| Twenty Years' War | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||
| Belligerents | ||||||||||
|
| |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||||
 Omar Ali Saifuddien I #Muhammad Tajuddin Awang Aliwaddin Pengiran Temenggong Ampa Sharif Ali Raja Tua of Mengkabong[a] |  Ferdinand I #[b] Muhammad Israil  Azim ud-Din II Datu Teting  |  Charles III # José Antonio Raón y Gutiérrez | ||||||||
| Units involved | ||||||||||
 Bruneian Army | Sulu Army |
| ||||||||
| Strength | ||||||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | ||||||||
TheTwenty Years' War or theBruneian–Sulu War was a conflict between theSulu Sultanate and theBruneian Empire. Brunei also foughtSpain briefly as well.
This war was also the first timeBrunei ever usedflintlockmuskets, as they began acquiring them in thelate 17th century andearly 18th century[2][4]
The Sultan of Sulu was instated by the British tocontrol Manila in 1763.[5] Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin who learned about the situation inManila, he was displeased as Azim ud-Din I was aapostate.[6][citation needed] As a result, he commanded an attack on the Sulu Sultanate in Manila with his forces under the command of Pehin Orang Kaya Di-Gadong Seri Lela Awang Aliwaddin.[7]
| This article is part of a series on the |
| History of Brunei |
|---|
 |
See also |
The mission did not arrive in Manila until 1769 because the expedition's preparations took so long. Sultan Azim ud-Din I (Alimuddin) had already departed Manila for Sulu in 1764 after theTreaty of Paris, therefore Manila was underSpanish rule when the siege began.[8] The siege was successful besieged for Brunei, capturing it in the process.[9]
The Sulu Sultanate then despatched a force under the command of Datu Teting to attackBalambangan in 1775, the leaders of Balambangan sought safety inLabuan after the British quickly established a presence in Brunei.[10] When the two forces clashed, Datu Teting surrendered and his troops fled back to Sulu after learning that the warriors of Brunei, led by Pengiran Temenggong Ampa, were far too strong for them to defeat.[11][3]
In 1788, A Sulu army attacked many coastal villages around Sabah as an attempt to invade Brunei, lead by Datu Teting who previously burned Balambangan before retreating, arriving to Kampung Sembulan in said year. They were later defeated by again Pengiran Temenggong Ampa, Sharif Amir and Raja Tua ofMengkabong (in today'sTuaran District,Sabah,Malaysia). Sharif Ali later became the caretaker of Kampung Sembulan, now in present-dayKota Kinabalu, one of the many coastal villages in Sabah that stands until today although most land from sea has been reclaimed due to development.[3]
_by_Francis_Grant.jpg)
Thanks to their numerical and military advantage over Sulu,[citation needed] Brunei effectively defeated the Sulu Sultanate. Though piracy raids continued after the war, Brunei reclaimed all of their lost territory in the war against Sulu. Brunei stopped any more Sulu invasions against Brunei. The war was pivotal for restoring Brunei's dominance inBorneo and stopped anymore foreign incursions into Brunei until the mid–19th century whenJames Brooke arrived.
Who would later be responsible of one of many factors that caused the decline of the Bruneian Sultanate, making it decline heavily into 1870 to 1888,[12][13] which eventually forcedSultan Anak Hashim to sign theProtectorate Agreement in 1888.