Herman Willem Daendels (October 21 1762 - May 2 1818) was a Dutch politician.

In 1785 he sided with the Patriots , who had seized power in several Dutch cities. In 1787 he defended Amsterdam against the Prussian army that invaded the Netherlands to restore William V of Orange. After William V was in power again, he fled to France. He returned to the Netherlands in 1794, as a general in the French army of Charles Pichegru. In the Batavian Republic he had several political functions, but he had to step down when he failed to halt the Anglo-Russian invastion in 1798. Louis Bonaparte made him colonel-general in 1806 and Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies in 1807. On Java he issued to build the Great Post Road . When the Kingdom of Holland was incorporated in France in 1810, Daendels returned to Holland. He participated in Napoleon's invasion of Russia. After the fall of Napoleon he became Governor-General of the Dutch Posessions in Africa. He died of malaria in Ghana.