On July 26, 1945, the Allied leadership officially released the Potsdam Declaration to imperial Japan, calling for their unconditional surrender to bring an end to World War II. This letter was drafted during the Potdam Conference, a meeting between major Allied leaders to end the war as bloodlessly as possible. With Germany defeated, Japan remained the only major threat and they wished to defeat them as soon as possible, threatening them with utter destruction if they refused.
Letter Calling for Surrender
On July 26, 1945, to finally defeat the Axis Powers and bring an end to WWII, President Harry S. Truman, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of China met at Potsdam, Germany to discuss the faith of Japan and try to force them to surrender and bring this war to a bloodless end.
The top of the agenda was what to do with Imperial Japan who remained stubbornly resistant despite many revelations in the war. There was a fear that the Allies would have to launch an invasion of Japan’s home islands, an endeavor that would be long, difficult, and costly for both sides.
To avoid further bloodshed, the Allied leaders in Potsdam released a joint statement, demanding Japan surrender to the Allies, and created a list of conditions for Japan to meet to end the war. They ended this with a warning, saying that refusal to meet these demands would result in “prompt and utter destruction”.
Despite this demand, Japan stubbornly refused these terms. Seeing no other choice, the United States decided to unleash its deadliest weapon on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Atomic bomb. The attack was so shocking that Japan reversed its decision and promptly laid down its weapons.
“We-the President of the United States, the President of the National Government of the Republic of China, and the Prime Minister of Great Britain, representing the hundreds of millions of our countrymen, have conferred and agree that Japan shall be given an opportunity to end this war. The prodigious land, sea, and air forces of the United States, the British Empire, and China, many times reinforced by their armies and air fleets from the West, are poised to strike the final blows upon Japan. This military power is sustained and inspired by the determination of all Allied Nations to prosecute the war against Japan until she ceases to resist.
The time has come for Japan to decide whether she will continue to be controlled by those self-willed militaristic advisers whose unintelligent calculations have brought the Empire of Japan to the threshold of annihilation, or whether she will follow the path of reason.
Following are our terms. We will not deviate from them. There are no alternatives. We shall brook no delay.
-Excerpt from the Potsdamn Declaration
- There must be eliminated for all time the authority and influence of those who have deceived and misled the people of Japan into embarking on world conquest…
- We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces…
- The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction…”
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