The intervention was triggered by Balinese opposition to a Dutch attempt to impose an opium monopoly in their favour.

[1] The raja of Klungkung, the highest status king of Bali, opposed the imposition of the monopoly.

In Gelgel, they killed 100 Balinese, forcing the Cokorda to flee to Klungkung.

In a final confrontation on 18 April 1908, Dewa Agung Jambe, the Raja of Klungung, accompanied by 200 followers, made a desperate sortie out of his palace, clad in white and armed with a legendary kris supposed to wreak havoc on the enemy according to a prophecy.

Immediately, the six wives of the king killed themselves with their own kris, soon followed by the other Balinese in the procession.