Five Things You’d Want to Know in Explaining Japan’s Surrender in 1945

Sheldon GARON, Princeton University/2021-2022 Paris Institute for Advanced Study Research Fellow

To most Americans, it is obvious that the two atomic bombs ended World War II.   Yet at least four other developments helped persuade Japanese leaders to surrender.  In addition to the Soviet Union’s entry into the war, the Allied blockade starved the Japanese home front of food and fuel; the expanding U.S. firebombing campaign devastated 64 cities; and Japanese elites closely followed the recent defeat of Nazi Germany, which had fought to the finish, and few wished to continue the war to the point of national annihilation.  Understanding the Japanese side of the story advances us well beyond the existing American-centered analyses.