Ishiwara Kanji
Ishiwara Kanji ( Japanese. 石 原 莞爾 ; born January 18, 1889 in Shōnai , Japan ; † August 15, 1949 in Tokyo ) was a lieutenant general of the Imperial Japanese Army and supporter of Nichirenism . Alongside Itagaki Seishirō, he is considered to be the main person responsible for the so-called Mukden incident .
Life
Early life
Ishiwara Kanji was born in Shōnai in 1889 into a former samurai family. His father was a policeman, after the family until the Tokugawa - shogunate and then the Republic of Ezo in Boshin War had supported, it was forbidden its members higher political positions to hold.
At the age of 13, Ishiwara attended a military elementary school and then attended the Imperial Japanese Army Academy , which he graduated in 1909. He then served in the 65th Infantry Regiment in the Japanese colony of Chosen . In 1915 he passed the entrance exam for the Imperial Japanese Army University , which he graduated in 1918 as the second best of his class.
Ishiwara then served for several years on various staff positions before he was sent to the German Reich as a military attaché in 1922 . He served in Berlin and Munich until 1925 , completing studies in military history and strategy. In addition, he established contacts with various former German generals who helped him with his studies. Therefore, on his return to Japan, Ishiwara was considered an outspoken expert on modern military strategy.
Before he left for Germany, Ishiwara had converted to Nichiren Buddhism , which held the doctrine that a period of massive conflict was necessary before a golden era of human culture and the implementation of true Buddhism could come. Japan would be the center and executor of this fate and later guide the whole world into the golden future. Under this influence, Ishiwara turned into a strong supporter of the idea of Kokutai and saw it as Japan's sacred mission to liberate China first, so as to subdue the West and let the golden age begin with its help.
Ishiwara and Manchuria
Upon his return from Europe, Ishiwara was appointed instructor at the Army Staff College and then transferred to the staff of the Kwantung Army in Manchuria . He arrived there at the end of 1928, a few months after the assassination attempt on the warlord Zhang Zuolin by Japan . It quickly became clear to Ishiwara that the chaotic situation in northeast China, which had been additionally burdened by the death of Zhang, together with the Japanese investments in the region that had been going on for over two decades, would offer a unique situation for the Kwantung Army to expand its influence and that of Japan there. He therefore began to work out a plan to use the situation permanently for Japanese interests.
On September 18, 1931, a bomb destroyed an embankment on the Japanese-controlled South Manchurian Railway . Accused that Chinese soldiers attacked the railway line, Japanese troops under Ishiwara quickly occupied the Chinese barracks in the nearby city of Liutiaokou . Without informing the new commander of the Kwantung Army, Honjō Shigeru or the Army General Staff in Tokyo of the incident, Ishiwara ordered various units of the Kwantung Army to occupy other Chinese cities, which soon expanded to an occupation of all of Chinese Manchuria.
After a short time, the military actions had reached such a level that, despite international protests, the Japanese leadership was no longer able to stop the occupation without having to admit that they had temporarily lost control of parts of their army. Ishiwara, who had already prepared to be executed or dishonorably discharged from the army, got away with impunity and was only recalled to Japan, where he assumed command of the 4th Infantry Regiment. The success of the operation and the protection provided by right-wing officers and influential ultra-nationalists had led to this happy outcome for Ishiwara.
Conflict between the factions Kōdō-ha and Tōsei-ha
Within the ultra-national circles of the Japanese military, two groups had been formed in order to advance the exaggerated goals of Japan in the realization of Japanese claims to great power . One was the militant faction "Imperial Way" ( Kōdō-ha ), favored by younger officers, at the head of which General Araki Sadao acted as a quasi-pseudo-philosophical mentor - who had a great influence in Japanese politics of the 1930s - but Ishiwara made a name for himself and Itagaki Seishirō as their prominent leaders. The much more moderate association of the "control faction" ( Tōsei-ha ) included older and more experienced officers around General and Army Minister Ugaki Kazushige . He saw himself as a counterpoint to the “Imperial Way” in the conviction that the Kôdôha would hinder the necessary technical progress for the military and the problem-free integration of Manchuria as a kind of colony into the Japanese economic structure. The two factions united the criticism of the Japanese domestic and foreign policy of the time, of liberal tendencies and of the burgeoning individualism. The Kwantung Army officers Ishiwara and Itagaki were held in high regard and had more influence on the spirit, morale, and orientations of the Army than their commanders. They became the driving forces of imperial expansionism in Japan and the raid-like occupation of Manchuria clearly bore their signature. Along with Itagaki, Ishiwara is considered to be the main person responsible for the so-called Mukden incident. The later Japanese " puppet state " of Japan, Manchukuo, was to become an independent, multinational state structure in national harmony according to its objectives. In it, slogans such as “ethnic harmony”, “equality of races” and “honesty” were to be elevated to trend-setting slogans for the supremacy of the army. From 1939 on, Ishiwara took as the leader and founder of the Tôa Renmei ("East Asia Association") strong influence on the political concept Tôa shinchitsujo ("New East Asia Order") of the Japanese Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro . The Tôa Renmei was an ultra-nationalist organization with around 15,000 members and the pan-Asian objective of bringing together the economic resources of Japan, Manchukuos and China as well as integrated defense and political autonomy for the three. In the Chinese city of Nanking , for example, a branch was established under the direction of the local Chinese collaborator from leadership circles of the Kuomintang (nationalists) Wang Jingwei .
Army revolutionaries
In 1935 Ishiwara was transferred to the Army General Staff, where he became head of operations. This position allowed him to advance his radical plans for Japan's future. At that time he was strongly influenced by the idea of Panasianism and propagated the idea of Hokushinron , a concentration of Japan on expansion to the north, into Siberia. He took the view that Japan should unite with its puppet state Manchukuo and the rest of China and form an East Asian League , which should prepare for a decisive war against the Soviet Union . After the victory over the Soviet Union, the conquest of the European colonies in South Asia and a war against the USA would no longer cause difficulties. To this end, Japan would have to massively expand its military and economy, which is best possible in a one-party state with a planned economy, in which other parties as well as weak politicians and corrupt businessmen are removed.
The attempted coup of February 26, 1936 , whose goals actually coincided with those of Ishiwara, was not supported by the latter. He spoke out strongly in favor of imposing martial law to bring the situation back under control. After Deputy Chief of Army General Staff Sugiyama Hajime sent troops into the city from garrisons outside Tokyo, Ishiwara became chief of operations at the Martial Law Headquarters.
Return to Manchukuo
In March 1937 he was promoted to major general and sent back to Manchukuo, where he was appointed deputy chief of staff of the Kwantung Army. There he was disappointed to find that many of his co-conspirators from the time of the Mukden incident did not share his idea of Panasianism, but were satisfied with their status as quasi colonial rulers over northeast China. When he realized this, he accused the leadership of the Kwantung army of treason and confronted the commander-in-chief Tōjō Hideki with dubious payments to an officer's womens club, thereby indirectly accusing him of corruption. After turning his superiors against him, Ishiwara was relieved of his command and sent back to Japan.
Back in Japan, he began to analyze the Soviet strategy in the catastrophic Battle of the Chalchin Gol in order to find a possible counter-strategy for the Soviet military doctrine. In addition, he was active as an author and promoted the idea of an East Asian alliance with China and Manchukuo in his works and spoke out strongly against the Japanese invasion of China . After his promotion to lieutenant general in 1939, he was appointed commander of the 16th division .
Tōjō Hideki, who in the meantime had risen to the highest military ranks, had not forgiven Ishiwara for his verbal attacks and was of the opinion that he was a dangerous subject who had to be discharged from the army. However, he feared the reaction of possible supporters of Ishiwara's ideas, especially among the younger army officers. It was only when Ishiwara Tōjō had publicly criticized Tōjō and described him as an enemy of Japan who should be arrested and executed , that he was actually retired.
After his release, he went back to his hometown, where he continued to work as a writer. After Japan surrendered , he was heard as a defense witness at the Tokyo trials , but was never charged with any crimes related to the Mukden incident . Various sources suggest that his open hostility to Tōjō Hideki, who was considered to be the originator of the Pacific War , and his opposition to the war in China saved him. During the Tokyo trials, he was even able to demand the conviction of President Harry S. Truman as a war criminal for the airstrikes on Japan without fear of any consequences.
Propaganda in words and pictures
He was considered a talent for photography, drawing and photography. He used this for self-presentation, to document his worldview - privately as well as for political agitation. His writings and the recordings, which were still rare at the time, serve as documentation about him and the time in which he lived and are still used today.
literature
- Timothy P. Maga: Judgment at Tokyo: The Japanese War Crimes Trials. University Press of Kentucky, 2001, ISBN 0-8131-2177-9 .
- Mark R. Peattie: Ishiwara Kanji and Japan's confrontation with the West. Princeton University Press, Princeton 1975, ISBN 0-691-03099-5 .
- Richard J. Samuels: Securing Japan: Tokyo's Grand Strategy and the Future of East Asia. Cornell University Press, 2007, ISBN 0-8014-4612-0 .
- Gerald Iguchi, Nichirenism as Modernism: Imperialism, Fascism, and Buddhism in Modern Japan (Ph.D. Dissertation), University of California, San Diego, 2006, pp. 231-301 (Ishiwara Kanji, History as Contrapuntal harmony, and Modernity as "the Dawn that Never Comes")
Web links
- Ishiwara Kanji in the World War II Generals Database . Retrieved December 28, 2010.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ammenthorp, database of the generals of World War II
- ↑ Peatty: Ishiwara Kanji and Japan's confrontation with the West.
- ↑ http://pwencycl.kgbudge.com/I/t/Itagaki_Seishiro.htm Itagaki Seishirō in the Encyclopedia of the Pacific War
- ↑ G. Clinton Godart "Nichirenism, Utopianism, and Modernity Rethinking Ishiwara Kanji's East Asia League Movement": https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/4456 ,
- ↑ Japan und dei Juden , study on the Jewish policy of the Empire of Japan during the time of National Socialism 1933 - 1945, inaugural dissertation to obtain a doctorate from the Philosophical Faculty of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Bonn, Heinz Eberhard Maul, Bonn 2000, https : //d-nb.info/968360084/34
- ↑ Peatty, Ishiwara Kanji and Japan's Confrontation with the West
- ^ Maga, Judgment at Tokyo
- ↑ ARD website for the film: Ishiwara Kanji - The General who led Japan into World War II
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb3zhty_GFs
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ishiwara, Kanji |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 石 原 莞爾 (Japanese) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | General of the Imperial Japanese Army |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 18, 1889 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Shōnai (Yamagata) , Japanese Empire |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 15, 1949 |
| Place of death | Tokyo , Japan |