Tammie has taught elementary school for 14 yrs. and holds an MA in Instructional Technology
You are fast asleep when suddenly you're awoken by a loud shout. At first, you feel a sense of fear, but you realize that the streets outside your apartment near Times Square are alive with action. You hear car horns, shouts of jubilee, and spontaneous celebration. What has happened? Then your mother rushes in, her eyes red with joyous tears and tells you: World War II is over! Japan has followed in the footsteps of Germany and has surrendered!
On August 14, 1945, celebrations like this one erupted all over America as news of Japan's surrender spread. However, this wasn't the only victory celebration of WWII. The first one had come over three months earlier, on May 8, 1945, with the surrender of Germany in Europe.
To truly understand how all this came about, we need to step back in time and visit the two fronts, or areas of conflict, of WWII.
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The European front of WWII was where the Allied powers fought against Germany and Italy, members of the Axis powers. Remember, the Allied powers consisted mainly of forces from the United States, Great Britain, China, and the Soviet Union. The Soviets were originally fighting alongside Germany against the Allies, until Germany made the devastating mistake of invading their own partner, the Soviets. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why the Soviet Union switched sides!
So what events led to the war ending on the European front? Let's take a look.
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Seven days later, on May 8, the German army surrendered unconditionally and people all over Europe celebrated in victory! But WWII still raged on another front.
The Pacific front was an area consisting of the Pacific Ocean and many of its islands, where the Allies fought against Japan. Here are the major events that led to an Allied victory on this front.
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Both atomic bombs caused immense devastation, including the deaths of over 120,000 people. It wasn't long after this, on August 14, 1945, that Japan agreed to surrender to the Allied forces. This marked the official end of the Second World War.
World War II was fought on two fronts, the European front and the Pacific front. In the European front, Allied victory came with the unconditional surrendered of Germany on May 8, 1945, following the Battle of Berlin and the death of Hitler. The Allied victory on the Pacific front came after the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan, followed by Japan agreeing to surrender on August 14, 1945. It was the final defeat of the Axis powers.
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