Hideki Tojo

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 for 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.

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Hideki Tojo
東條 英機
Tojo c. 1940s
Prime Minister of Japan
In office 18 October 1941 – 22 July 1944
Monarch	Hirohito
Preceded by	Fumimaro Konoe
Succeeded by	Kuniaki Koiso
Minister of War
In office 22 July 1940 – 22 July 1944
Prime Minister	Fumimaro Konoe (1940–1941) Himself (1941–1944)
Preceded by	Shunroku Hata
Succeeded by	Hajime Sugiyama
Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff
In office 21 February 1944 – 18 July 1944
Prime Minister	Hideki Tojo (Himself)
Preceded by	Hajime Sugiyama
Succeeded by	Yoshijirō Umezu
Personal details
Born	(1884-12-30)30 December 1884 Kōjimachi Ward, Tokyo, Empire of Japan
Died	23 December 1948(1948-12-23) (aged 63) Sugamo Prison, Tokyo, Occupied Japan
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	3 sons, 4 daughters
Parents	Hidenori Tojo (father) Chitose Tojo (mother)
Alma mater	Imperial Japanese Army Academy Army War College
Awards	Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun Order of the Golden Kite, 2nd Class Order of the Sacred Treasure
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Branch/service	Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service	1902–1945
Rank	General
Commands	Kwantung Army (1932–1934)
Battles/wars	Russian Civil War Japanese invasion of Manchuria February 26 Incident Second Sino-Japanese War Operation Chahar World War II
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, 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
Transcriptions Romanization Tōjō Hideki

Part of a series on
Statism in Shōwa Japan
Organizations and factions Imperial Rule Assistance Association Imperial Rule Assistance Political Association Yokusan Sonendan National Spiritual Mobilization Movement League of Diet Members Supporting the Prosecution of the Holy War Great Japan Youth Party Shōwa Kenkyūkai Kōdōha Young Officers Movement Tōseiha National Foundation Society Black Ocean Society Cherry Blossom Society Japanese Committee on Trade and Information Fleet faction Yūzonsha
Events March Incident Mukden Incident Withdrawal from the League of Nations Imperial Colors Incident League of Blood Incident May 15 Incident Military Academy Incident Withdrawal from the Washington Naval Treaty February 26 Incident Marco Polo Bridge Incident State General Mobilization Law Tripartite Pact Formation of the Taisei Yokusankai Appointment of Hideki Tojo Pacific War Kyūjō incident Purge
Ideology Fascism Totalitarianism Statism Shintaisei Kokutai Yamato-damashii Bushido Gekokujō Ultranationalism Corporatism State capitalism Militarism State Shinto Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere Shōwa Restoration Hakkō ichiu Expansionism Propaganda Pan-Asianism
People Fumimaro Konoe Hideki Tojo Sadao Araki Ikki Kita Shūmei Ōkawa Nobusuke Kishi Nisshō Inoue Tanaka Chigaku Masanobu Tsuji Jinzaburō Masaki Kuniaki Koiso Hiranuma Kiichirō Kanji Ishiwara Kingoro Hashimoto
Atrocities Mass killings Nanjing Massacre Sook Ching Manila massacre Bataan Death March Hell ship Sexual slavery Use of chemical weapons Human experimentation Slavery Use of biological weapons
Media and literature Shinmin no Michi How Japan Plans to Win Momotaro: Sacred Sailors Momotarō no Umiwashi Moyuru ōzora The Most Beautiful "Ode of Showa Restoration"
Related American cover-up of Japanese war crimes International Military Tribunal for the Far East Japanese history textbook controversies Korean collaborators with Imperial Japan
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Tojo was born on 30 December 1884, 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 war to the Japanese government led by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe.

On the eve of the Second World War'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.