Fumimaro Konoe

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Prince Fumimaro Konoe
近衞 文麿
Konoe in 1938
Prime Minister of Japan
In office 22 July 1940 – 18 October 1941
Monarch	Hirohito
Preceded by	Mitsumasa Yonai
Succeeded by	Hideki Tojo
In office 4 June 1937 – 5 January 1939
Monarch	Hirohito
Preceded by	Senjūrō Hayashi
Succeeded by	Hiranuma Kiichirō
President of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association
In office 12 October 1940 – 18 October 1941
Vice President	Heisuke Yanagawa
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Hideki Tojo
Ministerial offices Minister of Justice Acting 18 July 1941 – 25 July 1941 Prime Minister Himself Preceded by Heisuke Yanagawa Succeeded by Michiyo Iwamura Minister of Agriculture Acting 22 July 1940 – 24 July 1940 Prime Minister Himself Preceded by Toshio Shimada Succeeded by Tadaatsu Ishiguro Minister for Foreign Affairs Acting 30 September 1938 – 29 October 1938 Prime Minister Himself Preceded by Kazushige Ugaki Succeeded by Hachirō Arita Minister of Colonial Affairs Acting 30 September 1938 – 29 October 1938 Prime Minister Himself Preceded by Kazushige Ugaki Succeeded by Yoshiaki Hatta
President of the Privy Council
In office 5 January 1939 – 24 June 1940
Monarch	Shōwa
Vice President	Yoshimichi Hara
Preceded by	Hiranuma Kiichirō
Succeeded by	Yoshimichi Hara
President of the House of Peers
In office 9 June 1933 – 7 June 1937
Monarch	Shōwa
Vice President	Yorinaga Matsudaira
Preceded by	Tokugawa Iesato
Succeeded by	Yorinaga Matsudaira
Vice President of the House of Peers
In office 16 January 1931 – 9 June 1933
President	Tokugawa Iesato
Preceded by	Hachisuka Masaaki
Succeeded by	Yorinaga Matsudaira
Member of the House of Peers
In office 12 October 1916 – 16 December 1945 Hereditary peerage
Personal details
Born	(1891-10-12)12 October 1891 Tokyo, Empire of Japan
Died	16 December 1945(1945-12-16) (aged 54) Tekigai-sō, Tokyo, Allied-occupied Japan
Cause of death	Suicide by cyanide
Political party	Imperial Rule Assistance Association (1940–1945)
Other political affiliations	Independent (before 1940)
Spouse	Konoe Chiyoko (1896–1980)
Parents	Konoe Atsumaro Maeda Sawako
Education	First Higher School Tokyo Imperial University
Alma mater	Kyoto Imperial University
Signature
Japanese name
Kanji	近衞 文麿
Transcriptions Romanization Konoe Fumimaro

Part of a series on
Statism in Shōwa Japan
Organizations and factions Imperial Rule Assistance Association Imperial Rule Assistance Political Association Yokusan Sonendan National Spiritual Mobilization Movement League of Diet Members Supporting the Prosecution of the Holy War Great Japan Youth Party Shōwa Kenkyūkai Kōdōha Young Officers Movement Tōseiha National Foundation Society Black Ocean Society Cherry Blossom Society Japanese Committee on Trade and Information Fleet faction Yūzonsha
Events March Incident Mukden Incident Withdrawal from the League of Nations Imperial Colors Incident League of Blood Incident May 15 Incident Military Academy Incident Withdrawal from the Washington Naval Treaty February 26 Incident Marco Polo Bridge Incident State General Mobilization Law Tripartite Pact Formation of the Taisei Yokusankai Appointment of Hideki Tojo Pacific War Kyūjō incident Purge
Ideologies Fascism Totalitarianism Statism Shintaisei Kokutai Yamato-damashii Bushido Gekokujō Ultranationalism Corporatism State capitalism Militarism State Shinto Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere Shōwa Restoration Hakkō ichiu Expansionism Propaganda Pan-Asianism
People Fumimaro Konoe Hideki Tojo Sadao Araki Ikki Kita Shūmei Ōkawa Uesugi Shinkichi Koki Hirota Nobusuke Kishi Nisshō Inoue Tanaka Chigaku Masanobu Tsuji Jinzaburō Masaki Kuniaki Koiso Hiranuma Kiichirō Kanji Ishiwara Kingoro Hashimoto
Atrocities Mass killings Manila massacre Bataan Death March Nanjing Massacre Sook Ching Hell ship Sexual slavery Use of chemical weapons Human experimentation Slavery Use of biological weapons
Media and literature Shinmin no Michi How Japan Plans to Win Momotaro: Sacred Sailors Momotarō no Umiwashi Moyuru ōzora The Most Beautiful "Ode of Showa Restoration"
Related American cover-up of Japanese war crimes Emperor system International Military Tribunal for the Far East Japanese history textbook controversies Korean collaborators with Imperial Japan Uyoku dantai
v t e

Prince Fumimaro Konoe (近衞 文麿, Konoe Fumimaro, 12 October 1891 – 16 December 1945) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1937 to 1939 and from 1940 to 1941. He presided over the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 and breakdown in relations with the United States, which shortly after his tenure culminated in Japan's entry into World War II. Konoe played a central role in transforming Japan into a totalitarian state by pushing through the State General Mobilization Law and establishing the Imperial Rule Assistance Association while dissolving all other political parties.

Born in Tokyo to a prominent aristocratic family, Konoe graduated from Kyoto University and took up his father's seat in the House of Peers in 1916. He was a member of the Japanese delegation at the Paris Peace Conference following World War I, and served as president of the House of Peers from 1933 to 1937. In June 1937, Konoe became prime minister of Japan on the recommendation of his mentor Saionji Kinmochi. When the Marco Polo Bridge Incident took place a month later, he oversaw an escalation of tensions with the Republic of China which ultimately culminated in the Second Sino-Japanese War. During the early years of the conflict, Konoe presided over a series of crushing victories against Chinese forces as well as the perpetration of numerous war crimes (including the Nanjing Massacre). In 1938, he enacted the State General Mobilization Law which massively expanded the government's control over Japanese civilians in order to place the country on a war footing. In January 1939, Konoe resigned as the Japanese military proved unable to achieve a decisive victory in China.

After resigning as Japan's head of government, Konoe served as chairman of the Privy Council until being once again appointed prime minister in July 1940. Later that year, he founded the Imperial Rule Assistance Association and oversaw the signing of the Tripartite Pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. During his second premiership, Konoe also presided over the Japanese invasion of French Indochina, the formal recognition of Wang Jingwei's puppet government in Nanjing and the conclusion of the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact. Despite attempting to resolve growing tensions with the United States, a rigid timetable imposed by the military on the negotiations and Konoe's own inflexibility set the two countries on the path to war. Politically isolated, Konoe resigned as premier in October 1941 and was replaced by Hideki Tojo. Six weeks later, the Pacific War broke out after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.

Konoe remained a close advisor to Emperor Hirohito until the end of World War II and played a key role in the fall of the Tōjō Cabinet in 1944. At the start of the Allied occupation of Japan in 1945, he briefly served as a minister in the cabinet of Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni, but came under suspicion of war crimes. In December, Konoe committed suicide by ingesting cyanide before he could be arrested by the authorities.