The surrender of Japan in 1945 is one of the most significant events of the world history. If you look for September 2 in history, you will find that this is called VJ Day, a victory day over Japan. The bloody fight that involved almost every country in the world came to an end on this day. On September 2, 1945, Japan formally surrendered to its allies, and the World War II came to an end.
World War II was one of the most devastating wars in the human history. Japan was very aggressive initially when World War II started. No one had thought of the surrender of Japan when the war started. The country has its reasons to initiate the war. According to some historians, the grounds had connections with World War first, Nazi attack on Russia in 1941 is one of the incidents that show the aggressiveness of the Axis (Germany, Japan and Italy) in World War II. Then what happened, and why Japan had to surrender to the allies on September 2, 1945?. Let us know about the war events that forced the Surrender of Japan and bought the Second World War to an end.
Why Did Japan Choose War?
When we talk about world war, we cannot point out one of two incidents that initiated the battle. What motivated the Axis to begin the war? What conflicts forced various countries to participate in the WWII?
Japan chose to initiate the World War II, and the main reasons to do so was Humiliation during World War I that motivated Japan to become one of the strongest countries in Asia.
The power-hungry head of the country had an obsession to prove his country is best among rests. That obsession became another reason that made many other countries against Japan. After World War I, Japan had various restrictions on it put up by the UN. The land was suffering from a shortage of oil and other essential resources. On the other hand, the US was becoming a dominating power at that time. To seize the resources of South East Asia, Japan planned to attack the US and British Forces present in Asia. So, Japan signed a pact with Italy and Germany, and the formed a group called the Axis. That’s how the World War II started.
Surrender of Japan
On signing the Tripartite Pact on September 27, 1940, Japan entered World War II. But the turning point in the war came when Japan decided to attack Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1941. Here the US had its Pacific Fleet. The attack was sudden, and no one at the Pearl Harbor was ready for it. Hence many Americans lost their lives. The strategic goal of the event was to capture the oil fields in East Asia, Korea and tell the world how ruthless Japan can be. Japanese Air Forces were bombing China and forcing neutral countries like Thailand to announce a war against Britain by this time. With Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, the US became aggressive on Japan, and its air force has started to give tough time to Japan’s forces.
In August 1945, US Air force dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. After three days, the US Air forces again dropped a nuclear bomb on Nagasaki.
The Navy and Air Force of Japan were destroyed before the atomic attack. In the 1945’s summer, the condition of Japan’s Air and Navy was too bad to survive in a war. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki crashed the economy of the country. In August, it was evident that Japan will not survive long in the war, and it has to surrender. On August 8, 1945, Russia re-entered the war, and now the end of the war was near. It was August 14, 1945, when Japan agreed to surrender after a long and emotional discussion in council.
After completing the paper, on September 2 1945, Japan surrendered formally. September 2 in history become a day when World War II officially ended. The war cost the lives of lakhs of people and crashed the economy of many countries.
Wrapping Up
September 2 in history will be remembered as the day when a ruthless war got to end. It was the war that experienced the devastation of an atomic blast. It’s the day when Japan’s unconditional surrender in 1945 was accepted by other countries like the USSR, US, China, Britain, and five others. The script of Japan’s surrender was written on August 9 when Japan’s council obeyed the Japanese Emperor Hirohito’s acceptance of peace. On August 14, the emperor ordered the Japanese government to prepare the text for formal surrender. Finally, on September 2 1945, after 9 am (according to Tokyo time), Mamoru Shigemitsu, the Japanese Foreign Minister, signed the surrender papers on behalf of the government of Japan. The whole surrender ceremony took 20 minutes, and the most blooded and horrifying war came to an end.
