Emperor Hirohito was the 124th emperor of Japan reigning from 1926 to 1989. Hirohito was born in Tokyo in 1901 and was the eldest son of the Crown Prince Yoshihito. Yoshihito's father died when Hirohito was just eleven. Hirohito attended school for studies and then attended special institute for the crown prince till the 1921. When he was embarked on the six months tour of Europe becoming the first member of Japanese Imperial family to travel abroad. Hirohito married Princess Nagato in 1924 and was made emperor in 1926.
Hirohito ascended to power during a difficult time in Japan. A financial crisis was deeply affecting the country. An attempted military coup was crushed under his order. Japan invaded Manchuria, a region in northeast China in 1931 and then invaded parts of China in 1937. In 1940, Japan formed the the axis powers under the tripartite pact with Nazi Germany and fascist Italy and prepared for war with the United States and Great Britain.
If the diplomacy failed, Hirohito was an advocate for a peaceful resolution to the disagreements with the West but slowly began to favor war and chose General Hideki Tojo to provide a policy review of recent conferences. Tojo along with the chiefs of staff of the Navy and the army convinced Hirohito opt for War and eventually the emperor gave the order for the execution of the simultaneous attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines as well as the invasion of Malaysia in 1941.
Hirohito was initially pleased by Japan's early victory but by 1945 the defeat of Japan seemed imminent. He had sent out orders to all Japanese civilians commanding them to commit suicide rather than surrender leading to the suicide of over 10,000 civilians as the Allied forces continued to advance. Following the bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hirohito insisted that Japan surrender. He made a radio in August 1945 announcing the end of the war. Following the war much criticism was directed towards Hirohito for the atrocities carried out by the imperial forces in World War 2 and any wanted him tried as a war criminal.
The decision was made to exonerate all members of the imperial family under the direction of U.S. General Douglas MacArthur. He spent hid post-war years traveling throughout Japan observing the progress of the reconstruction of the country and slowly gaining popularity for the imperial family as well as traveling abroad to meet with various foreign leaders to rebuild Japan's diplomatic image. In 1988, he collapsed in his palace and died on 7 January,1989.
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