Hideki Tojo

Hideki Tojo (1884-1948) was a General of the Imperial Japanese Army and Prime Minister of Japan 1941-1944, replaced by the Prince Konoye government after the fall of Saipan. He was executed for war crimes in 1948 by order of the International Military Tribunal (Tokyo).

The son of an Army officer, he went the Army Cadet School in 1899 and then the Japanese Military Academy, graduating in 1905 was commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry. He rose rapidly through professional assignments, completing the Staff College in 1915 and being assigned, as a captain, to command thehe 3rd Imperial Guards Regiment. Between 1919 and 1920, he was a military attache in Switzerland, promoted to major, and then military attache in Germany until 1922. Next, he joined the Army Staff College faculty, was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and joined Imperial General Headquarters in 1928, and promoted to colonel. He took command of the 1st Infantry Regiment in 1929, and returned to staff duty with the Army Chief of Staff in 1931. He was promoted to major general in 1933 (Japan did not use the brigadier general rank) and became chief of the influential Personnel Department. He took command of the 34th Infantry Brigade in 1934.

Politics

While a military attache, he attended the first meeting of the Three Crows, who were all attaches themselves, in Germany in 1921. This was a military faction that intended to modernize the Japanese military, purging it of samurai traditions and the Chosu Clan. The rival Satsuma Clan had gained power when Hirohito marreid a Satsuma princess.