General Tojo Part 2: Terror in China
Real Dictators
The Rise and Fall of the Kempei Tai
The Kempei Tai were originally modelled on the French gendarmerie. The idea was to create a military unit that could help out in places where civilian police forces were stretched. Things changed when Japan started becoming an imperial country, particularly after 1910 with the effective acquisition of Korea. They didn't want up-rise since they didn't want the native population to get hold of arms or to start making threats against Japanese rule. And so they built up networks of local informants and began to become a repressive civilian control organisation.
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