On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito of Japan broadcast to all of Japan announcing his unconditional surrender. Previously, the United States had dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing nearly 200,000 deaths, and in our view, Japan's choice of unconditional surrender was under the deterrence of these two atomic bombs, but in fact, the reason why Emperor Hirohito of Japan chose unconditional surrender was a "leaflet".
What kind of "leaflet" did it make the recalcitrant Japan choose to surrender? This has to be said from both the Japanese military and the people.
The Japanese military is the main battle.
In 1945, the Second World War entered the late stage, with the mainland launching a national war of resistance and the Soviet Union declaring war on Japan, Japan's defeat was already doomed. However, the Japanese military still has illusions, and the main war faction led by Prime Minister Hideki Tojo has put forward the policy of "one hundred million jade fragments", believing that Japan's troops are still very sufficient, even if there is no way to continue to invade the outside world, it can deploy all its troops on the Japanese mainland, even if it does not surrender, the anti-fascist alliance army cannot capture Japan.
In addition to the fact that the Japanese top brass had no intention of surrendering, some soldiers in the Japanese army also planned to fight to the death. At that time, when the Japanese Emperor announced his surrender, some soldiers even thought that it was a ruse of the anti-fascist alliance, refused to surrender, held their positions, and were finally completely wiped out, so that it can be seen that within the Japanese army, it is basically the main battle.
On the eve of the Japanese Emperor's decision to surrender, there was also a Mutiny of the Japanese Army, in which a large number of troops stationed in Japan were unwilling to accept surrender and prepared to break into the Emperor's Palace in the middle of the night, coercing Emperor Hirohito to refuse to surrender, abolish the cabinet, and establish a military dictatorship. Fortunately, Emperor Hirohito was moved out of the house early and put an end to the mutiny. The Japanese army had reached the point of madness in order to continue the war, and this excess had threatened the emperor's rule.
The Japanese people who remain sober.
Japan's biggest feature in World War II was to brainwash the people, and After launching the war, Japan vigorously beautified the war at home, and even proposed the ridiculous "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" plan, but this was very useful to the Japanese people. The Japanese people blindly worship and believe in their own emperor and unconditionally support this war, and it is ridiculous to call this war of foreign aggression a "holy war."
At that time, when the Japanese people learned that their emperor had announced their surrender, they actually wept bitterly, and the people who had been brainwashed by Japan for a long time had become fanatics who supported the war, but this was only part of them, and there was another part of the Japanese people who remained sober.
These sober-minded Japanese people have a unified character, they have all been hurt by this war, some of them have lost their children, some of them have lost their husbands, some of them have lost their parents, they believe that the continuation of this war will only allow more innocent people to die, so they support Japan's surrender.
On August 6 and 9, 1945, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, Japan did not really make up its mind to surrender, and Emperor Hirohito sent his own diplomats to negotiate with Britain and the United States. The Japanese Emperor meant that if they accepted the Potsdam Proclamation and chose an unconditional title, Britain and the United States would guarantee the emperor's life and power in Japan. After consultation with many countries, Japan rejected this condition. The atomic bomb damage to the Japanese mainland was great enough, and it is shameful that this Emperor Hirohito was still bent on his own interests.
The United States places leaflets on Japan.
After that, the United States sent planes to start dropping leaflets over Japanese cities, which read roughly that the Japanese emperor refused to surrender, and for his own power, regardless of the people's lives and deaths, he only wanted to continue to rule Japan.
This leaflet was dropped into various cities in Japan, and when the Japanese people saw this leaflet, there was an uproar, and Hiroshima and Nagasaki had just been bombed by atomic bombs, which made them more and more distrustful of the emperor, and the anti-war sentiment of the people was high.
As mentioned above, the main war faction of the Japanese military also mutinied to coerce the emperor and overthrow the cabinet, coupled with the anti-war sentiment of the people, Emperor Hirohito's dominance became weaker and weaker. In order to avoid the complete loss of power, Emperor Hirohito immediately drew up an edict of surrender and announced his unconditional surrender to the all-Japan broadcast the next day.
It can be said that the Japanese emperor chose to surrender not because of the two atomic bombs of the United States, but because of this "leaflet" dropped by the United States, which intensified the contradiction between the people and the emperor, the people no longer trusted their rulers, anti-war sentiment was high, coupled with the threat of the Japanese military's excessive actions, the Japanese emperor finally chose to surrender. However, such an emperor who did not care about the lives of the people and only cared about his own interests, even if he did not choose to surrender, the end that awaited him would only fail.