- This article deals with the Empire of Japan's Army War
College. For other war colleges, see: War College.
The ;
Short form: of the Empire of Japan
was founded in 1882 in Minato, Tokyo
to modernize and Westernize the Imperial Japanese Army. 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 Prussian
Preußische Kriegsakademie
, 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
from a
garrison-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 as its students, and who had typically
achieved the rank of
captain. Each
class had from 30-35 students. Learning tended to be by
rote memorization, with little
encouragement for creative thinking or discussion among the
students. 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).
The college graduated 60 classes before it was abolished following
the
surrender of Japan at the end
of
World War II.
See also
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