Hideki Tojo is one of the most controversial figures in Japanese history. It is this person 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 a role model for many Japanese. So who was Hideki Tojo really?
Early years
Hideki Tojo was born in December 1884 in the small Japanese town of Kojimachi near Tokyo. His father, Hidenori Tojo, served as a lieutenant general in the emperor's army. Before 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, Hideki Tojo's future was sealed. He was sent to study at the military academy, from which he graduated at the age of 19. It should be noted that Hideki did not shine with knowledge, having the 42nd result in the class among fifty of his peers. Nevertheless, upon graduation, he was promoted to junior lieutenant of the infantry.
In 1909 Tojo married Katsuko Ito.
Military career
But for Tojo's successful career, it was necessarycontinue education. In 1915 he graduated from the Higher Military Academy. After completing his studies, he received a captain's rank and began to command one of the regiments of the emperor's guards. 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 task in this alpine country, he coped perfectly, for which he was awarded the rank of major. But the foreign trips of the future Prime Minister did not end there. In 1921 he went to Germany.
After returning to his homeland, he taught at a military college for some time.
Tojo received his next lieutenant colonel rank in 1929.
In the highest military positions
Around this time, Tojo becomes seriously interested in politics. He enters the service in the Ministry of War, and since 1931 he takes 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 on the territory of this Chinese province.
In 1933 he was promoted to the rank of Major General Hideki Tojo. Japan was just at that time preparing to launch an active and aggressive foreign policy to turn the whole of South and East Asia into an object of its influence. At the same time, Tojo received the position of head of the personnel department at the Ministry of Defense.
Already in 1934, he commanded an entire brigade. The following year, Tojo was appointed to the positionchief of police of the ground army in Manchuria, and a year later he began to command the headquarters of the Kwantung army.
Participation in military operations
Then Japan began to conduct offensive operations in Mongolia. It was Tojo who was assigned to lead them. He personally took part in the development of plans and in the fighting. In 1937, he was baptized in battle.
In the same year, a full-scale war broke out with China. Tojo led the offensive against Hebei, which ended successfully.
True, already in the first half of 1938, he was recalled back to Japan, where he took up staff work, taking the post of Deputy Minister of the Army and at the same time being an aviation inspector.
Minister of War
In 1940, having succeeded Shunroku Hata, Hideki Tojo became the Minister of the Army. His biography after that took a completely different turn. Now he began to be among the people who directly led Japan. Since then, the internal and especially the external political course of the country has largely depended on his opinion.
Back in 1936, Japan and Nazi Germany signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, an alliance aimed at fighting the Communist International, which was later joined by several other countries, including Italy. The Japanese Minister of War was in favor of further expanding cooperation with Germany, especially in the military sphere. At the same time, this does not mean at all that Hideki Tojo and Hitler had identical views on the absolute majority of issues. Inin many respects their positions differed, but at this stage both politicians could help each other in achieving their goals. In 1940, the military alliance of Japan, Germany and Italy finally took shape after the signing of the Tripartite Pact in Berlin. This is how the Axis block was formed.
At the same time, Hideki Tojo hoped to the last that the USSR would join the union. 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. Of course, Hideki Tojo also played an important role in sending this embassy. Kazan, Gorky, Sverdlovsk and other cities of the USSR lay on the ambassador's way to the capital of the Soviet Union. In the spring of 1941, a bilateral non-aggression pact 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 supposed to join the struggle for hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region, which automatically meant entry into World War II. The main rival of the Japanese was the United States of America.
Thanks to a brilliantly designed plan and the surprise attack of Japanese aircraft 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 complete military dominance in East Asia, and American troops had to spendsignificant amount of recovery time.
Head of Government
Even before the start of Japan's entry into World War II, Japanese Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe, who had lost popularity among the people and the emperor's trust, was forced to resign in October 1941. His place was proposed to be taken by Hideki Tojo. However, he retained the position of Minister of War. In addition, he became Minister of the Interior.
No other Prime Minister of Japan, before or after him, has had such a wide range of powers. This led to future speculation that 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 significant amount of power in his hands, which was quite justified, given the military situation, but Tojo did not introduce sole rule, did not interfere in the work of those institutions of power that did not directly concern him, did not change the constitutional order, unlike Hitler and Mussolini, although, if desired, had such an opportunity.
Of course, martial law required the adoption of emergency measures to control political processes in the country, provided for the restriction of certain rights and freedoms of citizens. But similar measures were used in the United States and Great Britain at that time, not to mention Germany or the USSR, where restrictions reached a scale incomparable 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 higher.
Resignation
The successes of the Japanese army in the initial stages of the war contributed to the growth of the prime minister's popularity among the people to sky-high limits. But after the restoration of the power of the American fleet, a series of rather impressive defeats followed a series of victories.
The biggest blow to Tojo's image was the defeat of the Japanese troops at Midway Atoll. After that, the opposition and personal opponents of the prime minister raised their heads, and discontent grew among the people.
In July 1944, Japan suffered another defeat from US troops in the Battle of Sailan Island, after which Tojo was forced to retire.
Trial and execution
But the resignation of the Prime Minister could not fundamentally improve the position of Japan on the fronts. On the contrary, it only got worse. After the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union entered the war with Japan, although this meant a violation of the bilateral agreements reached in 1941. The Japanese were finally broken by the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the Americans. On September 2, 1945, the Emperor of Japan signed an unconditional surrender.
By analogy with the Nuremberg trials, there was an international trial of Japanese war criminals, among which was Hideki Tojo. He was accused of starting wars with a number of countries, of violating international law and of war crimes. The former prime minister was forced to fully admit his guilt.
In November 1948, the court sentenced Hideki Tojo to death. The execution took place in December of that year.
Personality assessment
Until now, Hideki Tojo is considered by the world community as a war criminal and the main initiator of unleashing a war in Asia. Many Japanese blame him for the actions that led to the military defeat and the destruction of the country's economy.
At the same time, there are people who consider the sentence for Hideki Tojo unfair. They argue that under the circumstances, drawing Japan into the war was inevitable, and Tojo turned out to be just a person leading the country at that difficult time and forced to make decisions according to the circumstances. According to such people, in those war crimes that were actually committed by the Japanese troops, Tojo did not personally participate and did not even sanction them.
In any case, whatever the real role of the prime minister in the events of those years, the name of Hideki Tojo is forever inscribed in the history of Japan. The photo of this politician can be seen above.
