Taro Katsura

Katsura, Taro

 

Born Nov. 28, 1847, in Yamaguchi Prefecture; died Oct. 10, 1913, in Tokyo. Japanese statesman and general.

Katsura was a descendant of the samurai of the principality of Choshu. He was army minister from 1898 to 1900 and prime minister from 1901 to 1905, from 1908 to 1911, and in 1912 and 1913. Katsura was one of the initiators of the Anglo-Japanese alliance. With the assistance of Great Britain and the USA, Katsura’s government unleashed a war against Russia in 1904–05.