Qiu Hanjie
Qiú Hànjié 仇汉杰 | |
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| Born | July 12, 1869 Qinghua, Xiaodong |
| Died | April 24, 1935 (aged 65) Keisi, Senria |
| Allegiance | Heavenly Xiaodongese Empire |
| Service/ | Heavenly Army |
| Years of service | 1889-1932 |
| Rank | Field Marshal |
| Unit | 4th Infantry Regiment, 9th Division |
| Commands held |
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| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | Order of the Orchid Order of the Azure Dragon Order of the Noble Orchid Legion of Merit |
| Spouse(s) | Yi Xiaohui (m. 1891–1935) |
- This is a Xiaodongese name; the family name is Qiu (仇).
Qiu Hanjie (Xiaodongese: 仇汉杰, Qiú Hànjié; July 12th 1869 - April 24th 1935 aged 65) was a Xiaodongese military officer and war criminal during the Great War. He became most famous as the Commander of the Senrian Expeditionary Army (SEA) that led the invasion of Senria and dominated the occupation of Tousuu from 1927 to 1933. In this role Qiu played a major role in the Senrian Genocide being seen as a key figure in approving the construction and expansion of the extermination zones.
Qiu was born into minor nobility, attending military school and receiving commission as a junior officer in 1889. Qiu participated as a lieutenant in the First Sakata Incident when Xiaodong seized the city of Sakata from Senria and subsequently was appointed as the commander of the Sakata Garrison in 1911. He was reassigned to command the 7th division in the Kaoming peninsula in 1915 and in 1918 was appointed as a member of the General Staff. Considered to be part of the hardline faction of the army he was a key player in the Jiayin Restoration that enthroned the Shanrong Emperor as the absolutist ruler of Xiaodong in 1922. During the Tousuu Intervention Qiu now serving as major general was appointed as chief of staff of Tousuu Expeditionary Army when Xiaodongese force intervened in the Senrian Revolution serving under Zhang Haodong, bolstering his reputation as a Senria expert in the Xiaodongese army.
Following the Second Sakata Incident and the start of the Great War Qiu was promoted to field marshal and appointed by the emperor to command the SEA, effectively making Qiu the supreme commander of Xiaodongese and Entente forces in Senria. Qiu was an important war planner for the Xiaodongese invasion and following the creation of the collaborationist Reformed Government dominated the occupation of the territory. Whilst officially Qiu's remit was military as commander of the SEA Qiu played a large role in the civil and military administration of occupied Senria. An ardent Xiaodongese nationalist who was amongst the most fervent anti-Senrian figures in the Xiaodongese command Qiu is recognised to alongside Peace Preservation Birgade commander Shen Jinping to order the start of the Senrian genocide with the creation of the Extermination Zones in 1928. Debate around Qiu's actions centre on whether he had pre-planned the genocide of 9,500,000 Senrians or had implemented such policies out of perceived wartime difficulties.
Qiu fled Senria in 1932 after Xiaodongese forces were defeated on the islands. Held responsible for the defeat on the islands Qiu was forced to resign from all posts in the army, retiring to his hometown of Qinghua. During the Senrian invasion of Xiaodong Qiu was captured by Senrian forces and detained at a prisoner-of-war camp; in 1935 he was transferred to Keisi where he was formally tried with war crimes. Qiu was unanimously found guilty and was executed by hanging in April 1935. He is widely considered by historians to be the main perpetrator of the Senrian genocide.
Early life
Qiu Hanjie was born in the city of Qinghua in the Wudan province on the July 12th 1869. He was the second son of Qiu Jiaodong, a minor landlord in the Wudan province with his mother Duan Changyin coming from a more wealthy landowning family in the same province. Qiu's family had no strong military background but in the atmosphere of the post-Restoration War Xiaodong it was expected that as the second son Qiu would pursure a military career.
Qiu was sent to be educated at a Cadet School in Qinghua. Education for boys during this period emphasised discipline, collective over individual good and of the glory of war over material goods. Qiu at school was observed to be humourless, dogmatic and opinionated with a tendency to bully other students. He was considered to be slightly above average within his classes but possessed tremendous self-discipline. Qiu transferred to the Baiqiao Military Academy, the most prestigious of Xiaodong's military academies, in 1881. His studies were briefly cut short during the 1887 Etrurian-Xiaodongese War when he deployed to fight against Etrurian forces. Qiu was part of the decisive Battle of Jungfa, although he during the battle was assisting general Deng Baozhou at the staff office rather then the frontlines. Qiu graduated from the academy in 1889 with the rank of lieutenant ranked 34th out of 337 cadets.
In 1891 Qiu married Yi Xiaohui, the third daughter of a minor noble from his home-Wudan province. Qiu would have three children with Yi - twin girls born in 1894 and a boy born in 1897. Qiu was regarded as being a "cold, tyrannical father" who would regularly beat his children for minor misdeeds. Qiu pushed his son to similarly receive a military education. Historian Hanamura Soshitsu stated that Qiu's distant relationship of his children highlighted his focus on his military career, but noted that as his children matured Qiu treated them with far more respect as he saw them as similarly adopting his "ferocious self-discipline".
Pre-war military career
Following his graduation from the military academy Qiu was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 4th Infantry Regiment of the 9th Division which was stationed in the Anqing province. From 1892 to 1897 Qiu was stationed as a military attaché in Senria. During his time in Senria Qiu became to be critical of Senrians; he regarded them as culturally inferior and barbaric in their disposition. Qiu stated that whilst modernisation had "enhanced the people of Xiaodong to meet discipline with modernity" in Senria it had led to a hedonistic people who were "soft" in their disposition. During his time in Senria Qiu learnt the language, although there is dispute as to whether Qiu was ever fully fluent in Senrian.
In 1898 Qiu applied to become an instructor at the Rongzhuo military academy specialising in "Senrian affairs". Qiu followed orthodox military views of his generation believing in maintaining a large field army that would use superior numbers and "martial spirit" to prevail over technologically superior enemies. Qiu was a particular advocate for the cult of the offensive that taught that the overwhelming force of the Xiaodongese army would be able to cripple an enemy who attempted to defend. This orthodoxy in the army would not be challenged until the 1910's when younger reformists in the military such as Lu Keqian and Ren Xilian promoted the modernisation of the army around a professional core. Similar to all Xiaodongese officers of his generation Qiu was opposed to positivist ideals which has been a major ideological influence on army reformists.
Qiu throughout his career fervently believed that a war with Senria was not only desirable but inevitable, and that Xiaodong was destined to expand into the islands as they constituted the "organic expansion of Xiaodongese and thus human civilisation". Qiu was a firm believer in social competition and saw a hierarchy of races that were destined to succeed and others destined to fail and submit to the hegemony of the dominant races. According to this paradigm Senrians as a "naturally weaker people" were destined to swear fealty to their Xiaodongese racial and civilizational superiors. Qiu was generally a conservative and unlike other officers was critical of Euclean influence in Xiaodong - Qiu refused to enter Euclean concessions and attempted to restore traditional clothing and hairstyles to the army albeit with scant success.
It was observed that Qiu was seen by his men as "strict with little tolerance for mistakes" commonly slapping soldiers across the face is they made mistakes or flogging them for insubordination, but was respected for his disciplined approach and was popular amongst some quarters for his stridently conservative and nationalist beliefs.