Tojo, Hideki

Tojo, Hideki (1884–1948) a Japanese soldier and prime minister. After graduating from the Imperial Military Academy and the Military Staff College, Tojo was briefly a military attaché at the Japanese embassy in Berlin after World War I, but, noted as a talented administrative and skilled field commander, he became commander of the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Japanese Army. Having served as chief of staff of the Kwantung Army in Manchuria during Japan's occupation, he returned to Japan to take up his duties as vice-minister of war in 1938 and actively supported Japan's Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy (1940). Premier Prince Konoe Fumimaro appointed him to his cabinet as minister of war, and Tojo became prime minister in 1941. An efficient bureaucrat and committed militarist, Tojo led Japan's war effort after its attack on the U.S. military installation at Pearl Harbor (1941), and, after initial victories in the Pacific arena, Japan's fortunes turned. and he became chief of the General Staff. He was removed from that position after the U.S. invasion of the Marianas Islands in mid-July 1944, and his entire cabinet resigned only two days later. Having failed in a suicide attempt after Japan's surrender in September 1945, Tojo recovered and was then indicted and tried for war crimes in April 1946 by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. He was found guilty as charged and hanged.