Hideki Tōjō was a Japanese politician, general of the Imperial Japanese Army and war criminal who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association for most of World War II. He assumed several more positions including Chief of Staff of the Imperial Army before ultimately being removed from office in July 1944. During his years in power, his leadership was marked by extreme state-perpetrated violence in the name of Japanese ultranationalism, in much of which he was personally involved.
Hideki Tojo was born on December 30, 1884 to a relatively low-ranking samurai family in the Kōjimachi district of Tokyo. He began his career in the Army in 1905 and steadily rose through the ranks to become a general by 1934. In March 1937, he was promoted to Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army whereby he led military operations against the Chinese in Inner Mongolia and the Chahar-Suiyan provinces. By July 1940, he was appointed Minister of War to the Japanese government led by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe.