Hideki Tojo

Junior Second Rank Hideki Tojo
東條 英機
Tojo c. 1945
27th Prime Minister of Japan
In office 18 October 1941 – 22 July 1944
Monarch	Hirohito
Preceded by	Fumimaro Konoe
Succeeded by	Kuniaki Koiso
Minister of the Army
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	1905–1945
Rank	General
Commands	Kwantung Army (1932–1934)
Battles/wars	Russo-Japanese War World War I Russian Civil War Chinese Civil War Japanese invasion of Manchuria February 26 Incident World War II Second Sino-Japanese War Operation Chahar
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, Filipino, 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
Ideologies 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 Uesugi Shinkichi Koki Hirota Nobusuke Kishi Nisshō Inoue Tanaka Chigaku Masanobu Tsuji Jinzaburō Masaki Kuniaki Koiso Hiranuma Kiichirō Kanji Ishiwara Kingoro Hashimoto
Atrocities Mass killings Manila massacre Bataan Death March Nanjing Massacre Sook Ching 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 Emperor system International Military Tribunal for the Far East Japanese history textbook controversies Korean collaborators with Imperial Japan Uyoku dantai
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Hideki Tojo (東條 英機, Tōjō Hideki, pronounced [toːʑoː çideki] ^ⓘ; 30 December 1884 – 23 December 1948) was a Japanese politician and general who served as prime minister of Japan from 1941 to 1944, during World War II. His leadership was marked by widespread state violence perpetrated in the name of Japanese nationalism, and after the war, he was convicted as a war criminal and executed. Tojo's legacy remains firmly intertwined with the Empire of Japan's wars of aggression and numerous atrocities.

Born in Tokyo to a military family, Tojo was educated at the Japanese Military Academy and began his career in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) in 1905. He served as a military attaché in Germany from 1919 to 1922, and rose through the ranks to become a general in 1934. In 1935, he assumed top command of the Kempeitai attached to the Kwantung Army in Manchuria, and was promoted to the Kwantung Army's chief of staff in 1937, leading military operations against the Chinese in the border regions. In 1938, Tojo was recalled to Tokyo following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War to serve as vice minister of the army, and in 1940 he was appointed minister of the army in the cabinet of Fumimaro Konoe. Tojo emerged as an outspoken advocate for a pre-emptive attack on the United States and its Western allies.

On Konoe's resignation, Tojo was appointed prime minister in October 1941. He oversaw Japan's decision to go to war with the Allies, its pre-emptive attack on Pearl Harbor and other U.S. and British possessions, and its ensuing conquest of much of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. During his tenure, Tojo presided over numerous war crimes, including the massacre and starvation of thousands of prisoners of war and millions of Asian civilians. From February 1944, Tojo concurrently served as the army's chief of staff. As the tide of war turned against Japan and after it was defeated at the Battle of Saipan, Tojo resigned as prime minister and chief of staff in July 1944. After Japan's surrender, he was arrested in September 1945 (during which he made a failed suicide attempt), convicted at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, and hanged in 1948.