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That's a pretty bizarre reading of history. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan because Stalin had promised Roosevelt and Churchill at the 1943 Tehran confer
by stdbrouw 5y ago
That's a pretty bizarre reading of history. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan because Stalin had promised Roosevelt and Churchill at the 1943 Tehran conference, so this was not some sort of surprising or unwelcome development.
- vkou 5y agoThe surprising development was just how quickly the Manchurian front collapsed against the Soviet Union. The Kwantung Army, and Japan's ability to continue the war, even in a defensive capability completely fell apart in 7 days. Japan was utterly reliant on supplies and raw materials from its Chinese and Korean puppet states. Between that, and the amphibious attacks against Korea, the Kurils, and Sakhalin, the US was on a pretty short clock to end the war before communism had a chance to move in, and settle down. Stalin respected the pre-agreed partition of Europe, but neither Postdam, nor Tehran said very much about who would be in control of what part of the Japanese empire after the war... And in practice, this meant that when the war ended, possession, in the form of 'whose army is parked where' was nine tenths of the law. The United States was not at all interested in seeing an East/West Japan partition. North/South Korea was bad enough.
- lr1970 5y agoIt was not surprising for sure, but Truman who succeeded Roosevelt was not keen seeing Russians meddling in Japan when it was already on a brink of defeat and surrender. Nukes can cool off Stalin's appetite quite effectively.