A Dutch military expedition was launched to bombard Banda Aceh, the capital of the Aceh Sultanate in present-day Indonesia, beginning the Aceh War.

The First Aceh Expedition, was a military campaign undertaken by the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) against the sultanate of Aceh in the north of Sumatra in 1873. The expedition was launched as a punitive measure by the Dutch colonial authorities in response to perceived challenges to their control over the region and Aceh's resistance to Dutch interference in its affairs.

Banda Aceh is the capital and largest city in the province of Aceh, Indonesia. It is located on the island of Sumatra and has an elevation of 35 metres (115 ft). The city covers an area of 61.36 square kilometers (23.69 sq mi) and had a population of 223,446 people at the 2010 Census, rising to 252,899 at the 2020 Census. The official estimate as at mid 2024 was 265,310.

The Sultanate of Aceh, officially the Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam, was a sultanate centered in the modern-day Indonesian province of Aceh. It was a major regional power in the 16th and 17th centuries, before experiencing a long period of decline. Its capital was Kutaraja, the present-day Banda Aceh.

The Aceh War, also known as the Dutch War or the Infidel War (1873–1904), was an armed military conflict between the Sultanate of Aceh and the Kingdom of the Netherlands which was triggered by discussions between representatives of Aceh and the United States in Singapore during early 1873. The war was part of a series of conflicts in the late 19th century that consolidated Dutch rule over modern-day Indonesia.