Fumimaro Konoe (12 October 1891 – 16 December 1945) was Prime Minister of Japan from 4 June 1937 to 5 January 1939, succeeding Senjuro Hayashi and preceding Kiichiro Hiranuma, and from 22 July 1940 to 18 October 1941, succeeding Mitsumasa Yonai and preceding Hideki Tojo.
Biography[]
Fumimaro Konoe was born on 12 October 1891 in Tokyo to an aristocratic family descended from the ancient Fujiwara clan. He became a prince at the age of twelve when his father Atsumaro Konoe died, and he became a member of the House of Peers of Japan. In 1933, he was elected President of the House of Peers, and on 4 June 1937 he became Prime Minister a month after the Marco Polo Bridge incident began the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Prime Minister of Japan[]
Fumimaro Konoe in 1939
Konoe decided to step up Japan's war with China and swore to eliminate Chiang Kai-shek's regime, which would be a prerequisite for peace talks with Nationalist China. From December 1937 to January 1938, 300,000 people were killed in the Rape of Nanking by the Imperial Japanese Army in one of the worst war crimes in history. Konoe was replaced by Senjuro Hayashi as Prime Minister in 1939, but in 1940 he returned to power and led Japan into the Axis Powers by signing the Tripartite Pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy on 10 September 1940.
Downfall[]
He tried to avoid war with the United States in December 1941 after leaving office in October, but the Japanese government went ahead with the Attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December, starting a devastating war for Japan. In 1944, he played a role in the downfall of Hideki Tojo's totalitarian government, but in 1945 he was one of the war criminals that the USA sought to try for war crimes. On 16 December 1945 he committed suicide by drinking poison rather than stand trial. His grandson Morihiro Hosokawa became Prime Minister in 1993.