"La Grande Route", as Daendels called it, was a military road which was built by the order of King Louis Bonaparte who ruled the Kingdom of Holland at that time, during the Napoleonic Wars. France was at war with England and the road was intended to support the defense of Java by, e.g. making it easier to transfer soldiers and supplies. In 1750, before the road was constructed, connections existed between Batavia (present-day Jakarta) and Semarang and onwards to Surabaya. A north-south connection between Semarang, Surakarta and onwards to Yogyakarta was also available at that time. However, heavy tropical rainfall frequently destroyed them.