Hideki Tojo | |||||
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東條 英機 | |||||
Prime Minister of Japan | |||||
In office 18 October 1941 – 22 July 1944 | |||||
Monarch | Shōwa | ||||
Preceded by | Fumimaro Konoe | ||||
Succeeded by | Kuniaki Koiso | ||||
Minister of the Army | |||||
In office 22 July 1940 – 22 July 1944 | |||||
Prime Minister |
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Preceded by | Shunroku Hata | ||||
Succeeded by | Hajime Sugiyama | ||||
Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office | |||||
In office 21 February 1944 – 18 July 1944 | |||||
Prime Minister | Himself | ||||
Preceded by | Hajime Sugiyama | ||||
Succeeded by | Yoshijirō Umezu | ||||
Personal details | |||||
Born | Kōjimachi, Tokyo, Japan | 30 December 1884||||
Died | 23 December 1948 Sugamo Prison, Tokyo, Japan[a] | (aged 63)||||
Cause of death | Execution by hanging[1] | ||||
Political party | Imperial Rule Assistance Association (1940–1945) | ||||
Other political affiliations | Independent (before 1940) | ||||
Spouse |
Katsuko Ito (m. 1909) | ||||
Children | 7 | ||||
Relatives | Yuko Tojo (granddaughter) | ||||
Alma mater | |||||
Awards | |||||
Signature | |||||
Military service | |||||
Allegiance | Empire of Japan | ||||
Branch/service | Imperial Japanese Army | ||||
Years of service | 1905–1945 | ||||
Rank | General | ||||
Commands | Kwantung Army (1932–1934) | ||||
Battles/wars | |||||
Criminal conviction | |||||
Criminal status | Executed | ||||
Conviction(s) | Crimes against peace War crimes | ||||
Trial | International Military Tribunal for the Far East | ||||
Criminal penalty | Death | ||||
Details | |||||
Victims | Millions | ||||
Span of crimes | 1937–1945 | ||||
Country | Multiple countries across Asia | ||||
Target(s) | Chinese, Korean, Indochinese, Indonesian, Malaysian, Filipino, 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 | ||||
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Part of a series on |
Statism in Shōwa Japan |
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Hideki Tojo (東條 英機, Tōjō Hideki, pronounced [toːʑoː çideki] ⓘ; 30 December 1884 – 23 December 1948) was a Japanese general and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1941 to 1944, during the Second World War. His leadership was marked by widespread state violence perpetrated in the name of Japanese nationalism and imperialism; after the war, he was convicted as a war criminal and executed. Tojo's legacy remains firmly intertwined with the Empire of Japan's wars of aggression and numerous atrocities.
Born in Tokyo to a military family, Tojo was educated at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy and began his career in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) in 1905. He served as a military attaché in Germany from 1919 to 1922, and rose through the ranks to become a general in 1934. In 1935, he assumed top command of the Kempeitai attached to the Kwantung Army in Manchuria, and was promoted to the Kwantung Army's chief of staff in 1937, leading military operations against the Chinese in the border regions. In 1938, Tojo was recalled to Tokyo following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War to serve as vice minister of the army, and in 1940 he was appointed minister of the army in the cabinet of Fumimaro Konoe. Tojo emerged as an outspoken advocate for a preemptive attack on the United States and its Western allies.
On Konoe's resignation, Tojo was appointed prime minister in October 1941. He oversaw Japan's decision to go to war with the Allies, its pre-emptive attack on Pearl Harbor and other U.S. and British possessions, and its ensuing conquest of much of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. During his tenure, Tojo presided over numerous war crimes, including the massacre and starvation of thousands of prisoners of war and millions of Asian civilians. From February 1944, Tojo concurrently served as the army's chief of staff. As the tide of war turned against Japan and after it was defeated at the Battle of Saipan, Tojo resigned as prime minister and chief of staff in July 1944. After the surrender of Japan, he was arrested in September 1945 (during which he made a suicide attempt), convicted at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, and hanged in 1948.
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