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b'The Dutch\\u2013Indonesian War was one of the first postwar struggles that followed the Japanese surrender in September 1945, which left a power vacuum in the colonial Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). The infant nation didn\\u2019t have a normal standing army but was a fragile coalition of various forces involved in the struggle: the Indonesian nationalists who immediately proclaimed an independent republic, remaining Japanese troops, and revolutionary student groups. Pitted against them were the Dutch forces, which arrived in 1946, and tried to restore its colony.

Today\\u2019s guest is Marc Lohnstein, author of \\u201cThe Dutch-Indonesian War 1945-49.\\u201d We discusss how the nationalists were defeated by Dutch and Dutch-led local forces in urban areas, but how their guerrillas evaded Dutch troops in the jungle hills and swamps.

While mostly forgotten, this war is one of many such conflicts in the turbulent years of decolonization.'