Hideki Tojo: biography and photos

Hideki Tojo is one of the most controversial personalities in the history of Japan. It is this man who is most responsible for the actions of the troops of the Land of the Rising Sun during the Second World War. He is recognized by the international tribunal as a war criminal, but at the same time remains for many Japanese a model for imitation. So who exactly was Tojio Hideki?

early years

Hideki Tojo was born in December 1884 in the small Japanese town of Kojima, near Tokyo. His father, Khidenori Tojo, served as lieutenant general of the emperor's army. Prior to the birth of Hideki, the family already had two children, but they died at an early age before the birth of the future leader of Japan.

Given the specifics of his father's occupation, the future of Hideki Tojo was predetermined. He was sent to study in the military academy, which he graduated in 19 years. It should be noted that Hideaki's knowledge did not shine, having the 42nd result in the class among fifty of his peers. Nevertheless, after graduation, he received the title of junior lieutenant infantry.

In 1909, the marriage of Tojo with Katsuko Ito took place.

Military career

But for Tojo's successful career, it was necessary to continue education. In 1915 he graduated from the Higher Military Academy. After graduation, he received a captaincy and began to command one of the regiments of the guard of the emperor. He also participated in the intervention against the Bolsheviks in the Far East.

In 1919, Hideki Tojo, as a military representative of Japan, left for Switzerland. With his assignment in this alpine country, he coped well, for which he was awarded the rank of major. But on this foreign trips of the future prime minister did not end. In 1921 he went to Germany.

After returning home for some time he taught at the military college.

The next rank of Lieutenant Colonel Tojo received in 1929.

At senior military posts

Around the same time, Tojo began to seriously take an interest in politics. He enters the service in the Ministry of War, and from 1931 takes over the command of the Japanese Regiment in Manchuria. It was he who was one of the initiators of the creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo in the territory of this Chinese province.

In 1933, he was promoted to the rank of Major-General Hideaki Tojo. Japan was just at that time preparing to launch an active and aggressive foreign policy to turn all of southern and eastern Asia into an object of its influence. At the same time, Tojo received the post of head of the personnel department at the Ministry of Defense.

Already in 1934 he commanded a whole brigade. The following year, Tojo received an appointment to the post of chief of police of the land army in Manchuria, and a year later began to command the headquarters of the Kwantung Army.

Participation in military operations

At the same time, Japan began to conduct offensive operations in Mongolia. It was tojo that was instructed to lead them. He personally took part in the development of plans and in combat operations. In 1937, his baptism of battle is necessary.

In the same year, a full-scale war with China broke out. Tojo was in charge of the offensive on Hebei, which was successfully completed.

True, already in the first half of 1938 he was recalled back to Japan, where he took up the staff work, becoming deputy army minister and at the same time being an inspector of aviation.

Military Minister

In 1940, after replacing Shunroku Khata, Hideki Tojo became Minister of the Army. His biography after this took a completely different turn. Now he began to be among the people who directly led Japan. Since then, the internal and especially the foreign political course of the country has largely become dependent on his opinion.

Back in 1936, Japan and Nazi Germany concluded the Anti-Comintern Pact, an alliance aimed at fighting the Communist International, which was later joined by several other countries, including Italy. The Minister of War of Japan was a supporter of further expansion of cooperation with Germany, especially in the military sphere. However, this does not mean that Hideki Tojo with Hitler had identical views on the absolute majority of issues. In many respects, their positions differed, but at this stage both policies could help each other achieve their goals. In 1940, the military alliance of Japan, Germany and Italy finally took shape, after the signing of the Tripartite Pact in Berlin. So the Axis block was formed.

However, Hideki Tojo, until the last hoped that the union will join the USSR. When Stalin made it clear that he did not intend to join the agreement of Germany, Japan and Italy in the format in which it exists, the representative of the Land of the Rising Sun went to Moscow. Certainly, not the least role in sending this embassy played and Hideki Tojo. Kazan, Gorky, Sverdlovsk and other cities of the USSR lay in the way of the ambassador to the capital of the Soviet Union. In the spring of 1941, a bilateral non-aggression treaty was signed. Later, in 1945, it was torn apart by the Soviet Union.

Japan's entry into World War II

In accordance with the Berlin Pact, Japan was to join the struggle for hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region, which automatically meant joining the Second World War. The main rival of the Japanese was the United States of America.

Thanks to the brilliantly developed plan and the surprise attack of Japanese aviation on the American base at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, most of the US naval forces in the Pacific were destroyed.

Japan in a relatively short time managed to achieve full military dominance in East Asia, and US troops had to spend a considerable amount of time to recover.

Head of the government

Even before Japan's entry into World War II, Fimimaro Konoet, who lost popularity among the people and trusted the Emperor, was forced to resign in October 1941. His place was invited to take Hideki Tojo. At the same time, he retained the post of Minister of War. In addition, he became Minister of Internal Affairs.

No prime minister of Japan, either before or after him, had such a breadth of authority. This served as the reason for speculation in the future that, say, Hideki Tojo is a dictator. But such an understanding of the significance of the figure of this politician is fundamentally wrong. He really concentrated a considerable amount of power in his hands, which was quite justifiable given the military situation, but Tojo did not introduce a one-man rule, did not interfere in the work of those institutions of power that did not directly touch him, did not change the constitutional order, unlike Hitler and Mussolini, although, if desired, had this opportunity.

Of course, the martial law obliged to take extraordinary measures to control the political processes in the country, provided for the restriction of certain rights and freedoms of citizens. But similar events were used in the United States and in Great Britain at that time, not to mention Germany or the USSR, where the limits reached an incomparable scale with Japan. At the end of the war in Japan there were only about two thousand political prisoners, while in the USSR and Germany this figure was hundreds of times larger.

Resignation

The successes of the Japanese army in the early stages of the war contributed to the popularity of the prime minister among the people to a sky-high limit. But after the restoration of the power of the American fleet, after a series of victories, a series of rather impressive defeats followed.

The greatest blow to the image of Tojo was defeated by Japanese troops at Midway Atoll. After that, the opposition and the personal opponents of the prime minister raised their heads, and the popular discontent was growing.

In July 1944, Japan suffered another defeat from US troops in the battle for the island of Saylan, after which Tojo was forced to resign.

Court and execution

But the resignation of the Prime Minister was not able to radically improve the situation of Japan on the fronts. On the contrary, it only got complicated. After the defeat of Hitler's Germany, the Soviet Union entered the war with Japan , although this meant a violation of the bilateral agreements reached in 1941. Finally, the Japanese were killed by the nuclear bombing by the Americans of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. September 2, 1945, the emperor of Japan signed unconditional surrender.

By analogy with the Nuremberg trial, an international trial took place over Japanese war criminals, including Hideki Tojo. He was accused of unleashing wars with a number of countries, in violation of international law and in war crimes. The former prime minister was forced to fully admit his guilt.

In November 1948, the court pronounced the death sentence of Hideki Tojo. The execution took place in December of the same year.

Evaluation of personality

Until now, Hideki Tojo has been viewed by the world community as a war criminal and the main initiator of the war in Asia. Many Japanese blame him for the actions that led to the military defeat and destruction of the country's economy.

At the same time, there are people who consider the verdict for Hideki Tojo unjust. They argue that, under the circumstances, Japan's involvement in the war was an inevitable phenomenon, and Tojo was simply a man who, in that difficult time, was in charge of the country and forced to make decisions according to circumstances. In the opinion of such people, in those war crimes that were really allowed by Japanese troops, Tojo did not personally participate in the war and did not even authorize them.

In any case, whatever the real role of the Prime Minister in the events of those years, the name of Hideki Tojo is inscribed in the history of Japan forever. The photo of this politician can be seen above.