Hideki Tojo
What do you think? It's about Tojo, aka Japanese leader in WWII. Have fun. : )
Tojo was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1884. He was the third son of Hidenori Tojo, a Lieutenant General in the Japanese Army. Tojo's two older brothers died before his birth. In 1909 he married Katsuko Ito, with whom he had three sons and four daughters.
In 1905 he graduated from the Imperial Military Academy and entered service as a Second Lieutenant in the infantry. He rose through the ranks of the Army, graduating with top grades from the Army College in 1915. After graduation, he taught at the school and served as an infantry officer.
During the 1920s, Tojo was also member of the Tosei-Ha ("Control Group", so-called by its rivals) along with Kazushige Ugaki, Gen Sugiyama, Koiso Kuniaki, Yoshijiro Umezu, and Tetsuzan Nagata. They attempted to represent the more conservative moderates in opposition to the extremist group Kodaha (Imperial Benevolence Group) led by Sadao Araki. Both factions derived from the Double Leaf Society, a 1920s militaristic group with fanatical ultranationalistic beliefs.
By 1935, Tojo was a major general commanding the Kempeitai of the Kantogun (also known as the Kwantung Army) in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, and by 1937, he was Chief of Staff of that force. In 1938, Tojo served as Vice-Minister of War. From December of 1938 to 1940, Tojo was Inspector-General of Army Aviation. He was also in charge of the Japanese Secret Service before and during the Pacific War, and was in direct contact with Koki Hirota, leading the Black Dragons and other secret societies.
During the 2-26 Incident, Tojo and Shigeru Honjo, a noted supporter of Sadao Araki, came out against the Kodoha-inspired coup attempt. Emperor Hirohito himself was outraged at the attacks on his close advisors, and after a brief political crisis, and stalling on the part of a sympathetic military, the rebels were forced to surrender. In the aftermath, the Toseiha was able to purge the Army of radical officers, and the coup leaders were tried and executed. Following the purge, Tosei and Kodo elements were unified in their conservative but highly anti-political stance under the banner of the Kodoha military clique. With Tojo in a leadership position, Kodoha would help push Japan into the Second World War.
During Tojo's tenure at the Home Ministry, he led the Keishicho (Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department). Appointed War Minister in 1940, he was instrumental in leading Japan into the Axis Alliance with Germany and Italy. In July 1940, he was appointed War Minister in the second Fumimaro Konoe Cabinet, and remained in that post in the third Konoe Cabinet. When Prime Minister Konoe was unable to secure an agreement with the United States, Tojo's faction drove him into retirement. In 1941, Tojo was appointed Prime Minister by Emperor Hirohito and took command of the entire Japanese military.
At various times during his premiership, Tojo held the portfolios of Foreign Affairs, Education, Home Affairs, Commerce and Industry, and Munitions. As Education Minister, he continued militaristic and nationalist indoctrination in the national education system, and reaffirmed illiberal policies in government, in accordance with outlines traced by Sadao Araki, his ideological and political precursor.
Late in the war, in February 1944, Tojo assumed the post of Chief of the Army General Staff. However, following a series of military disasters, culminating in the fall of Saipan, he was abandoned by his backers and forced to resign on July 18, 1944. He retired to the first reserve list and went into seclusion.
Tojo's nickname was "Razor" (Kamisori).