Hajime Sugiyama

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Hajime Sugiyama
杉山 元
Minister of the Army Empire of Japan
In office 9 February 1937 – 3 June 1938
Monarch	Shōwa
Prime Minister	Senjūrō Hayashi Fumimaro Konoe
Preceded by	Kōtarō Nakamura
Succeeded by	Seishirō Itagaki
In office 22 July 1944 – 7 April 1945
Prime Minister	Kuniaki Koiso
Preceded by	Hideki Tojo
Succeeded by	Korechika Anami
Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff
In office 3 October 1940 – 21 February 1944
Monarch	Shōwa
Prime Minister	Fumimaro Konoe Hideki Tojo
Preceded by	Prince Kan'in Kotohito
Succeeded by	Hideki Tojo
Personal details
Born	January 1, 1880 Kokura, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan
Died	September 12, 1945(1945-09-12) (aged 65) Tokyo, Japan
Awards	Order of the Golden Kite, Order of the Rising Sun
Military service
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Branch/service	Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service	1901–1945
Rank	Gensui
Commands	12th Division Northern China Area Army First General Army
Battles/wars	Russo-Japanese War Second Sino-Japanese War Bombing of Chongqing World War II

Hajime Sugiyama (杉山 元, Sugiyama Hajime / Sugiyama Gen, January 1, 1880 – September 12, 1945) was a Japanese field marshal and one of Japan's military leaders for most of the Second World War. As Army Minister in 1937, Sugiyama was a driving force behind the launch of hostilities against China in retaliation for the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. After being named the Army’s Chief of Staff in 1940, he became a leading advocate for expansion into Southeast Asia and preventive war against the United States. Upon the outbreak of hostilities in the Pacific theater of World War II, Sugiyama served as the army’s de facto commander-in-chief until his removal by Prime Minister Hideki Tojo in February 1944. Following Tojo's ouster in July 1944, he once again held the post of Army Minister in Kuniaki Koiso's cabinet until its dissolution in April 1945. Ten days after Japan's surrender on 2 September 1945, he committed suicide.