What ended WWII?

Answer 1

Germany surrendered first, but WW11 didn't end until the Japanese surrendered after the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Answer 2

I stumbled across this when i clicked a wrong button in my browser.

The European war "came to an end" when Soviet forces captured Berlin. Eisenhower would actually have been secretly pleased that the Americans lost the race for Berlin, given the cost of Soviet casualties in taking the city.

With regards to why the Germans were defeated? Well the real reason is they lost on the Eastern front. Soviet forces broke the backbone of the German army. No doubt it was important that the British and Americans invaded Italy, France and western Germany, but in reality it was the Soviets who defeated the Germans. The eastern front was where the real struggle was fought out. 90% of the German army was destroyed on the eastern front. The British and American "aid" to the Russians only speeded up the German defeat.

The Germans themselves were partially to blame. Although they initiated the war, they never fully mobilised their economy to the demands of war. At the height of their power, the Germans had economic resources to out produce the USA (1942) but in fact were out produced themselves by the Americans 4:1. To steal a quote from my lecturer, the Germans understood fighting, but not war. Once the German invasion of the Soviet Union had failed in 1941, they were in reality, in a war of attrition in which the odds were stacked against them.

Many people argue, that the Germans should have entered the Ukraine as liberators, and while i dont doubt this, it actually would not have benefited them as much as you think. The problem facing Germany in 1941 and 1942 was not man power shortages, but in fact equipment shortages. Such that in 1941, 40% of the German equipment was French. In fact 90% of the German army was horse drawn.

Yes, American and British involvement did tie down German forces in the west, but even after the Normandy invasions in 1944, 75% of the German army was positioned on the eastern Front.

In the pacific war, there can be no question, the Americans defeated Japan. British involvement in this war, was merely a sideshow (yes i am British). The simple fact was, the whole premise which the japanese attacked P-Harbor was flawed. The Japanese hoped to destroy the American Pacific fleet, which was almost obsolete anyway. The effects of the attack were virtually minimal anyway, with only 3 Battleships being lost. Secondly, the japanese hoped the Americans would not have the stomach for a fight - wrong. Thirdly, the japanese knew that American industrial might would tell in time, but thought they could defeated the American navy in a grand battle - in which the planning was flawed and would take 2 long to go into detail.

If Japan were to somehow win the war in the Pacific, land conquests were meaningless if she lost the war at sea. From 1942-44 she made a total of 9 aircraft carriers. In the same time period, and with more attention focussed in europe, the USA made 90 carriers.

The state of Japans economy near the end of the war, was such that American bombers announced their arrival , with prior dropping of leaflets explaining what targets they intended to destroy on that particular day. The bombers did not even need fighter cover, because their simply was no Japanese air force left. Still the japanese fought on. In fact on 28th July, the Americans warned them, they would be utterly destroyed if they did not surrender. The Japanese would not accept an unconditonal surrender. So the Americans dropped the 2 atom bombs on Hiroshima (6th august) and Nagasaki (9th august). The bombs killed out right roughly 150,000 people. Actually only a little more than the Bombing of Tokyo early in the war with conventional bombs. The atom bombs whether you want to believe it or not, saved lives. yes the Americans no doubt wanted to show to the Soviets the immense power they now controlled. But, Japan did not surrender, even if they contemplated it, they never surrendered. After Midway, any Japanese hopes of winning the war were lost. Had the Americans been forced to invade the home islands of Japan they would have suffered casualties, far larger than they suffered on Iwa Jima or Okinawa. More over civilians would have died in the initial bombings prior to the invasion, and japan would have lost more than 150,000 dead, if not in military alone. Japanese reports suggested that if the war continued into 1946, 7,000,000 civilians would have died of starvation. This was the reality of their defeat, and it should not have taken them 2 atom bombs to realise it.

Answer 3

The War ended with the surrender of the Japanese after the US dropped atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Answer 4

The German Instrument of Surrender by Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, and by Admiral Karl Doenitz on May 7th, 1945.

The Japanese Instrument of Surrender signed by Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu aboard the U.S.S. Missouri on Sept. 2nd 1945.

These two Instruments of Surrender ended World War II.

Answer 5

The end of WW2 was achieved by the dropping of two A-Bombs by the Americans on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.

Answer 6

Because the allies and the russians were defeating germany.

Hitler committed suicide, then germans surrendered in italy:

Jan 17, 1945 - Soviet troops capture Warsaw.

Jan 26, 1945 - Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz.

Feb 4-11 - Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin meet at Yalta.

Feb 13/14 - Dresden is destroyed by a firestorm after Allied bombing raids.

March 6, 1945 - Last German offensive of the war begins to defend oil fields in Hungary.

March 7, 1945 - Allies take Cologne and establish a bridge across the Rhine at Remagen.

March 30, 1945 - Soviet troops capture Danzig.

In April - Allies discover stolen Nazi art and wealth hidden in salt mines.

April 1, 1945 - U.S. troops encircle Germans in the Ruhr; Allied offensive in North Italy.

April 12, 1945 - Allies liberate Buchenwald and Belsen concentration camps;
President Roosevelt dies. Truman becomes President.

April 16, 1945 - Soviet troops begin their final attack on Berlin; Americans enter Nuremberg.

April 18, 1945 - German forces in the Ruhr surrender.

April 21, 1945 - Soviets reach Berlin.

April 28, 1945 - Mussolini is captured and hanged by Italian partisans; Allies take Venice.

April 29, 1945 - U.S. 7th Army liberates Dachau.

April 30, 1945 - Adolf Hitler commits suicide.

May 2, 1945 - German troops in Italy surrender.

May 7, 1945 - Unconditional surrender of all German forces to Allies.

May 8, 1945 - V-E (Victory in Europe) Day.

May 9, 1945 - Hermann Göring is captured by members of the U.S. 7th Army.

May 23, 1945 - SS Reichsführer Himmler commits suicide; German High Command and Provisional Government imprisoned.

June 5, 1945 - Allies divide up Germany and Berlin and take over the government.

June 26, 1945 - United Nations Charter is signed in San Francisco.

July 1, 1945 - U.S., British, and French troops move into Berlin.

July 16, 1945 - First U.S. atomic bomb test; Potsdam Conference begins.

July 26, 1945 - Atlee succeeds Churchill as British Prime Minister.

Aug 6, 1945 - First atomic bomb dropped, on Hiroshima, Japan.

Aug 8, 1945 - Soviets declares war on Japan and invade Manchuria.

Aug 9, 1945 - Second atomic bomb dropped, on Nagasaki, Japan.

Aug 14, 1945 - Japanese agree to unconditional surrender.

Sept 2, 1945 - Japanese sign the surrender agreement; V-J (Victory over Japan) Day.

Oct 24, 1945 - United Nations is officially born.

Nov 20, 1945 - Nuremberg war crimes trials begin.

1946
Oct 16 - Hermann Göring commits suicide two hours before his scheduled execution.

Answer 7

German surrender after the allies pushed their way through France and into germany. Followed by the Japanese surrender after the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Answer 8

Germany had surrended to Russia, UK and USA and the US has dropped a nuclear bomb on the Japanese killing 1000s of civilians

48 million died in WW2 and guess what, nothing changed. Hilter was simply replaced by Stalin. Hitler kiled 6 million, Stalin went on to kill 10 million

A waste of life all round really

Answer 9

J.S. has it correct.
Unconditional Surrender by both the Germans and the Japanese as he set out for you.
The BIG hang-up for the bad guys was the "unconditional" part. Too bad. They signed.

Answer 10

Dropping of the Atom Bomb led to the end of WW11.