It was revealed that Japan did not surrender unconditionally, but conditionally, and who surrendered without conditions
Historically, most surrenders have been premised on some kind of condition. "Unconditional surrender", on the other hand, is a relatively new concept, first formally proposed by the United States in World War II. Before that, people didn't have much exposure to the term. On August 15, 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender to the world, but in reality, it may not have been entirely unconditional. The reason why little Japan will accept unconditional surrender may be because they have already secretly reached certain agreements with the United States. These agreements may not be well known, but little Japan and the United States may have agreed on certain conditions behind their backs.
Today I would like to talk to you about the conditional surrender and the conditions that may exist behind the "unconditional surrender" of little Japan. First, let's explain what unconditional surrender means. The so-called unconditional surrender refers to the acceptance of all the conditions set by the victorious country without any prior knowledge of any plan of disposition, without any room for negotiation. In World War II, Germany was almost the only country that could be called an unconditional surrender. Because before the surrender of Germany, the Allies did not disclose any post-war treatment plan to Germany, nor did they give Germany any promises or guarantees.
I believe that Japan's so-called "unconditional surrender" did not actually happen, and this is one of the reasons why Japan still visits the Yasukuni Shrine to this day. I have two points to support this.
First, let's look at the Potsdam Announcement. The proclamation clearly stated that Japan was required to order the surrender of the Japanese army, but it did not require the surrender of the Japanese state or the Japanese army itself. The proclamation also promised a series of conditions: that there would be no change in Japan's state system, and that Japan's post-war state system would be decided by all Japanese citizens; There will be no long-term garrison, and the garrison will be given a period of time; Japanese troops and overseas Japanese nationals were to be repatriated to Japan; After the war, the Japanese army will be demobilized instead of being imprisoned in prisoner of war camps, and will continue to enjoy the treatment that retired soldiers should have; At the same time, Japan will restore energy ** and food **, and guarantee the territorial integrity of Japan, not allowing the division of the four Japanese islands, recognizing the four islands as inalienable territory.
To sum up, considering the content of the Potsdam Proclamation, can we deny that Japan surrendered "unconditionally"?
Before Japan formally surrendered, they put forward three conditions to the United States. First, they demanded that the emperor system be preserved after the surrender. The Emperor of Japan knew very well that Japan had committed many crimes in World War II, and that once he surrendered, his guilt would be inescapable. Therefore, the preservation of the emperor system was the only hope for him to save his life. He even came up with a high-sounding reason, claiming that if he was executed, the entire Japanese nation would go insane and could lead to more deaths. However, is this really the case? In fact, when the Japanese people were subjected to the atomic bombing, their resentment was directed not at the United States, but at the Emperor of Japan and **, because they believed that if ** had surrendered earlier, they would not have been attacked by the atomic bomb. From this point of view, the emperor of Japan is nothing more than a man who is greedy for life and afraid of death.
The second condition is that after Japan's surrender, no other country will be allowed to station troops on Japanese soil except for the US military. The third condition is that the treatment of captives must not be arbitrary. At the time of the surrender of Japan, they kept some soldiers in other countries in order to minimize losses. Although they claim that the soldiers will be dealt with upon their return, the reality is that the soldiers have been largely unpunished. Even some Class A war criminals who have committed war crimes have escaped the International Tribunal. Although these three conditions are not explicitly stated, it is well known that the United States has acquiesced. Seeing this, everyone should understand that the "unconditional surrender" has actually been secretly agreed. In most cases, this means that the victor will give preferential treatment to the top of the country at the expense of the middle and lower ranks. Of course, these agreements certainly cannot be made public. This reminds me of Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao's sketch, "The Protagonist and the Supporting Role", which has a classic line: "Who surrenders without conditions." ”
In a surrender scenario, in addition to unconditional surrender, there is an even more terrible situation, and that is that the other party refuses to accept your surrender. In today's international community, unconditional surrender usually means that there is no threat to your life, but if the other side does not accept your surrender, it means that they have the right and legitimacy to decide whether you live or die. A typical example is the "August Storm", carried out by the Soviet Red Army. On August 14, the day before Japan announced its unconditional surrender to the whole world, Japan had surrendered to the Soviet Red Army, but the Soviet Red Army did not think that the Japanese Kwantung Army had surrendered at all. The General Staff of the Red Army of the USSR published the following opinion in Pravda on August 16:
The statement of the Emperor of Japan on August 14 on surrender was only a general declaration of unconditional surrender and had not yet issued an order to stop fighting, therefore, the Japanese armed forces continued to resist and had not yet truly surrendered;
Only when the Emperor of Japan issued an order to stop fighting and lay down **, and this order was indeed carried out, did the Japanese armed forces truly surrender;
Based on the above, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Far East will continue to attack Japan. On August 16, the day after Japan's surrender, the Soviet Red Army liberated the Mudanjiang River. By the third day, the Soviet Red Army was still on the offensive, the Japanese 5th Army was completely annihilated, and the 3rd Army and other units of the 1st Front suffered heavy losses. Until the evening of August 18, the command of the Japanese Kwantung Army contacted the Soviet Red Army and asked the front-line soldiers to voluntarily surrender and be captured. At this time, the Soviet Red Army stopped its offensive against the Japanese army. However, captivity, while preserving their lives, does not mean that they will be able to return home, because the bitter land of Siberia awaits them.
Before telling the interesting facts about Japan's unconditional surrender, let's talk about conditional surrender. In this field, the French can be said to be at the pinnacle, because "no one knows how to surrender better than the French". Looking back at the time of the Franco-Prussian War, there is a classic case of conditional surrender for the French defenders in Belfort. The conditions of their surrender were: to allow the defenders to leave the city with dignity, to carry all ** and luggage, to go to rendezvous with their own army, and to cross the enemy lines without any disturbance.
In addition, there is also an interesting trivia about conditional and unconditional diplomatic relations. In 1960, France successfully developed the atomic bomb, which made it famous internationally. In addition, France was dissatisfied with the leftist attitude of the United States in Europe, so France took the lead in establishing diplomatic relations with New China. France wanted to establish diplomatic relations without conditions, but we did not agree. The condition we put forward was that France would have to break off diplomatic relations with Taiwan, or choose one or the other. Eventually, France compromised.
These cases illustrate the complexities of conditional surrender and the establishment of diplomatic relations, as well as the trade-offs and negotiations involved.