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The Dutch tried to take it back twice. After 1945, they sent 150,000 troops to r
1949 Event

December 27

Netherlands Recognizes Indonesian Independence: 350 Years of Colonialism End

The Dutch tried to take it back twice. After 1945, they sent 150,000 troops to reclaim what they'd ruled for 350 years. But village militias held them off, then the UN stepped in, then the Americans threatened to cut Marshall Plan funds. So the Netherlands signed papers in The Hague acknowledging what Sukarno had already declared four years earlier. Most expensive surrender in Dutch history: they'd spent 3 billion guilders trying to keep an empire that was already gone. The Indonesian Republic had 70 million people and zero interest in waiting for permission.

December 27, 1949

77 years ago

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