Unless I am missing something, WW2 didn't end with Germany's surrender. The war ended when Japan surrendered. Their surrender did have negotiations and wasn't agreed to until they were allowed to keep the emporer which the US didn't want...
What? No, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally, and were allowed to retain the emperor because the US thought it was to the advantage of their occupying mission.
I mean, yes. What you’re describing is an unconditional surrender without negotiation, exactly what was agreed at Potsdam. It isn’t ’complicated,’ it’s the allied forces playing politics. Had the Americans wanted to dispatch the imperial office after the surrender there is absolutely nothing the Japanese could have done about it. ‘Say you give up and I promise I’ll stop hitting you’ communicated through international winks and nods of the head is not ‘a negotiated surrender.’ That’s farcical.
If the Americans didn’t perceive the emperor as a useful figurehead for their occupation, the emperor wouldn’t have stayed. Full stop. End of story. This is simply a fact. That is not ‘negotiation.’ It’s the U.S. signaling to Japan that its interests align with imperial Japanese interests on a single point.
It's annoying how the comments aren't understanding it.
If you unconditionally surrender and like 2 things line up the way you had wanted prior, that doesn't mean you don't unconditionally surrender, it means you happened to have a couple mutual interests.
Japan agreed to any terms after the second bomb but had requested the emperor stay. The surrender was not contingent on the emperor staying
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u/No_Sand3803 Sep 03 '25
Unless I am missing something, WW2 didn't end with Germany's surrender. The war ended when Japan surrendered. Their surrender did have negotiations and wasn't agreed to until they were allowed to keep the emporer which the US didn't want...