Tojo Hideki

Hideki Tōjō (東條 英機 Tōjō Hideki) (December 30 1884–December 23 1948) was a Japanese general and the 40th Prime Minister of Japan during much of World War II, from October 18 1941 to July 22 1944.

Tōjō was born in Tokyo in 1884. He was a member of the military clique that pushed Japan into war in the late 1930s. As War Minister in 1940 he was instrumental in leading Japan into the Axis Alliance with Nazi Germany and Italy. By 1941 he was premier and in command of the entire Japanese military, which so dominated Japan at the time that he was virtually the nation's dictator. He resigned on July 18 1944 following a series of military disasters.

After the war, he shot himself in the chest as a suicide attempt. He survived and was arrested a short time later. He recovered from his injuries at a hospital.

He then was tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East for war crimes. He was found guilty of count 1 (waging wars of aggression, and war or wars in violation of international law), count 27 (waging unprovoked war against China), count 29 (waging aggressive war against the United States), count 31 (waging aggressive war against the British Commonwealth), count 32 (waging aggressive war against the Netherlands), count 33 (waging aggressive war against France (Indochina)), and count 54 (ordering, authorizing, and permitting inhumane treatment of Prisoners of War (POWs) and others). He was sentenced to death on November 12, 1948 and executed by hanging.

Because of the crimes committed under his authority, Tōjō is considered responsible for the murder of almost four million Chinese. Tōjō approved government-sanctioned biological experiments on POWs.

Preceded by: Konoe Fumimaro

Prime Minister of Japan 1941–1944

Succeeded by: Koiso Kuniaki