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Aftermath Japanese officials have signed the act of unconditional surrender, finally bringing to an end six years of world war. In the presence of 50 Allied generals and other officials, the Japanese envoys boarded the American battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay to sign the surrender document. Within half-an-hour of the signing, a convoy of 42 US ships entered Tokyo Bay and landed 13,000 American troops. The Supreme Commander of the Allied powers, US General Douglas MacArthur, briefly addressed the dignitaries on the deck of the battleship: "It is my earnest hope and, indeed, the hope of all mankind, that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past; a world founded upon faith and understanding, a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfilment of his most cherished wish, for freedom, tolerance and justice." He also referred to the nuclear bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, saying they had "revised the traditional concept of war". The world had had its last chance, he said, and if it did not devise some greater and more equitable system Armageddon would be at its door. Under the terms of the ceasefire, Japan has agreed to end all hostilities, release all prisoners of war, and comply with the terms of the Potsdam declaration, which confines its sovereignty to the four main islands which make up Japan. The Emperor Hirohito was allowed to remain as a symbolic head of state, but stripped of his “God” status. Emperor Hirohito offered to take the blame for war atrocities committed by the Japanese at a meeting with General MacArthur later in September 1945 but his offer was rejected. He was never tried for war crimes, instead the Americans used him to help push through some democratic reforms that transformed Japanese politics. Warfare has shaped the history of the 20th century. The borders of modern Europe were established at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. The political legacy of the two World Wars saw the decline of the old Empires and the emergence of the United States and Soviet Union. The human legacy of the two World wars is incalculable, involving immense human suffering and millions of casualties. Refugees, starvation, physical destruction and the killing of innocent civilians were features of both conflicts. Rather than repeat the mistake made after the first world war (punishing the defeated Germany to such a level its felt driven to war again), the US instigated an economic aid plan (Marshall Plan) to help rebuild much of war shattered Europe. This generosity did not extend to Japan, and no grand reconstruction plan was created, therefore Japans economic recovery was slow. However the with the outbreak of the Korean war in 1950, Japan quickly became a vital United Nations staging post, and during the four years of the Korean War the Japanese economy saw a substantially larger infusion of cash than any of the Marshall Plan nations had. Japan regained its independence in 1952 - although the US retained the island of Okinawa until 1972 and still has big military bases there. Many brave people died fighting for what they believed right and had God blessing, on both sides of the conflict. We hope in this age of press and internet freedoms it will not be as easy for the governments of the day to created the unquestioning war fervor that gave the world the stomach for the second world war. "The whole problem with the world is that fools
and fanatics are always
so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." Some Further Reading Links |
