By 1903, van Heutsz's tactics had succeeded in convincing several secular Acehnese resistance leaders, including Sultan Muhammad Daud, Tuanku Raja Keumala, Tuanku Mahmud and Teuku Panglima Polem Muda Perkasa, to surrender to the colonial authorities.

In the Netherlands, van Heutsz was then considered a hero, named as the "Pacificator of Aceh" and was promoted to the position of Governor-General in 1904.

[4] His efforts boosted support for imperialism in Dutch society and government and weakened the position of the anti-imperialists.

[1][2] During the 1920s and the 1930s, monuments to Van Heutsz were erected throughout major cities of the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies, including Amsterdam, Banda Aceh and Batavia (later Jakarta).

The monument in Jakarta, designed by the architect Wilhelm Marinus Dudok and the sculptor Hendrik van den Eynde, was inaugurated in 1932.

[5] In 1935, the leader of the Dutch fascist NSB, Anton Mussert, visited Jakarta and laid a wreath in van Heutsz honour.