BaronBaron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman."...
was a general in the
Imperial Japanese ArmyThe Imperial Japanese Army , or literally Army of the Empire of Greater Japan was the official ground based armed force of Imperial Japan from 1867 to 1945...
,
politicianA politician or political leader is an individual who is involved in influencing public decision making. This includes people who hold decision-making positions in government, and people who seek those positions, whether by means of election, coup d'état, appointment, electoral fraud, conquest,...
, and the 26th
Prime Minister of JapanThe is the usual English-language term used for the head of government of Japan, although the literal translation of the Japanese name for the office is Minister for the general administration of the Cabinet...
from 20 April 1927 to 2 July 1929.
Early life and military career
Tanaka was born to a
samuraiis the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
family in
Hagiis a city located in Yamaguchi, Japan and was incorporated as a city on July 1, 1932. Formerly part of Abu District.On March 6 2005, the former city of Hagi merged with the towns of Susa and Tamagawa, and the villages of Asahi, Fukue, Kawakami and Mutsumi to form the new city of Hagi.Iwami Airport...
,
Nagato Province, often called , was a province of Japan. It was at the extreme western end of Honshū, in the area that is today Yamaguchi Prefecture. Nagato bordered on Iwami and Suō Provinces....
(modern day
Yamaguchi Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Yamaguchi located in the center of the Prefecture: The largest city, by contrast, is Shimonoseki.- History :...
),
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. He graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy and the
Army War CollegeThe ; Short form: of the Empire of Japan was founded in 1882 in Minato, Tokyo to modernize and Westernize the Imperial Japanese Army. Much of the empire's elite including prime ministers during the period of Japanese militarism were graduates of the college....
in 1892, and served in the
First Sino-Japanese WarThe First Sino-Japanese War was a war fought between Qing Dynasty China and Meiji Japan, primarily over the control of Korea...
, and later in the
Russo-Japanese WarThe Russo-Japanese War or the Manchurian Campaign in some English sources, was a conflict that grew out of the rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
, as aide to General
Kodama GentaroVicount was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, and government minister during Meiji period Japan. He was instrumental in establishing the modern Imperial Japanese military.-Early life:...
. In 1906, he helped draft a defense plan which was so highly regarded by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff that it was adopted by as basic policy until
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
.
Tanaka was fluent in the
Russian languageRussian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe...
, which he learned while as a
military attachéA military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission . This post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer....
to
MoscowMoscow is the capital and the largest city of Russia. It is also the largest metropolitan area in Europe, and ranks among the largest urban areas in the world. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a...
. He attended mass every Sunday at a Russian Orthodox church, which enabled him to practice his Russian at church social events, although it is uncertain if he ever actually converted to Christianity.
In 1911, Tanaka was promoted to
major generalMajor General or Major-General is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of Sergeant Major General. A Major General is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of Lieutenant General and senior to the ranks of Brigadier and Brigadier General...
, and was made director of the Military Affairs Bureau at the Army Ministry, where he recommended an increase in the strength of the standing army by two more
infantryInfantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of the Combat Arms they are the backbone of armies...
divisions.
Promoted to full
generalA general officer is an officer of high military rank. The term or equivalent is used by nearly every country in the world. General can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer, or it can specifically refer to a single rank that is simply called general.-All general officer...
in 1920, he served as
War MinisterThe , more popularly known as the Ministry of War of Japan was the cabinet-level ministry from 1872-1945 in charge with administration of the Imperial Japanese Army .-History:...
under
Prime MinisterThe is the usual English-language term used for the head of government of Japan, although the literal translation of the Japanese name for the office is Minister for the general administration of the Cabinet...
s
Hara Takashiwas a Japanese politician and the 19th Prime Minister of Japan from 29 September 1918 to 4 November 1921. He was also called Hara Kei informally. He was the first commoner appointed to the office of prime minister of Japan...
(1918-21) and the 2nd
Yamamoto, also called Gonnohyōe, was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy and the 16th and 22nd Prime Minister of Japan.-Early life:...
administrations (1923-24), during which time he backed the
Siberian InterventionThe ' of 1918–1922 was the dispatch of troops of the Entente powers to the Russian Maritime Provinces as part of a larger effort by the western powers and Japan to support White Russian forces against the Bolshevik Red Army during the Russian Civil War...
.
After retiring from the army, he was invited to accept the post of party president of the
Rikken Seiyukai' was one of the main political parties in pre-war Japan. It was also known simply as the ‘Seiyūkai'Founded on September 15, 1900 by Itō Hirobumi , the Seiyūkai was a pro-government alliance of bureaucrats and former members of the Kenseito. The Seiyūkai was the most powerful political party in...
political party in 1925, and was made a member of the
House of PeersThe ' was the upper house of the Imperial Diet as mandated under the Constitution of the Empire of Japan ....
. He was later elevated to the title of
danshaku (
BaronBaron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman."...
) under the
kazokuThe was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan that existed between 1869 and 1947.-Origins:Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the ancient court nobility of Kyoto regained some of its lost status...
peerage system.
Tanaka had been scheduled to be promoted to the rank of
Field Marshalwas the highest title in the prewar Imperial Japanese Military.The term gensui, which was used for both the Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Japanese Navy, was at first a rank held by Saigō Takamori as the Commander of the Armies in 1872...
at the time of his retirement. However, when news reached the ears of the Army Ministry of a 3 million Yen bonus that Tanaka received on agreeing to join the
Rikken Seiyukai, the promotion was denied.
As Prime Minister
Tanaka became
Prime Minister of JapanThe is the usual English-language term used for the head of government of Japan, although the literal translation of the Japanese name for the office is Minister for the general administration of the Cabinet...
in 1927, during the Shōwa financial crisis, serving simultaneously as the
Foreign Affairs MinisterThe of Japan is the Cabinet member responsible for Japanese foreign policy and the chief executive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Since the end of the American occupation of Japan, the position has been one of the most powerful in the Cabinet, as Japan's economic interests have long relied on...
.
On the domestic front, Tanaka attempted to suppress leftists, Communists and suspected Communist sympathizers through widespread arrests (the
March 15 incidentwas a crackdown on socialists and communists by the Japanese government in 1928. Among those who were arrested in the incident was Marxist economist Kawakami Hajime.-Background:...
of 1928, and the April 19 Incident of 1929).
In foreign affairs, he continued the aggressive interventionist policies he began as a military officer in China,
ManchuriaManchuria is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria either falls entirely within China, or is divided between China and Russia...
and
MongoliaMongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 24 miles from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator,...
. On three separate occasions in 1927-1928 he sent troops to intervene militarily in
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
to block Chang Kai-shek’s Northern Expedition to unify China under Kuomingtang rule, in what became known as the
Jinan IncidentThe Jinan Incident or May 3rd Tragedy , was an armed conflict between the Japanese Army allied with Northern Chinese warlords against the Kuomintang's southern army in Jinan, the capital of Shandong in 1928 during the Kuomintang's Northern Expedition.-Background:During the Northern Expedition,...
.
Tanaka came into office even as forces were already beginning to converge that would draw Japan into
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In 1928, however, the machinations of the ultranationalist secret societies and the
Kwantung ArmyThe , also known as the Guandong Army , was an army group of the Imperial Japanese Army in the early twentieth century. It became the largest and most prestigious command in the IJA...
resulted in a crisis: the assassination of the Manchurian warlord
Zhang ZuolinZhang Zuolin was the warlord of Manchuria from 1916 to 1928. He successfully invaded China proper in October 1924 in the Second Zhili-Fengtian War. He gained control of Beijing, including China's internationally recognized government, in April 1926...
and the failed attempt to seize
ManchuriaManchuria is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria either falls entirely within China, or is divided between China and Russia...
. Tanaka himself was taken by surprise by the assassination plot, and argued that the officers responsible should be publicly
court-martialA court-martial is a military court. These military courts can determine punishments for members of the military subject to military law who are found guilty or may dismiss the charges based on the evidence and the case presented. Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in...
ed for homicide. The military establishment, from which Tanaka was by now estranged, insisted on covering up the facts of the incident, which remained an official secret. Bereft of support, and under mounting criticism in
DietThe is Japan's bicameral legislature. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an upper house, called the House of Councillors. Both houses of the Diet are directly elected under a parallel voting system. In addition to passing laws, the Diet is formally...
and even from Emperor Hirohito himself, Tanaka and his cabinet resigned en masse.
He was succeeded by
Hamaguchi Osachiwas a Japanese politician and the 27th Prime Minister of Japan from 2 July 1929 to 14 April 1931. He was called the "Lion prime minister" due to his physical features.- Early life :...
, and died a few months later.
The Tanaka Memorial
In 1929, China accused Tanaka of having authored the "
Tanaka MemorialThe is an alleged Japanese strategic planning document from 1927, in which Prime Minister Baron Tanaka Giichi laid out for the Emperor Hirohito a strategy to take over the world...
Imperialist Conquest Plan", which advocated the conquest of Manchuria, Mongolia, and eventually the whole of China. He was alleged to have presented the plan to the Emperor in 1927. Today, most historians regard the document as a forgery. On the other side of the view, a memorial published in the mid-1950s by one of the principals in the revealation of the "Plan", a Japanese-born Taiwanese and businessman Tsai Chih-Kan, accounted that Tsai personally copied the "Plan" from the Imperial Library on the night of June 20, 1928, during a covert action which was assisted by several of Japan's leading pre-war politicians and officers who were opposed by Tanaka. With this account, many Chinese history textbooks consider the document as authentic.
External links
|-