Tojo Hideki
(1884–1948), prime minister of Japan. Tojo Hideki was the prime minister of Japan throughout most of World War II (1941–1945). ATokyo-born career army officer, Tojo served as an attaché in Europe in the early 1920s and later joined the Control Faction, an influential clique within the Japanese military. In the mid-1930s, Tojo's star rose with the ascendance of the Control Faction over rival army cliques. In 1935 he was transferred to Manchuria, where he served on the staff of the Guandong (Kwantung) Army. Recalled to Tokyo in 1938, Tojo was appointed a vice-minister of the army, followed by promotion to army minister in the cabinet of Konoe Fumimaro (1891–1945) in 1940.
Former premier Tojo testifying at the War Crimes Tribunal in Tokyo on 26 December 1947. (BETTMANN/CORBIS)An ardent militarist, Tojo was a keen supporter of the alliance with Nazi Germany and the expansion of the war with China. Following the collapse of the Konoe cabinet in October 1941, Tojo was appointed prime minister in an atmosphere of escalating tensions with the United States. As Japan's material inferiority became increasingly apparent despite an earlier string of victories in the Pacific, Tojo attempted to centralize and coordinate the war effort by taking personal control of key posts in the cabinet and the army. However, this attempt aroused powerful opposition in civil and military circles, and Tojo resigned under pressure following the loss of Saipan, an island in the northern Marianas, in July 1944. After the war, he was convicted of war crimes and was hanged in Tokyo on 23 December 1948.
Further Reading
Browne, Courtney. (1967) Tojo: The Last Banzai. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Butow, Robert. (1961) Tojo and the Coming of the War. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Hoyt, Edwin P. (1993) Warlord: Tojo against the World. Lanham, MD: Scarborough House.
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