It wasn’t the Soviets declaring war. Japan was already going to surrender and had drafted full capitulation articles that they planned to present to the Allies, but the Potsdam Declaration in July was vague and not signed by the Soviet Union, which caused the radical Japanese military council members to think that it implied that the Soviets might maintain neutrality or even join their side, so they held out hope.
The Soviet declaration crushed that hope, but the Japanese were already beaten by that point. They just held out a few days later for a Hail Mary.
I suggest you read the article. Of course, Japan knew for quite some time that they had lost. They knew they would eventually have to surrender but they hoped to drag it out for a while to get better terms so that it wouldn’t have to be unconditional.
The Soviet entry into the war invalidated all remaining hopes of holding out for a better deal and it became imperative to capitulate as soon as possible.
The point of the article isn’t to say that the Soviets won that entire war, it’s to debunk the popular myth that the atomic bombs were what pushed the Japanese over the edge to capitulate when they did. The facts simply do not support that interpretation of history.
I did. And I already knew everything in it. Everyone misunderstood my point. Check my other comment.
Nowhere do I say that the atom bombs were the reason why Japan surrendered, or that the Soviets had nothing to do with the surrender. I was making a clarifying point that it was desperate political maneuvering and a misunderstanding by a limited few hardliners that kept Japan fighting for two weeks, not the immediate Soviet invasion cracking their will.
The article talks about this. It says Japan hoped that Soviet Union being neutral would help negotiate terms of conditional surrender with the allies. But Soviet Union then declaring war on Japan evaporated this possibility.
True, but I was moreso pointing out that the only people who really believed this were the holdout radicals, and two of their votes were preventing the military from issuing a capitulation order. Even Hirohito was exhausted by that point. Everyone wanted to surrender, but the tiny amount of holdout votes prevented the war from ending a few weeks earlier.
It wasn’t the Soviets declaring war. Japan was already going to surrender and had drafted full capitulation articles that they planned to present to the Allies, but the Potsdam Declaration in July was vague and not signed by the Soviet Union, which caused the radical Japanese military council members to think that it implied that the Soviets might maintain neutrality or even join their side, so they held out hope.
The Soviet declaration crushed that hope, but the Japanese were already beaten by that point. They just held out a few days later for a Hail Mary.
I suggest you read the article. Of course, Japan knew for quite some time that they had lost. They knew they would eventually have to surrender but they hoped to drag it out for a while to get better terms so that it wouldn’t have to be unconditional.
The Soviet entry into the war invalidated all remaining hopes of holding out for a better deal and it became imperative to capitulate as soon as possible.
The point of the article isn’t to say that the Soviets won that entire war, it’s to debunk the popular myth that the atomic bombs were what pushed the Japanese over the edge to capitulate when they did. The facts simply do not support that interpretation of history.
I did. And I already knew everything in it. Everyone misunderstood my point. Check my other comment.
Nowhere do I say that the atom bombs were the reason why Japan surrendered, or that the Soviets had nothing to do with the surrender. I was making a clarifying point that it was desperate political maneuvering and a misunderstanding by a limited few hardliners that kept Japan fighting for two weeks, not the immediate Soviet invasion cracking their will.
The article talks about this. It says Japan hoped that Soviet Union being neutral would help negotiate terms of conditional surrender with the allies. But Soviet Union then declaring war on Japan evaporated this possibility.
True, but I was moreso pointing out that the only people who really believed this were the holdout radicals, and two of their votes were preventing the military from issuing a capitulation order. Even Hirohito was exhausted by that point. Everyone wanted to surrender, but the tiny amount of holdout votes prevented the war from ending a few weeks earlier.