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Japan participated in World War II from 1939 to 1945 as a member of the Axis.World War II and the Second Sino-Japanese War encapsulate a significant period in the history of the Empire of Japan, marked by significant military campaigns and geopolitical maneuvers across the Asia-Pacific region.
The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, ending the war.By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) was incapable of conducting major operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent.
Japan also held a number of French POWs, when in March 1945 it took over French Indochina. [12]: 169, 200 [21] Japan also held a number of Soviet prisoners of war. 87 Soviet POWs were released during a prisoner exchange following the 1939 border clashes Khalkhin Gol (at that point, however, USSR was not a WWII participant). [12]: 40
In a 4 1/2-minute radio speech on Aug. 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's surrender in World War Two, telling his subjects he had resolved to pave the way for peace by "enduring the ...
Compounding the effects of the air attacks, Japan's rice crop of 1945 failed. The resulting shortage of rice caused widespread malnutrition, and mass starvation would have occurred had the war continued. [300] In financial terms, the Allied air campaign and attacks on merchant ships destroyed between one third and a quarter of Japan's wealth. [301]
Schoolchildren being evacuated in August, 1944. About 8.5 million Japanese civilians were displaced from their homes between 1943 and 1945 as a result of air raids on Japan by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during the Pacific War.
On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively.The bombings killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict.
The aftermath of World War II saw the rise of two superpowers, the Soviet Union (USSR) and the United States (US). The aftermath of World War II was also defined by the rising threat of nuclear warfare, the creation and implementation of the United Nations as an intergovernmental organization, and the decolonization of Asia, Oceania, South America and Africa by European and East Asian powers ...