Hajime Sugiyama
Hajime Sugiyama | |
|---|---|
杉山 元 | |
| Minister of War Empire of Japan | |
| In office 22 July 1944 – 7 April 1945 | |
| Prime Minister | Kuniaki Koiso |
| Preceded by | Hideki Tojo |
| Succeeded by | Korechika Anami |
| In office 9 February 1937 – 3 June 1938 | |
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | Kōtarō Nakamura |
| Succeeded by | Seishirō Itagaki |
| Inspector-General of Military Training | |
| In office 18 July 1944 – 22 November 1944 | |
| Monarch | Hirohito |
| Preceded by | Otozō Yamada |
| Succeeded by | Shunroku Hata |
| In office 1 August 1936 – 9 February 1937 | |
| Monarch | Hirohito |
| Preceded by | Yoshikazu Nishi |
| Succeeded by | Hisaichi Terauchi |
| Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff | |
| In office 3 October 1940 – 21 February 1944 | |
| Monarch | Hirohito |
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | Prince Kan'in Kotohito |
| Succeeded by | Hideki Tojo |
| Member of the Supreme War Council | |
| In office 12 September 1939 – 3 October 1940 | |
| In office 3 June 1938 – 9 December 1938 | |
| In office 1 August 1936 – 9 February 1937 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 1, 1880 |
| Died | September 12, 1945 (aged 65) Tokyo, Japan |
| Awards | Order of the Golden Kite, Order of the Rising Sun |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Empire of Japan |
| Branch/service | Imperial Japanese Army |
| Years of service | 1901–1945 |
| Rank | Gensui |
| Commands | 12th Division Northern China Area Army First General Army |
| Battles/wars | |
Hajime Sugiyama (杉山 元, Sugiyama Hajime / Sugiyama Gen; January 1, 1880 – September 12, 1945) was a Japanese field marshal and one of Japan's military leaders for most of the Second World War.
As Army Minister, Sugiyama was a driving force behind Japan's 1937 invasion of China in retaliation for the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. After being named the Japanese Army's Chief of Staff in 1940, he became a leading advocate for expansion into Southeast Asia and preventive war against the United States.
Upon the outbreak of hostilities in the Asia-Pacific theater of World War II, Sugiyama served as the army's de facto commander-in-chief until his removal by Prime Minister Hideki Tojo in February 1944. Following Tojo's ouster in July 1944, he once again held the post of Army Minister in Kuniaki Koiso's cabinet until its dissolution in April 1945. Ten days after Japan's surrender on 2 September 1945, he committed suicide.