Biography on Hideki Tojo (The man behind Japan's war machine in WWII)

Tojo, a Diligent War CriminalWarrior, soldier, general, and “dictator” (“Tojo, Hideki” 254-255), Hideki Tojo was perhaps Japan’s samurai version of Hitler and Mussolini in terms of his crimes, influence, and power (Hoyt 6). His rise through the ranks in the military, from a soldier to a military leader, was a result of his hard work (Hoyt 5-19, Howes 272-274). After graduating with honors from the army war college in Japan in 1915 (“Tojo, Hideki” 254), his boundless assiduity to do his best work paid off as he was promoted rank to rank, until finally he became one of Japan’s most powerful men and through his spheres of influence and involvement within and with the Japanese government, is linked directly or indirectly to the deaths of millions of POWs, civilians, and soldiers (Wolcott 91).

Hideki Tojo was born into a family of samurai descent on December 30, 1884 in Tokyo and was his father’s eldest son (“Tojo, Hideki” 254).

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Hideki Tojo (1884–1948), photo taken before ...

Tojo’s father was a general officer in the Japanese army, where “Spartan life and Spartan conduct were the rule” (Hoyt 9). In school, Hideki Tojo was an “energetic, competitive, self-confident boy” who valued hard work (Howes 272). As he progressed through military school, and later through the ranks in the Japanese military, Tojo was regarded as “one of the most reliable officers in whatever organization he was serving” because of his persistent hard work and tendency to get things done (Hoyt 9). As Edwin P. Hoyt, a distinguished documenter on the Japanese role in World War II and documenter on some individual important persons who influenced Japanese politics at the time, writes, Tojo’s early career was “not spectacular”, and he “owed his success to constant hard work to keep up with his brilliant young colleagues” (Hoyt 9). In 1915, Tojo graduated with...