Background
Tojo Hideki was born on 30 December 1884 in Tokyo. His father, Tojo Hidenori, was the son of a samurai of the domain of Nambu.
東條 英機
Tojo Hideki was born on 30 December 1884 in Tokyo. His father, Tojo Hidenori, was the son of a samurai of the domain of Nambu.
He attended the Military Staff College, where he studied under the German military instructor Major Klemens Meckel and in time advanced to the rank of lieutenant general.
Tojo Hideki was born in Tokyo and, after attending lower schools maintained by the army, graduated from the Military Academy. In 1905 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He graduated from the Military Staff College in 1915 and thereafter advanced until he reached the rank of lieutenant general in 1936. During this period, he was assigned to posts in Germany and Switzerland.
In 1922 he became an instructor in the military Staff College. In 1929 he joined with Colonel Nagata Tetsuzan and others in leading the principal reform group within the army, which became known as the Tosei (Control) faction. But they were at this time largely eclipsed by a rival group known as the Kod5 (Imperial Way) faction. In 1931 Tojo became a section chief in the General Staff Office and in 1934 he was appointed commander of an infantry brigade. He was sent to Manchuria in 1935 as commander of the military police of the Kwantung Army. In 1937 he became chief of staff of the Kwantung Army. In 1938 he was made vice-minister of war, serving under Minister of War Itagaki Seishiro. He quickly demonstrated his administrative ability and came to be known as “Razor Tojo.”
In 1945, after the surrender, when he was facing arrest by the Occupation authorities, he attempted to take his life with a pistol, but failed in the attempt. He was brought before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East as an A-class war criminal, where he was charged with the highest degree of responsibility for the war. In 1948 he was put to death by hanging along with Itagaki Seishiro and five others who had been similarly charged.