Should Emperor Hirohito Be Responsible For The Invasion Of China Essay
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Should Emperor Hirohito be responsible for the invasion of China from 1937 to1945?
The Second Sino-Japanese war started officially on the 7th July, 1937. During the eight years of fighting, more than 30 million Chinese were killed including civilians and soldiers. (Wu, 2005) Emperor Hirohito was excused from the trial after World War II and was kept in throne for another 44 years. The fact that the war time Prime Minister Hideki Tojo took all the responsibility at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East for war Crimes in which he made a speech to admit the actions he had done during the war (Tojo, 1994) gave the world an impression that the Emperor was utterly blameless and oblivious to the invasion of China. Although it was…show more content… The military might not regard the words of Hirohito as high as expected regard to the Meiji Constitution but with the emperor worshipping continued since the Meiji Period, Japanese respected the Tenno faithfully and the military generals could not be presumptuous. According to Honjo, Hirohito’s chief aide-de-camp, Emperor Hirohito does not necessarily restrict the actions of the army but he will not comply with infringement against the principles of supreme command. (Honjo, 1982) In fact, He bore the direct responsibility for the use of poison gas which had been banned in the treaty of Versailles signed by Japan after WWI. His first directive authorizing use of chemical weapons was dated July 28, 1937(Bix, 2000) and later chemical weapons were used as weapons in the main battles between China and Japan. (Bix, 2000) Without the Emperor’s approval, it would be impossible for the army to use poison gas as weapons to fight with Chinese armies. The high degree of involvement makes him impossible to be the figurehead of the military government. Therefore, he must had involved himself in the invasion of