*** Welcome to piglix ***

Aritomo Yamagata

Yamagata Aritomo
山縣 有朋
Yamagata Aritomo.jpg
3rd Prime Minister of Japan
In office
8 November 1898 – 19 October 1900
Monarch Meiji
Preceded by Ōkuma Shigenobu
Succeeded by Itō Hirobumi
In office
24 December 1889 – 6 May 1891
Monarch Meiji
Preceded by Sanjō Sanetomi (Acting)
Succeeded by Matsukata Masayoshi
Personal details
Born (1838-06-14)14 June 1838
Kawashima, Japan
Died 1 February 1922(1922-02-01) (aged 83)
Odawara, Japan
Political party Independent
Military service
Allegiance  Empire of Japan
Service/branch  Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service 1868–1905
Rank Field Marshal
Battles/wars Boshin War
Satsuma Rebellion
First Sino-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
Awards Order of the Golden Kite (1st class)
Order of the Rising Sun (1st class with Paulownia Blossoms, Grand Cordon)
Order of the Chrysanthemum
Member of the Order of Merit
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George

Field Marshal Prince Yamagata Aritomo (山縣 有朋?, June 14, 1838 – February 1, 1922), also known as Yamagata Kyōsuke, was a field marshal in the Imperial Japanese Army and twice Prime Minister of Japan. He is considered one of the architects of the military and political foundations of early modern Japan. Yamagata Aritomo can be seen as the father of Japanese militarism.

Yamagata was born in a lower-ranked samurai family from Hagi, the capital of the feudal domain of Chōshū (present-day Yamaguchi prefecture). He went to Shokasonjuku, a private school run by Yoshida Shōin, where he devoted his energies to the growing underground movement to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate. He was a commander in the Kiheitai, a paramilitary organization created on semi-western lines by the Chōshū domain. During the Boshin War, the revolution of 1867 and 1868 often called the Meiji Restoration, he was a staff officer.

After the defeat of the Tokugawa, Yamagata together with Saigō Tsugumichi was selected by the leaders of the new government to go to Europe in 1869 to research European military systems. Yamagata like many Japanese was strongly influenced by the recent striking success of Prussia in transforming itself from an agricultural state to a leading modern industrial and military power. He accepted Prussian political ideas, which favored military expansion abroad and authoritarian government at home. On returning he was asked to organize a national army for Japan, and he became War Minister in 1873. Yamagata energetically modernized the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army, and modeled it after the Prussian Army. He began a system of military conscription in 1873.


...
Wikipedia

...