Japan was probably prepared to surrender on conditional terms-but the United States would accept only unconditional surrender. And what conditions would those be? The militarists were insisting on no occupation of the Japan mainland, and were unwilling to lose Japan's overseas territories (acquired by conquest). Also, any war criminals would have to be tried by Japanese, not Allied courts. These conditions would never have been accepted by the Allies. Simply allowing the Emperor to remain on the throne would not have been sufficient to induce the military to surrender. Finally, would Japan have been better off if the Soviet Union had …
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Bobster1985
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I don't have much patience with people making judgments sixty years after the fact. People were dying every day in 1945, and the war had to be brought to a swift end. All this talk about the Japanese government being on the brink of surrender is simply not supported by the evidence. They were putting out peace feelers for a negotiated settlement - on terms favorable to them. The military was not willing to surrender prior to the A-bombings, and even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki the cabinet was divided. It took the direct intervention of the Emperor to finally persuade them, …
Posted to Hiroshima: The Falsehood Fallout
- Joined August 9, 2005
- Last Visit April 14, 2006
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