:''This article deals with the Empire of Japan's Army War College. For other war colleges, see: War college.'' Imperial Japanese Army War College students

Imperial Japanese Army War College students

The ; Short form: of the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...

was founded in 1882 in

Minato Minato (港 or 湊) is Japanese for 'harbor', and may refer to: Places * Minato, Tokyo or Minato City, a special ward in Tokyo, Japan * Minato-ku, Nagoya, a ward of Nagoya, Japan * Minato-ku, Osaka, a ward of Osaka, Japan * Minato (湊), a neig ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

modernize Modernization theory is used to explain the process of modernization within societies. The "classical" theories of modernization of the 1950s and 1960s drew on sociological analyses of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and a partial reading of Max Weber, ...

and

Westernize Westernization (or Westernisation), also Europeanisation or occidentalization (from the ''Occident''), is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, economi ...

the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

. Much of the empire's elite including prime ministers during the period of Japanese militarism were graduates of the college.

History

Supported by influential pro-German ministers and army officers, the Army War College was modeled after the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

n ''

Preußische Kriegsakademie The Prussian Staff College, also Prussian War College (german: Preußische Kriegsakademie) was the highest military facility of the Kingdom of Prussia to educate, train, and develop general staff officers. Location It originated with the ''Ak ...

'', with German officers hired as Oyatoi gaikokujin to provide training. The most prominent of these instructors was Major Klemens W.J. Meckel. He was influential in assisting in the reorganization of the

standing army A standing army is a permanent, often professional, army. It is composed of full-time soldiers who may be either career soldiers or conscripts. It differs from army reserves, who are enrolled for the long term, but activated only during wars or n ...

from a

garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

-based system into a divisional system. Reporting directly to the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters, the college specialized initially in teaching tactics, and was regarded as the pinnacle of the Army educational system. For this reason, it accepted only previous graduates of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy who had at least two years (but not more than six years) of field experience as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

as its students, and who had typically achieved the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. Each class had from 30-35 students. Learning tended to be by

rote memorization Rote learning is a memorization technique based on repetition. The method rests on the premise that the recall of repeated material becomes faster the more one repeats it. Some of the alternatives to rote learning include meaningful learning, as ...

, with little encouragement for creative thinking or discussion among the students.Harries, Soldiers of the Sun. pp. 174 The curriculum was a three-year course, and was considered a necessary prerequisite for future promotion to a staff rank (i.e. that of

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

). Each year, the six graduates with the best marks were each awarded with an Army Sword by the Emperor and are collectively known as the Army Sword Club. The college graduated 60 classes before it was abolished following the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Its building in Tokyo, constructed in 1891, was demolished after the war and replaced by a municipal junior high school in 1955.

References

* *

External links

Organization of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy
{{Authority control Military units and formations established in 1882 Educational institutions established in 1882 Educational institutions disestablished in 1945 Military history of Japan Imperial Japanese Army Defunct Japanese military academies Military facilities in Tokyo 1882 establishments in Japan

History

See also

References

External links