Gonbee Yamamoto: Difference between revisions
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| publisher =National Diet Library | | publisher =National Diet Library | ||
| url = http://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/datas/213.html | | url = http://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/datas/213.html | ||
| title = Yamamoto, Gonbeen}}/ref> [[Keigo Kiyoura]] replaced him as Prime Minister. | | title = Yamamoto, Gonbeen}}/ref> [[Keigo Kiyoura]] replaced him as Prime Minister.</ref> | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
{{reflist}} | {{reflist}} | ||
Latest revision as of 15:14, 15 May 2011
Gonbee Yamamoto (1852 - 1933) was an Imperial Japanese Navy officer and twice Prime Minister of Japan. He is often considered the father of the Imperial Navy as a modern force. Prime Minister Admiral Yamamoto was not related to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.
Early life
He was born in Kagoshima, the home of the Satsuma Clan, as the son of a samurai of the Kagoshima Clan, and participated in fighting against the British bombardment of Kagoshima in 1863. After participating in the Boshin War, he graduated from the Japanese Naval Academy in 1874.
He became a specialist in gunnery and training methods, and commanded several warships. Moving into the naval command, he naval posts such as chief officer of the Navy Ministry and vice navy minister in the Imperial Headquarters. In 1893, he created a Naval Staff, independent of the Army General Staff.
In 1895, he became chief of the Bureau of Naval Affairs, from when he served as navy minister (1906-1913) for the second Yamagata cabinet, fourth Ito cabinet and first Katsura cabinet, and became navy admiral in 1904. He was thus the Navy Minister during the Russo-Japanese War.
Government
In 1913, he became prime minister of a cabinet containing many Navy officers, backed by Seiyukai, and succeeding the Katsura government
Siemens Scandal
During the Navy buildup in 1914, but resigned as a result of a corruption scandal involving the German arms vendor, Siemens, which had a near-monopoly over naval contracts, and its British rival, Vickers. The scandal offered a political opening to the Chosu-Army group dominated by Aritomo Yamagata,[1] and, while Yamamoto himself was not implicated, his government fell.
Makoto Saito continued as Navy Minister from the Katsura cabinet.
Second Cabinet
In 1923, he became prime minister again, following Tomosaburo Kato, but resigned, this time because of the Toranomon Incident.[2]
References
- ↑ J. Charles Schencking (2004), Making waves: Politics, Propaganda, and the Emergence of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868-1922, Stanford University Press, p. 167
- ↑ <{citation | publisher =National Diet Library | url = http://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/datas/213.html | title = Yamamoto, Gonbeen}}/ref> Keigo Kiyoura replaced him as Prime Minister.