World War II ends

14th August 1945

Japan agrees to surrender to the Allies. The decision, which brought an end to the most costly war in human history, came after a momentous week that saw two U.S. atomic bombs dropped on Japan and a declaration of war by the Soviets. In the evening, 1,000 Japanese army officers attacked the imperial palace with the intention of seizing a recorded message of Emperor Hirohito announcing the surrender; the imperial guards repulsed them. The next day, Hirohito's speech, which asked his people to endure the unendurable, was played on national radio, and hundreds of millions of people around the world celebrated V-J Day - Victory over Japan.