The war didn't just "stop."
Most of us have seen that grainy, black-and-white photo of the sailor kissing the nurse in Times Square. It’s the visual shorthand for VJ Day 1945. It suggests a clean, instantaneous break between the horrors of total war and the bliss of peace. But history is rarely that tidy. Honestly, if you look at the actual timeline of mid-August to September 1945, it was a chaotic, terrifying, and deeply uncertain mess of diplomacy and high-stakes gambling.
August 15, 1945, was the day Emperor Hirohito went on the radio—the first time his subjects had ever heard his voice—to announce the "Jewel Voice Broadcast." He didn't even use the word "surrender." He said the war situation had developed "not necessarily to Japan's advantage." That’s the ultimate understatement.
The Two Dates of VJ Day 1945
Here is where it gets a little confusing for people. Is VJ Day (Victory over Japan Day) on August 15 or September 2?
Well, both.
In the UK and Australia, August 15 is the big one because that’s when the fighting officially ceased. In the United States, Harry Truman declared September 2 as the formal VJ Day 1945 because that was the day the surrender documents were actually signed aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
🔗 Read more: No Kings Day 2025: What Most People Get Wrong
Think about the logistical nightmare of 1945. You couldn't just send a push notification to every soldier in the jungle. There were Japanese holdouts—men like Hiroo Onoda—who didn't stop fighting for decades because they thought the news of the surrender was Allied propaganda. The transition from global conflict to peace was a slow-motion gears-grinding event, not a light switch.
Why the Atomic Bombs Weren't the Only Factor
We’re taught a very specific narrative: Hiroshima happened on August 6, Nagasaki on August 9, and then Japan quit.
It’s a neat story. It’s also incomplete.
Historians like Tsuyoshi Hasegawa have spent years arguing that the Soviet Union’s entry into the war was just as—if not more—shocking to the Japanese high command. On August 9, the same day as the Nagasaki bombing, the Red Army launched a massive invasion of Manchuria. Suddenly, the Japanese Empire was facing a two-front nightmare. They realized they couldn't use the Soviets as a neutral mediator to negotiate a conditional peace.
The "Big Six" (the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War) was deadlocked. Half wanted to keep fighting to protect the Emperor’s status and avoid a full military occupation. It took the Emperor himself stepping into the political fray—an unprecedented move—to break the tie. He basically told them they had to "bear the unbearable."
💡 You might also like: NIES: What Most People Get Wrong About the National Institute for Environmental Studies
The USS Missouri and the Theater of Surrender
When the formal surrender finally happened on September 2, 1945, it wasn't just a meeting. It was a carefully choreographed piece of political theater. General Douglas MacArthur wanted it to be massive. He wanted the Japanese delegation to feel the full weight of Allied power.
There were over 250 Allied warships anchored in Tokyo Bay. The ceremony took place on the deck of the Missouri, which was flying the flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol on the day of the Pearl Harbor attack.
MacArthur's speech that day was surprisingly poetic. He didn't just gloat. He talked about a "better world" and the "dignity of man." Then, as if on cue, hundreds of American carrier planes and B-29 bombers roared over the ship. It was a terrifyingly loud reminder of why the ceremony was happening in the first place.
The Celebration and the Dark Undercurrents
While people were dancing in the streets of London and New York, the reality on the ground in Asia was grim.
In China, the end of the war with Japan just meant the resumption of a brutal civil war between Nationalists and Communists. In Southeast Asia, former colonial powers like the French and the Dutch were trying to reclaim territories that had already tasted independence during the Japanese occupation.
📖 Related: Middle East Ceasefire: What Everyone Is Actually Getting Wrong
VJ Day 1945 marked the end of one war, but it planted the seeds for the Cold War and dozens of independence movements. It wasn't the "end of history." It was a pivot.
What You Should Do with This History
If you're looking to actually understand the weight of this anniversary beyond just looking at old photos, there are a few things you can do to get a real sense of the scale.
Read the actual transcripts.
Go look up the "Jewel Voice Broadcast." It is fascinatingly vague. Then read MacArthur’s surrender speech. Comparing the two tells you everything you need to know about the cultural gap between the two sides at that moment.
Look at the maps of the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.
It’s often ignored in Western textbooks, but the scale of that military operation in the final days of the war was staggering. It helps explain why the Japanese leadership felt they had no moves left on the chessboard.
Research the local impact.
Most towns in the US and UK have archives or local museums with photos of their specific VJ Day celebrations. Seeing how your own community reacted makes the global event feel personal.
Visit the sites if you can.
If you ever find yourself in Pearl Harbor, the USS Missouri is still there, docked near the USS Arizona Memorial. Standing on the spot where the documents were signed is a heavy experience. You can see the dent in the side of the ship from a Kamikaze strike that happened months before the surrender—a literal scar of the war preserved in the metal.
The legacy of VJ Day 1945 isn't just about a victory. It's about the complicated, messy, and often painful birth of the modern world. We live in the shadow of the decisions made in those few weeks in August and September. Understanding that it wasn't a "simple" ending is the first step toward actually respecting the history.