Video: 'Cranking This War Up to Eleven - Hideki Tojo - WW2 Biography Special'

(Saturday, October 18, 1941, afternoon Japanese Standard Time; during World War II, 50 days before the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor) — Lieutenant General Hideki Tojo formed and swore in a new Japanese Cabinet today, with himself as Premier, War Minister and Home Minister, replacing Fumimaro Konoye as prime minister, pledging to pursue a strong foreign policy.

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On the eve of the Second World War’s expansion into Asia and the Pacific, Tojo was an outspoken advocate for a preemptive attack on the United States and its European allies. Upon being appointed prime minister, he would oversee the Empire of Japan’s decision to go to war as well as its ensuing conquest of much of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.

Ever since the start of the U.S. oil embargo following Japan’s July 28 invasion of southern French Indochina, Japanese oil stockpiles have been running dry, forcing the Japanese to either negotiate with the United States or seize the natural resources of South-East Asia by force.

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During the course of the war, Tojo would preside over numerous war crimes, including the massacre and starvation of civilians and prisoners of war. He would also be involved in the sexual enslavement of thousands of mostly Korean women and girls for Japanese soldiers.