The four-year struggle involved sporadic but bloody armed conflict, internal Indonesian political and communal upheavals, and two major international diplomatic interventions. Dutch military forces (and, for a while, the forces of the World War II allies) were able to control the major towns, cities and industrial assets in Republican heartlands on Java and Sumatra but could not control the countryside. By 1949, international pressure on the Netherlands, the United States threatening to cut off all economic aid for World War II rebuilding efforts to the Netherlands and the partial military stalemate became such that the Netherlands transferred sovereignty over the Dutch East Indies to the Republic of the United States of Indonesia.[17]
The revolution marked the end of the colonial administration of the Dutch East Indies, except for New Guinea. It also significantly changed ethnic castes as well as reducing the power of many of the local rulers (raja). It did not significantly improve the economic or political fortunes of the majority of the population, although a few Indonesians were able to gain a larger role in commerce.[18]
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^Ricklefs, M.C. (2008), A history of modern Indonesia since c. 1200, New York: Palgrave Macmilan, p. 291, ISBN978-0230546868
^Kemperman, Jeroen (16 May 2014). "De slachtoffers van de Bersiap" [The Victims of the Bersiap]. Niodbibliotheek.blogspot.com (in Dutch). Retrieved 2 December 2023.