Gerrit Hartnell

Gerrit Hartnell
Hartnell in 1947
Foresitter of Cuthland-Waldrich from Cuthland
In office 19 June 1944 – 5 August 1962
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Wilfred Þornton
Prime Minister of Cuthland
In office 20 January 1944 – 19 June 1944
Preceded by	Harold Blakemore
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Foresitter of the Peninsular Party
In office 17 March 1920 – 5 August 1962
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Adde Laninga
Personal details
Born	Gerrit Alfred Hartnell (1881-11-14)14 November 1881 Leihstead-on-Fen, Stanworþscire, Cornicae
Died	5 August 1962(1962-08-05) (aged 80) Cingsham, Cingshamscire, Cuthland-Waldrich
Cause of death	Heart attack
Resting place	St. Sigeburg's Church, Leihstead-on-Fen
Citizenship	Cornice (1881–1943) Cuthish (1943–1944) Cutho-Waldish (1944–1962)
Political party	Peninsular Party (1920–1962)
Spouse	Cwenhild Sharpe (m. 1909)
Children	Edmund Jeltsje Eafe Godric
Parent(s)	Godric Alwin Hartnell Jeltsje Fenna Barwegen
Alma mater	University of Swinfield
Profession	Soldier farmer politician
Military service
Allegiance	Cornicae
Branch/service	Royal Cathartic Army
Years of service	1903–1916
Rank	Major
Unit	5th Royal Stanworþscire Artillery
Commands	B Battery, 5th Royal Stanworþscire Artillery
Battles/wars	Continental War

Gerrit Alfred Hartnell (14 November 1881 – 5 August 1962) was a Cutho-Waldish politician, soldier, and farmer. He was the ideological architect of the Peninsularist movement in post-Continental War Cornicae, founding the Peninsular Party in 1920. He was largely responsible for orchestrating the Peninsular Revolution and served as one of the first two Foresitters of Cuthland-Waldrich following the nation's reunification. Hartnell is widely regarded as the father of the modern Cutho-Waldish state, and his ideological views are considered foundational to the nation's political and socio-economic institutions.

Hartnell was born and raised on a farm in southern Cuthland, then under the rule of Cornicae. He was of both Cuthish and Waldish ancestry, and from a young age experienced discrimination due to his mixed heritage. He served as a field artillery officer in the 5th Royal Stanworþscire Artillery of the Royal Cathartic Army, seeing action during the Continental War. Upon returning home after the war, Hartnell discovered that both of his parents had been killed and his wife tortured by Cornice soldiers during the Peninsular Genocide. The fate of his family spurred him to enter politics, and he spent the next several years authoring his manifesto, The New Realm, in which he advocates for an independent and unified Hesurianic state in Cardia to restore the territory of the former Cutho-Waldish Realm. Hartnell's Peninsularist Party gained strength as Cornicae began to decline throughout the 1920s and 1930s, catapulting him to notoriety as one of the most influential and powerful social figures on the Peninsula. The Peninsularists overthrew the newly independent governments of Cuthland and Waldrich following Cornicae's collapse in the bloody Peninsular Revolution, which culminated when Hartnell declared himself to be Prime Minister of Cuthland on 20 January 1944.

Assisted by his Waldish counterpart Sikke Rijnders, Hartnell declared war on Fawster immediately following the Revolution in an attempted annexation which was ultimately repulsed by Aussonian intervention. On 19 June, Hartnell and Rijnders signed the Treaty of Wesselstêd, reunifying Cuthland and Waldrich under the newly established Commonwealth of Cuthland and Waldrich. Hartnell began a series of revolutionary reforms to the Cutho-Waldish political, economic, and social structure known as the Peninsular Fervor, creating an illiberal democracy based on his idealized vision from The New Realm. He divided control of the national government between both Cuthland and Waldrich, creating a diarchic head of government in which one Foresitter was elected from each state. He enacted a series of populist economic policies including severe protectionist measures aimed at autarky and competition legislation that broke up many of Cuthland-Waldrich's major corporations. Vestiges of Latin culture introduced by Cornicae were systematically purged from Cutho-Waldish society in order to fulfill Hartnell's vision of a purely Hesurianic state, including the persecution of Ditanerists and a series of linguistic reforms to remove loanwords of Latin origin from the Cutho-Waldish languages. In foreign policy, Hartnell sought to assert irredentist claims on former territories of the Cutho-Waldish Realm, launching a failed invasion of the Quatrines Islands in 1951 and successfully annexing the Island of Reth in 1960. He also oversaw the establishment of the Mageiros League from its inception, and was responsible for negotiating and signing the Treaty of Cingsham, Kujkë Agreement, and Mageiros Declaration.

Hartnell died of a heart attack on 5 August 1962, making him the only Cutho-Waldish head of government to die in office since reunification. His death saw the end of the Peninsularist Fervor and the beginning of the Long Stability in Cutho-Waldish politics, as his successors sought to distance themselves from many of his more idealistic and aggressive stances and seek normalization with Cuthland-Waldrich's neighbors. Nevertheless, Hartnell remains a popular, unifying figure throughout the nation, featuring heavily in modern Cutho-Waldish propaganda and remembered through many artistic works. Scholars have classified Hartnell's rule as a cult of personality, using extensive propaganda to present himself as a heroic, almost godlike figure despite never technically being the sole head of government outside of the diarchy. A number of conspiracy theories have emerged surrounding Hartnell's death, with many alleging that he was assassinated by political competitors within the Peninsularist Party.