72 years (and 13 hours) ago...

[Bengalzona]

(08-06-2017, 03:59 PM)jason Wrote: Yes but wasn't the hang up about the emporor? The US was demanding unconditional surrender, while the Japanese wanted Hirohito left alone. The Soviets declared war on Japan, Nagasaki was bombed, and the US eventually let the emporor stay. No? It's been many years since that course in college, but I remember being struck with the idea that the US didn't want Japan's surrender to coincide with Soviet entry into the Pacific theater.

We spent most of the war trying to get the Soviets to open some kind of front against Japan. We eventually even sent them transport ships to transport their troops to the northern islands they did invade. But there was a long time between when the fighting in Europe ended (May 1945) and when the Soviets invaded the northern islands and Mongolia/Manchuria/Korea. In that time, they were consolidating power in Eastern Europe and rebuilding governments to their liking (i.e. the Iron Curtain). This, combined with their assistance to Mao Tse Tung, made us ultimately distrust their motives and seek to find our own answers to the ultimate Japan question.