Hideki Tojo

Hideki Tojo
東條 英機
Tojo c. 1940s
Prime Minister of Japan
In office
18 October 1941 – 22 July 1944
MonarchHirohito
Preceded byFumimaro Konoe
Succeeded byKuniaki Koiso
Minister of the Army
In office
22 July 1940 – 22 July 1944
Prime MinisterFumimaro Konoe (1940–1941)
Himself (1941–1944)
Preceded byShunroku Hata
Succeeded byHajime Sugiyama
Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army
General Staff
In office
21 February 1944 – 18 July 1944
Prime MinisterHideki Tojo (Himself)
Preceded byHajime Sugiyama
Succeeded byYoshijirō Umezu
Personal details
Born(1884-12-30)30 December 1884
Kōjimachi Ward, Tokyo, Empire of Japan
Died23 December 1948(1948-12-23) (aged 63)
Sugamo Prison, Tokyo, Occupied Japan
Cause of deathExecution by hanging[1]
Political partyImperial Rule Assistance Association (1940–1945)
Other political
affiliations
Independent (before 1940)
Spouse
Katsuko Ito
(m. 1909)
Children3 sons, 4 daughters
Parents
  • Hidenori Tojo (father)
  • Chitose Tojo (mother)
Alma mater
Awards
Signature
Military service
Allegiance Empire of Japan
Branch/service Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service1902–1945
Rank General
CommandsKwantung Army (1932–1934)
Battles/wars
Criminal conviction
Criminal statusExecuted
Conviction(s)Crimes against peace
War crimes
TrialInternational Military Tribunal for the Far East
Criminal penaltyDeath
Details
VictimsMillions
Span of crimes
1937–1945
CountryMultiple countries across Asia
Target(s)Chinese, Korean, Indochinese, Indonesian, Malaysian, Fillipino, Australian, and other civilians
Allied prisoners of war
Japanese name
Kanaとうじょう ひでき
Kyūjitai東條 英機
Shinjitai東条 英機

Hideki Tojo (東條 英機, Tōjō Hideki, pronounced [toːʑoː çideki] ; 30 December 1884 – 23 December 1948) was a Japanese politician, military leader and convicted war criminal who served as prime minister of Japan and president of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association from 1941 to 1944 during World War II. He assumed several more positions including chief of staff of the Imperial Army before ultimately being removed from power in July 1944. During his years in power, his leadership was marked by extreme state-perpetrated violence in the name of Japanese ultranationalism, much of which he was personally involved in.

Tojo was born to a relatively low-ranking former samurai family in the Kōjimachi district of Tokyo. He began his career in the Army in 1902 and steadily rose through the ranks to become a general of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) by 1934. In March 1937, he was promoted to chief of staff of the Kwantung Army whereby he led military operations against the Chinese in Inner Mongolia and the Chahar-Suiyan provinces. By July 1940, he was appointed minister of the army in the Japanese government led by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe.

On the eve of World War II's expansion into Asia and the Pacific, Tojo was an outspoken advocate for a preemptive attack on the United States and its European allies. Upon being appointed prime minister on 17 October 1941, he oversaw the Empire of Japan's decision to go to war as well as its ensuing conquest of much of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. During the course of the war, Tojo presided over numerous war crimes, including the massacre and starvation of civilians and prisoners of war, as part of the wider Asian Holocaust.

After the war's tide decisively turned against Japan, Tojo resigned as prime minister on 18 July 1944. Following his nation's surrender to the Allied powers in September 1945, he was arrested, convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in the Tokyo Trials, sentenced to death, and hanged on 23 December 1948. To this day, Tojo's complicity in the war crimes in the Pacific Theatre have firmly intertwined his legacy with the brutality shown by the Japanese Empire throughout World War II.

  1. ^ Yenne, p. 337.

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