Japan Surrenders:

Peace At Last

It had been six long years of fighting. With all hope of winning gone, the Japanese surrendered, and World War II ended.

Japan in Trouble

By 1945, it was clear that the Japanese would be defeated. Except for Korea and Manchuria, Japan had retreated from all of the countries that it had conquered earlier. It had lost its source of oil, its industrial centers were in ruins, and its navy and air defenses were destroyed. While fighting, the Japanese tried to come up with ideas for peace. Some came as early as 1943, but they were all rejected. By the spring of 1945, the Japanese were desperate.

The Potsdam Declaration

On July 26, 1945, the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, announced the Potsdam Declaration. It demanded an immediate and unconditional Japanese surrender. That meant that Japan would have to surrender without placing any conditions. The alternative to 

the unconditional surrender was complete destruction. The United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union all thought that it was a suitable condition for what the Japanese had done. One major question that had to be answered before the Japanese would agree to surrender was whether the Japanese emperor would be allowed to keep his throne. To the Japanese people, Emperor Hirohito was more than just the Emperor, he was a god. When he became Emperor, he said that his motto was enlightened peace, but World War II was anything but enlightened peace. The Allies answered that the Japanese surrender would have no conditions, period. They would not agree to let the Japanese emperor keep his throne, so the Japanese refused to surrender.

According to the Potsdam Declaration, Japan asked for complete destruction, and that was what it was going to get.

The Invention of the Atomic Bomb

By July of 1945, Allied bombs had destroyed half of Tokyo, the capital of Japan, and many other towns and cities. The Allies thought that a complete invasion of Japan was necessary to win, but as many as one million American soldiers could die in the invasion. After much consideration, they decided to introduce a new weapon to the world. A group of scientists had been working on a secret project called the Manhattan Project. They had built the atomic bomb. When they tested it in New Mexico in 1945, it was successful.

The Atomic Bomb

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. 

Over 92,000 Japanese were killed. President Truman then called on the Japanese government to surrender. The Japanese refused. Due to the refusal of the surrender, the United States dropped an even larger bomb over the city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.Over 40,000 more Japanese were killed. Fewer people died during the use of the bomb on Nagasaki than

 Hiroshima because Hiroshima was a more populated city.

The Japanese government couldn’t decide on what to do. Some people wanted to surrender immediately, but some people were worried that if they surrendered, the emperor’s throne would be at stake. It was actually the emperor who did the announcing. On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced that the nation was surrendering.

The Surrender

On September 2, 1945, on the deck of the battleship USS Missouri, the surrender documents were signed. World War II was finally over. Signing for the Allies was General Douglas MacArthur. He became the new military governor of Japan until 1951. Because of him, the Japanese began to learn the ways of democracy. MacArthur’s staff wrote a constitution for the Japanese. In 1947 it took effect. The constitution said that all political rights that had belonged to the emperor now belonged to the people of Japan. It also gave women the right to vote. This was a new experience for the Japanese. Throughout history, the Japanese thought that the emperor was a god, and they would do whatever he told them to do. After Emperor Hirohito announced that the Japanese were surrendering, he convinced the Japanese that he was not a god.

The Aftermath of the War

After the surrender, Japan returned all of its conquests to the countries that they belonged to. The Japanese emperor was allowed to keep his throne because he was the only person who could convince the Japanese to surrender.

After World War I, the League of Nations was set up to create peace throughout the world. It failed because the United States did not join. After World War II, the United Nations was created. It had the same goal as the League of Nations.

World War II was the most expensive war ever, both in terms of money and lives. People all over the world celebrated when it was over. Everyone hoped that there would never again be a war quite like this one.

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