Warlord: Tojo Against the World

Vilified in the West as the Japanese equivalent of Hitler, Hideki Tojo (1884-1948) was in fact cut from very different cloth. Lacking the skills and charisma of a statesman, fueled by no apocalyptic visions, Tojo was an unimaginative soldier whose primary goals were to establish Japan's military strength and serve his emperor.

Yet his determination and ambition caused him to participate in the seizure of power when the military took over the government. WWII scholar Hoyt, a resident of Japan, relies on new sources and remarkable insight to show how Tojo and the leaders of Japan's armed forces gained control of the country, but how ambition ultimately proved to be Tojo's undoing.







ISBN-13 : 9781461732105
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date : 02/10/2001
Sold by : Barnes & Noble
Author : Edwin P. Hoyt

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

An all but forgotten figure even in Japan, Hideki Tojo was second only to Adolf Hitler as a symbol of Axis villainy during WW II. Hoyt ( Japan's War ) describes Tojo's ascendancy to power in the Japanese army, and his roles as prime minister and minister of War, Armaments and Education, in which he led Japan into the war that devastated the country. As Hoyt points out, Tojo's fall in 1944 (immediately after the U.S. victory on Saipan and just before a failed attempt on his life) came about because he had assumed so many responsibilities that he was blamed for Japan's failures in the war. Hoyt concludes with a straightforward account of Tojo's arrest by U.S. military authorities, his trial in Japan for war crimes (which included the charge that he approved mistreatment of Allied prisoners of war) and his execution. Though Tojo emerges here as a colorless person, this account of his career increases our knowledge of the relationship between the Imperial Army, Emperor Hirohito and the Japanese government. Illustrations. (Apr.)

Library Journal

In this first English-language biography of Tojo in almost 30 years, Hoyt, best-selling popularizer of history, now writes a succinct biography of Japan's war and prime minister who is generally held responsible for the country's involvement in World War II. Using diaries, archival materials, and family interviews, Hoyt places Tojo and his actions within the context of Japan's peculiar political situation. According to Hoyt, the military controlled the government, and Tojo was merely one of the cabal that pushed Japan into war. The Tojo revealed here is a master manipulator who let himself be misled by junior officers, a ruthless plotter, a man loyal to the emperor who almost betrayed him in the end. Readers will get a clear picture of what led Japan into war and of Tojo's place in it. A valuable purchase for public and academic libraries. For another view of Hoyt's work, see The Last Kamikaze , p. 91.--Ed.-- Katharine L. Kan, Aiea P.L., Hawaii

Roland Green

The prolific and popular Hoyt fills a long-standing gap in the popular history of the Pacific theater of World War II with this biography of Hideki Tojo, a leader in the Japanese army's seizure of power before the war and Japan's major strategist during its first four years. The portrait, based on both previously exploited and new sources, is that of a man ruthless in pursuing ambitions both for himself and for his country but lacking statesmanship and strategic insight of a higher degree. Tojo's influence made the war vastly more probable but then was a major liability to Japan's effective conduct of it after Pearl Harbor. Tojo will probably receive a better treatment based on the same new sources within a few years, but for now Hoyt's effort can be recommended for most World War II collections.

Meet the Author

Edwin P. Hoyt, author of Japan's War, The GI's War, and Hitler's War (all of which are published by Cooper Square Press), and Inferno: The Firebombing of Japan, March 9-August 15, 1945 (published by Madison Books), lives in Tokyo, Japan.