He participated in the war against China in the 1930s, was leader of the militarist party from 1931 onwards, and became War Minister in 1940. He urged closer collaboration with Germany and Italy and persuaded Vichy France to sanction Japanese occupation of strategic bases in Indo‐China (July 1941). He succeeded Konoe Fumimaro as Prime Minister (1941–44) and he gave the order to attack Pearl Harbor, precipitating the USA into World War II. In 1942 he strengthened his position in Tokyo as War Minister and created a virtual military dictatorship. He resigned in 1944 after the loss of the Marianas to the USA. He was convicted at the Tokyo Trials and hanged as a war criminal in 1948.