World War II Biographies | Hideki Tojo Biography

Born December 30, 1884
Tokyo, Japan
Died December 23, 1948
Tokyo, Japan
Japanese military and political leader

In the years leading up to World War II, Japan began to aggressively expand its empire into nearby Asian countries, especially China. This expansion concerned the leaders other nations, and they began to view Tojo, the Japanese prime minister and the leading symbol of the country's militarism. Tojo was seen as an all-powerful dictator similar to Germany's Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; see entry) or Italy's Benito Mussolini (1883-1945; see entries). Although Tojo played a major role in Japan's wartime affairs, his power and ambitions were actually not as great as Hitler's or Mussolini's. He has been described as an uncomplicated, hardworking man intensely dedicated to his profession. His fatal error was in not realizing that the United States and its allies could win a long-term,...