Hideki Tōjō

Japanese politician, army officer, and convicted war criminal (1884–1948)

Hideki Tōjō (30 December 1884 – 23 December 1948) was the Prime Minister of Japan during most of World War II.

Tojo Hideki
東條 英機
Prime Minister of Japan
In office
17 October 1941 – 22 July 1944
MonarchShōwa
Preceded byFumimaro Konoe
Succeeded byKuniaki Koiso
Minister of War
In office
22 July 1940 – 22 July 1944
MonarchShōwa
Prime MinisterFumimaro Konoe (1940–1941)
Himself (1941–1944)
Preceded byShunroku Hata
Succeeded byHajime Sugiyama
Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office
In office
21 February 1944 – 18 July 1944
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byHajime Sugiyama
Succeeded byYoshijirō Umezu
Personal details
Born(1884-12-30)December 30, 1884
Kōjimachi ward, Tokyo, Empire of Japan
DiedDecember 23, 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(s)
Katsuko Ito (m. 1909)
Children3 sons, 4 daughters
MotherChitose Tojo
FatherHidenori Tojo
Alma mater
Awards
Signature
Military service
Allegiance Empire of Japan
Branch/service Imperial Japanese Army
RankGeneral
CommandsKwantung Army (1932–1934)
Battles/wars
Criminal details
TargetChinese People
Victims+5.000.000
Period1941–1944
PenaltyCapital punishment
ImprisonedSugamo Prison

Hideki Tōjō was born on 30 December 1884 in Tokyo, Japan. He was the third son of a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army named Hidenori Tōjō. Tōjō had two older brothers but they died before he was born.

In 1909, he married a woman named Katsuko Ito and he had seven children with her: three sons and four daughters.[2]

In the late 1930s, Hideki Tōjō fought in the Second Sino-Japanese War, leading Japanese forces in occupied Manchuria. He returned to Tokyo in 1940 and held ministerial posts, where he urged an alliance with Germany and Italy against the Allied forces. Tojo became Prime Minister in 1941 and within two months ordered a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor planned by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. He followed it with a declaration of war against the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands.

After Japan surrendered, American troops went to arrest Tojo and surrounded his house. He shot himself four times in the chest, but missed and the bullets hit his stomach. Disarmed and with blood gushing out of his chest, Tojo began to talk. He said, "I am very sorry it is taking me so long to die. The Greater East Asia War was justified and righteous. I am very sorry for the nation and all the races of the Greater Asiatic powers. I wait for the righteous judgment of history. I wished to commit suicide but sometimes that fails."[3]

After his injuries healed, the Allies found Tojo guilty of war crimes and hanged him in Tokyo on 23 December 1948.[4]

References change

  1. Yenne, p. 337.
  2. Baudot, Marcel. The Historical encyclopedia of World War II. p. 455.
  3. Toland, John. The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936–1945. p. 871–872.
  4. "Japanese war crimes trial begins". History. Retrieved 2013-12-22.

Other websites change

  Media related to Hideki Tōjō at Wikimedia Commons