Japanese Prime Minister, Army Minister, Home Minister and Foreign Minister - yes, he held all of these titles simultaneously, as well as several others - Hideki Tojo is a slightly odd entry into this list, although his place cannot be called into question once the facts are laid out on the table for all to see. Tojo is responsible for the deaths of more than 5 million civilians during World War II - including unprovoked attacks on the Americans at Pearl Harbor, plus non-military casualties in China, Korea, the Netherlands, France and countless other nations in the Asian Pacific. That is before you even mention the inhumane and barbaric treatment of Prisoners of War under Japanese control during the Second World War - with prisoners given mats to sleep on, inmates regularly beaten and any single escape attempt could result in the execution of the attempted escapee plus 10 other PoWs. Add to that the eugenics experiments Tojo championed domestically in order to distinguish between "pure-blood" Japanese citizens and "mixed-blood" Japanese citizens, and the death toll continues to rise at an alarming rate. Tojo was tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East for war crimes and he was found guilty on seven different counts - including violating international laws and ordering the inhumane treatment of PoWs. He was hanged on December 23, 1948, having apologised for the atrocities committed.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
