J.B. van Heutsz

J.B. (Joannes Benedictus) van Heutsz (1851-1924), was appointed governor general of the Dutch East Indies in 1904. In the years before he became famous by making an end to the years long Aceh War. Together with the Islamic scholar Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje he changed the tactics of the Dutch army against the Achenese, by introducing small mobile forces which we successful against the guerilla tactics of the Achenese. In the Netherlands the 'Pacificator of Aceh' became a hero and as a result he became governor-general in 1904. Van Heutsz returned to the Netherlands in 1909 and died in Switzerland on July 11, 1924.