--termination. 4. military art and science--great Britain--History--20th century. 5. malaysia--foreign relations- -indonesia. 6. indonesia--foreign relations--malaysia. 7. indonesia--History--1950-1966. i. title. dS646.3.t83 2013 959.803'5--dc23 2012026009 ISBN 9781409446309 (hbk) ISBN 9781409446316 (ebk – Pdf) ISBN 9781409471844 (ebk – ePUB) V Printed and bound in great Britain by the mPg Books group, Uk. Contents Map of South East Asia vii Map of Malaya-Borneo viii Introduction 1 1 Fighting Indonesia: British Strategy and the Emergence of Confrontation 15 2 Theories of War Termination 39 3 ‘Bristling with Difficulties’: British Objectives 81 4 ‘Soldiering On’: British Options and Assessment 105 5 British Planning: The Paradox of Preparation 151 6 Britain’s War Termination Problem: The External Dimension 173 7 Britain’s War Termination Problem: The Internal Dimension 197 Conclusions 227 Bibliography 235 Index 249 This page has been left blank intentionally Introduction Between 1963 and 1966, the United Kingdom fought and won what was, in essence, an undeclared war against the Republic of Indonesia. The catalyst for this war was the British project to create a new state, the Federation of Malaysia, by bringing together Malaya, the Crown Colony of Singapore and the Borneo territories of Sarawak, Brunei and British North Borneo. The creation of Malaysia in September 1963 was intended by Britain to secure continued use of its base at Singapore and to allow Britain to maintain its influence in the Far East at reduced cost and in a more benign political environment. Indonesian opposition to Malaysia was couched in terms of the accusation that, far from being a free and independent Asian state, the new Federation would be an artificial colonial construct designed only to perpetuate imperialism in the region. For Britain, war with Indonesia was a problematic exercise not least because the short-term aim of securing Malaysia had to be balanced against the longer-term aim of establishing good relations with Indonesia, which occupied a pivotal geo-strategic position in the region.1 From April 1963 to August 1966, Commonwealth and Indonesian forces clashed in an extended campaign of cross-border irregular warfare, insurgency, terrorism and subversion as Indonesia tried to destabilise the Federation and Commonwealth forces attempted to convince the Indonesians to accept Malaysia as a political fact. By the time of its formal conclusion on 11 August 1966, more than 300 Commonwealth and 1600 Indonesian troops had been killed, wounded or captured.2 1 British objectives are explored more fully in Chapter 1. Indonesian objectives are more difficult to fathom with certainty but see JAC Mackie, Konfrontasi: The Indonesia- Malaysia Dispute, 1963–66 (London: Oxford University Press, 1974), 132–9; Franklin B. Weinstein, Indonesia Abandons Confrontation: An Inquiry into the Functions of Indonesian Foreign Policy (Equinox: Jakarta, 2009); MC Ricklefs, A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1200 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), 294–311; Cindy Adams, Sukarno: An Autobiography (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1965), 300–307; ‘The Era of Confrontation’ (Djakarta: Dept. of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Indonesia, 1964), 11. 2 Gen. Sir Walter Walker, ‘Brunei and Borneo, 1962–1966: An Efficient Use of Military Force’ in The Imperial War Museum Book of Modern Warfare: British and Commonwealth Forces at War, 1945–2000, ed. Julian Thompson (Basingstoke: Pan, 2002), 219; Nick Van der Bijl, Confrontation: The War With Indonesia, 1962–66 (Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2007), 241–2.
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