The celebration of Victory Over Japan Day on the 15th of August in 1945 marked the end of World War II and the end of a six-year war that had devastated many countries and changed the face of the world. The war, which started in 1939, had destroyed countries, changed the map of the world and put a stamp on the world’s history. It was a war that affected human beings in a way that it became the ultimate test of their endurance. In the last moment of the war, the battle for power in the Pacific reached a climax.
By 1943, the Allies, headed by the United States, had gradually worn down the Japanese position in the Pacific. Using a process that could be called war to exhaust an enemy in a series of encounters, they seized control of strategic islands one at a time, each victory bringing the Allies closer to Japan. These battles were extremely violent, including the brutal battle for Okinawa in mid-1945. Okinawa was the bloodiest battle in the Pacific because over 100,000 soldiers and civilians died in the fighting. Nonetheless, the Allies suffered increasing casualties, and the Japanese remained a potent military force, and Japan did not surrender.
To paralyse Japan into surrender, the United States of America, Britain and China issued the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, 1945. This ultimatum demanded the unconditional surrender of Japan, and if they did not, there would be “prompt and utter destruction.” Having confidence in their situation to be still able to fight, the Japanese leaders refused the warning, and this led to one of the most significant events in modern history.
Intending to end the war as soon as possible and to avoid more casualties, the United States resorted to using atomic bombs. On the sixth of August in the year 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and this was followed by the release of nuclear energy to the world. The explosion killed tens of thousands of people in Hiroshima, and many more died from radiation in the following days. Nevertheless, when the Japanese were shown the devastating effects of the first nuclear attack, they still did not surrender. Three days later, on August 9, the second atomic bomb was dropped in Nagasaki and caused another massive death toll. By the end of 1945, the number of people killed as a result of both attacks was about 214,000 people.
As Japan struggled with the effects of the attacks, one more country got involved in the conflict. On August 8, one day before the second atomic bomb was dropped in Nagasaki, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Manchuria. The Soviet offensive was a kill, and it demoralised Japan such that it had no option but to accept the fact that it had lost the war.
Emperor Hirohito of Japan could not but address the Japanese people on the 15th of August 1945 and announce that Japan had ceased to be at war. Celebration was everywhere. The war engulfed countries and economies, and millions of people were finally over. The people emerged from their houses and congregated in the streets, hugging each other, waving flags, and weeping and rejoicing for the victory.
Although the surrender was made in August, the actual closure of the Second World War took place on the 2nd of September in 1945 when Japan signed the surrender documents on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. The world heaved a sigh of relief after years of struggle, but the war’s end was the commencement of a new world system. In the years that followed, there were shifts in global politics, reconstruction of economic systems, and redefinition of international relations. The world after the war was a wounded place, but it was also a place that had learned a very painful lesson – a lesson about the need to avoid another war and the horrors that another war would bring.
It is more than a celebration of peace; Victory Over Japan Day is a testimony to the courage of nations and the continuing quest for diplomacy. The war may have ended, but its effects are still felt to this date, and this has been done to guarantee that such a catastrophe would not retake place.
Norin Khatun