[69], However, after the Battle of Midway, with the tide of war turning against Japan, Tojo faced increasing opposition within the government and military. Following Japan'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 December 23, 1948. [70] Tojo went to see the Emperor, who backed the Prime Minister's plans for the Greater East Asia Ministry, and on September 1, 1942 Tojo told the cabinet he was establishing the Greater East Asia Ministry and could not care less about how the Gaimusho felt about the issue, leading Tōgō to resign in protest. inevitable next war (against precisely whom the book did not say) was to repeat the example of the Russian-Japanese war on a much greater scale by creating the "national defense state" that would mobilize the entire nation for war. Tojo, in particular, should be made to bear all responsibility at this trial. On July 5, 1944, the Emperor accepted Tojo's advice to end the invasion of India as 72,000 Japanese soldiers had been killed in battle. General Hideki Tojo was a Japanese soldier, statesman, and wartime leader, who eventually became the 27th Prime Minister of Japan. [15] In the 1920s, the German military favored preparing for the next war by creating a totalitarian Wehrstaat (Defense State), an idea that was taken up by the Japanese military as the "national defense state". Until then the War Ministry required special permission to take "comfort women" without papers, and Tojo was tired of dealing with these requests. Tojo was one of the country’s leading advocates of Japan’s tripartite pact with Germany and Italy. In August–September 1942, a major crisis gripped the Tojo cabinet when the Foreign Minister Shigenori Tōgō objected quite violently on August 29, 1942 to the Prime Minister's plan to establish a Greater East Asia Ministry to handle relations with the puppet regimes in Asia as an insult to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (the Gaimusho) and threatened to resign in protest. Hideki Tojo (born Eiku Tojo) was born in Kojimachi District (now Chiyoda), Tokyo, Japan to the Japanese Army infantry Lieutenant (later Lieutenant General) Hidenori Tojo. Tensions grew within the Japanese government due to the disarray of the situation. In short, the Emperor had absorbed the views of the army and navy high commands. As a boy, Tojo was known for his stubbornness, lack of a sense of humor, for being an opinionated and combative youth fond of getting into fights with the other boys and for his tenacious way of pursuing what he wanted. On the eve of the Asia-Pacific conflict, Tojo was an outspoken advocate for preemptively attacking the United States and its European allies. But we have clumsily telegraphed our intentions. Later, he justified himself to his chief cabinet secretary, Kenji Tomita: Of course His Majesty is a pacifist, and there is no doubt he wished to avoid war. In 1940, he took charge of the Ministry of War in the cabinet of Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro. His execution took place on 23rd December 1948. In a 1997 survey of university students in China asking "When somebody talks about Japanese people, what person do you think of? [5] Tojo's father was a samurai turned Army officer and his mother was the daughter of a Buddhist priest, making his family very respectable, but poor.[4]. [49] During the meetings of the jushin regarding Prince Konoe's succession, Okada argued against Tojo's appointment while the powerful Lord Privy Seal Kōichi Kido pushed for Tojo. [24] In his essay Tojo wrote "The modern war of national defense extends over a great many areas" requiring "a state that can monolithically control" all aspects of the nation in the political, social and economic spheres. During his tenure, he presided over numerous war crimes including the massacre and starvation of civilians and prisoners of war. In the central Pacific, the Americans destroyed the main Japanese naval base at Truk in an air raid on February 18, 1944, forcing the Imperial Navy back to the Marianas (the oil to fuel ships and planes operating in the Marshalls, Caroline and Gilbert islands went up in smoke at Truk). [51], The Emperor summoned Tojo to the Imperial Palace one day before Tojo took office. Tojo then replied to Ishii: "If the Emperor said it should be so, then that's it for me. [74] By this point, Tojo no longer believed the war aims of 1942 could be achieved, but he believed that his plans for victory in 1944 would lead to a compromise peace that he could present as a victory to the Japanese people. He served as military attaché to Japan’s embassy in Berlin after WWI. After the war's tide decisively turned against Japan, Tojo was forced to resign as Prime Minister in July 1944. [74] To strengthen his position in face of criticism of the way the war was going, on February 21, 1944, Tojo assumed the post of Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, arguing he needed to take personal charge of the Army. [91] Tojo had been so demonized in the United States during the war that, for the American people, Tojo was the face of Japanese militarism, and it was inconceivable that the United States would make peace with a government headed by Tojo. Hideki Tojo was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the infantry of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) in March 1905. [113], Historians Herbert P. Bix and John W. Dower criticize the work done by General MacArthur and his staff to exonerate Emperor Hirohito and all members of the imperial family from criminal prosecutions. The bias in the treaty led Tojo and the general Japanese public to deeply resent the Americans. In 1933, Hideki was appointed a Major General for four years until he was promoted to Head of Military Police, overseeing the Kwantung Army. The couple had three sons and four daughters. 93-113), war correspondent Clark Lee tells the story of former Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo's suicide attempt and its aftermath. Tojo then succeeded Konoe as prime minister on October 18, 1941. [77], At the same time as he sought a diplomatic effort to end the war with China, Tojo also approved of the planning for Operation Ichi-Go, a huge offensive against China intended to take the American air bases in China and finally knock China out of the war once and for all. [8] Tojo liked to say: "I am just an ordinary man possessing no shining talents. As the tides of the war turned, Japan underwent several military failures and reversals, most notably in the Battle of Midway which is known by historians and veterans alike as the turning point in the Allied invasion of Japan. [40] Konoe wanted to make Japan the dominant power in East Asia, but he also believed it was possible to negotiate a modus vivendi with the United States under which the Americans would agree to recognize the "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere".[40]. [79] Cutting off American aid to China in turn might have had the effect of forcing Chiang Kai-shek to sue for peace. But the next day, he would tell me: "You were worried about it yesterday, but you do not have to worry so much." [91] The first day of the Battle of the Philippine Sea, June 19, 1944, was dubbed by the Americans "the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot", as over the course of the dogfights in the air, the US Navy lost 30 planes while shooting down about 350 Imperial Japanese planes, in one of the Imperial Navy's most humiliating defeats. [16], Tojo boasted that his only hobby was his work, and he customarily brought home his paperwork to work late into the night, and he refused to have any part in raising his children, which he viewed both as a distraction from his work and a woman's work, having his wife do all the work of taking care of his children. [105][106][107][108][109] One source attributes 5 million civilian deaths to Tojo's rule of the military. [83] Bose had impressed Tojo at their meetings as the best man to inspire an anti-British revolution in India.[80]. Crimes committed by Imperial Japan were responsible for the deaths of millions (some estimate between 3 million[103] and 14 million[104]) of civilians and prisoners of war through massacre, human experimentation, starvation, and forced labor that was either directly perpetrated or condoned by the Japanese military and government with a significant portion of them occurring during Tojo's rule of the military. See more ideas about hideki tojo, world war two, world war ii. To a certain degree of outrage in the west, Tojo is frequently portrayed as a national hero in movies in Japan. Nearly all of Tojo’s powers were stripped and he spent the remainder of the war in the military reserve. Tojo studied in an Army Cadet School and graduated from the Japanese military academy in 1905. During that time in Japanese history, all young boys were taught that fighting for their country in wars was the greatest honor one could ever achieve. [97] As the Emperor was worshiped as a living god, neither Yonai and Koiso could ask him who was to be the Prime Minister, as one does not ask questions of a god, and after the meeting, both men were very confused as to which of the two was now the Prime Minister. [84] Tojo's major concern as Army Chief of Staff was planning the operations in China and India, with less time given over to the coming battles in the Marianas. His family was of the Samurai caste, and he, like his father and ancestors, was trained to become a soldier. As Education Minister, he continued militaristic and nationalist indoctrination in the national education system, and reaffirmed totalitarian policies in government. Ugo Cavallero - Commander of the Italian Royal Army during World War II. I wished to commit suicide but sometimes that fails. Isoroku Yamamoto (山本 五十六, Yamamoto Isoroku, April 4, 1884 – April 18, 1943) was a Japanese Marshal Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II until his death.. Yamamoto held … Hideki Tojo's rise to power. As the commander of the Kenpeitai, Tojo ordered the arrest of all officers in the Kwantung Army suspected of supporting the coup attempt in Tokyo. [68] Tojo was one voice out of many speaking at the Imperial GHQ, and was not able to impose his will on the Navy, which he had to negotiate with, as if dealing with an ally. [1], Hideki Tojo was born in the Kōjimachi district of Tokyo on December 30, 1884,[2] as the third son of Hidenori Tojo, a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army. In 1938, Tojo became army vice minister and in 1940 he became army minister. Reflecting the imagery often used in Japan to describe people in power, Tojo told his officers that they were to be both a "father" and a "mother" to the men under their command. [54][55] The next day, Fleet Admiral Osami Nagano explained in detail the Pearl Harbor attack plan to Hirohito. We needn't have signaled what we're going to do; having [the entire Konoe cabinet] resign was too much. Tojo's commemorating tomb is located in a shrine in Hazu, Aichi (now Nishio, Aichi), and he is one of those enshrined at the controversial Yasukuni Shrine. The Western world strongly holds the notion that Hideki Tojo was an outright war criminal, but his image in Japan definitely differs. As matters stand now we can merely keep silent and without the least effort war will begin. He followed his father's footsteps and attended the Army Cadet School in 1899 and then the Japanese Military Academy in 1904. [80] The roads necessary to properly supply the 150,000 Japanese soldiers committed to invading India would turn into mud when the monsoons arrived, giving the Japanese a very short period of time to break through. As Home Minister, he ordered various eugenics measures (including the sterilization of the "mentally unfit"). ", the answer that most gave was Hideki Tojo, reflecting a lingering sense of hurt in China about Japan's wartime aggression. [81] Tojo had some doubts about Operation U-Go, but it was ordered by the Emperor himself, and Tojo was unwilling to oppose any decision of the Emperor. Only one year later, Tojo accepted the position Vice-Minister of … [97] At a conference with the Emperor, Koiso and Yonai were told by the Emperor to co-operate in forming a new government, but left in the dark about who was to become Prime Minister. He was an integral part of Japan’s invasion into Manchuria and advocated further expansion into the Chinese country. In 1922, on his way home to Japan, Tojo took a train ride across the United States, his first and only visit to America, which left him with the impression that the Americans were a materialistic "soft" people devoted only to making money and to hedonistic pursuits like sex, partying and (despite Prohibition) drinking. The Emperor then gave his consent to war. Tojo survived a suicide attempt three years … [89] The Japanese were defeated by the Anglo-Indian 14th Army at the Battles of Imphal and Kohima. [44] Despite saying he favored peace, Tojo had often declared at cabinet meetings that any withdrawal from French Indochina and/or China would be damaging to military morale and might threaten the kokutai; the "China Incident" could not be resolved via diplomacy and required a military solution; and attempting to compromise with the Americans would be seen as weakness by them.[45]. As he bled, Tojo began to talk, and two Japanese reporters recorded his words: "I am very sorry it is taking me so long to die. During this period, he also held the positions of Home Minister (1941-42), Foreign Minister (September 1942), Education Minister (1943) and Minister of Commerce and Industry (1943). On October 13, he declared to Kōichi Kido: "There seems little hope in the present situation for the Japan-U.S. negotiations. [100] The dentist ground away the message three months later.[101]. [33], After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident marking the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Tojo ordered his forces to attack Hebei Province and other targets in northern China. As the war's tide increasingly turned against Japan, Tojo was forced to resign as Prime Minister on July 22, 1944. [91] The Emperor himself was furious about the defeat at Saipan; had called a meeting of the Board of Field Marshals and Fleet Admirals to consider whether it might be possible to recapture Saipan (it was not); and Prince Takamatsu wrote in his diary "he flares up frequently". This time, if hostilities erupt, I have to issue a declaration of war. For example, when Ishii received from Hirohito a communication saying the Army should drop the idea of stationing troops in China to counter the military operations of the Western powers, he wrote a reply for the Prime Minister for his audience with the Emperor. [37] Kido had aided in the creation in the 1930s of an alliance between the "reform bureaucrats" and the Army's "Control" faction centered around Tojo and General Mutō Akira. In the Southwest Pacific, the Japanese forces in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands would stay on the defensive and try to slow down the American, Australian, and New Zealand forces for long as possible. 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