Tojo's Desire to Conquer Ultimately Led to His Execution

Hideki Tojo, a general and a politician, was the true representative of the Japanese expansionist policy in China in the first half of the 20th century. A military child himself, he advanced through army ranks completing his education in the Army Cadets School as 10th in his class (out of 363 cadets).

In 1905, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army. Tojo proved to be more of an administrative type and in 1928, he became the bureau chief of the Imperial Army. He was promoted to the rank of colonel. In his spare time, Colonel Tojo studied militarist policy that was popular at the time, fueling his ambitions as a conqueror.