As we all know, on August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced his surrender to all the Japanese people by means of a radio recording. For a long time, there have always been five words about Japan's surrender before the surrender of Japan, which is not added arbitrarily, it is exquisite, and it can even be said that it is very learned.
The so-called "unconditional surrender", or Unconditional Surrender in English, means that the defeated side of the two sides at the end of the battle allows the victorious side to take full control of its politics and society, and to carry out any handling of its affairs. In World War II, Japan was ferocious and the Allies were deeply impressed, and even when the US military approached the invasion of the Japanese mainland, Japan also shouted the "100 million national jade fragments" plan and vowed to fight with the US military to the death.
Therefore, Japan's announcement of "unconditional surrender" is actually "conditional", and this condition is to retain the emperor. At the turn of the spring and summer of 1944, the "absolute defense circle" advocated by Japan was destroyed by the Allies, and the Tojo Hideki cabinet collapsed. After succeeding Oiso Kunisaki formed the cabinet, he resigned after only 8 months.
In April 1945, Kantaro Suzuki became prime minister, and soon after the formation of the cabinet came the shocking news, "Hitler committed suicide in the bunker, Germany surrendered." "All the Japanese top brass know that the defeat of the war is decided, although the monarchists are reluctant to accept this. On July 26, The United States, the United States, and the United Kingdom signed the Potsdam Proclamation, urging Japan to surrender.
At 10 a.m. the next day, the Japanese Cabinet met to discuss whether to accept the Potsdam Proclamation. Under pressure from military personnel led by Secretary of War Anan, the meeting ended without success. In a meeting with reporters, Kantaro Suzuki said publicly: "I think the trilateral announcement reaffirms the spirit of the Cairo conference. The government did not see any value in it and therefore 'killed'. We will move in the direction of continuing this war. ”
What happened next is known to everyone, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet Union sent troops, and Japan surrendered. In fact, as early as the surrender of Germany, the Japanese top brass had already begun to surrender, and the first consideration was how to retain the imperial system, or how Emperor Hirohito considered how to escape war crimes.
At this time, the United States had a different idea, and when the Soviet army entered the war, Japan, through the neutral Switzerland, sent a note to the United States and the United States and the Soviet Union, indicating that it was ready to accept the Potsdam Proclamation, but with one condition: the above-mentioned proclamation did not contain any demands that would undermine the rights of His Majesty the Emperor as supreme ruler.
After receiving the Japanese note, the United States responded quickly, and Truman replied with a draft reply. One of the sentences is very ambiguous: "From the moment of surrender, the power of the Japanese Emperor and the Japanese government to rule the country must obey the orders of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in order to take the steps he deems appropriate to implement the terms of surrender." ”
This was a disguised recognition of the Japanese imperial system and provided a basis for Emperor Hirohito to escape trial in the future. Because many classified documents have not been declassified, it is difficult to guess what exactly was agreed between Truman and Hirohito, but one thing is certain, after receiving the American note, Hirohito began to prepare for the surrender of the Edict of the End of the War.
After the Tokyo trial, Weber, president of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, said in an interview with reporters: "The decision to save the emperor from trial is undoubtedly based on the most favorable considerations for the allies." To sum up, Japan did not "surrender unconditionally," but "conditionally," and the biggest condition was to retain the emperor.