Hideki Tojo was born on December 30, 1884.
Tojo was born in Tokyo into a military family. At a young age, he decided to enlist in the army. He did well in military college and was a military attaché in Germany after World War I. He later became the leader of the militarists in Japan.
His views were shared by much of the public, and in the 1930’s the army and all it represented was held in much greater esteem than politicians in general. Hideki Tojo led Japan into World War 2.
In the summer of 1940, Tojo became the Minister of War and saw that the future of Japan lay with the European dictators. As Minister of War, Tojo made it clear that Japan should push south in the Far East and take land owned by European nations. On October 14, 1941, Tojo was elected Prime Minister of Japan. By this date, he was convinced that a war with America could not be avoided, and he put Japan on a full war alert. The huge success enjoyed by the Japanese army in the months immediately following Pearl Harbor strengthened Tojo’s standing in Japan.
The reason Japan was ordered to attack Pearl Harbor was that the U.S. had broken the Japanese diplomatic code and they knew that an attack was imminent. Tojo treated Allied POW’s with extreme disrespect, from torturing to abusing them, to instigating Japan’s foreign policy. As the Americans started to win battle after battle, Japan was in the range of American bombers. Americans bombed Japan and reduced some of the country to rubble, leading to the resignation of Tojo. On July 9th, 1944, Tojo offered his resignation because Emperor Hirohito thought that Tojo had lost control of events.
The kamikaze attacks, which involved young pilots carrying out suicide bombings, began in October 1944. These attacks involved not only planes, but also submarines and human torpedoes as well.
In November 1948, Tojo was put on trial for war crimes. He was found guilty and hanged on December 23rd that year.
World War 2's Leaders 