When did World war II end?
World War II ended in 1945 World War 2 ended with the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers. VE Day and street parties | V-J Day Germany surrenders On 8 May 1945, the Allies accepted Germany’s surrender, about a week after Adolf Hitler had committed suicide. VE Day – Victory in Europe Day VE Day – Victory in Europe celebrates the end of the Second World War on 8 May 1945. 8 May 1945 – Winston Churchill announced VE Day – Victory in Europe. This day marks the end of WW2 in Europe. Street parties were held all over Britain to celebrate the end of the war Street party 1945 Hailsham Road street party, Tooting, London But …….. Even though the war was officialy at an end in the Far East the war raged on, claiming more lives. Until …… Japan surrenders Japan, did not surrender at the same time as Germany. It was able to hold out for another few months. Atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9 respectively.
The question is deceptively simple. If you are British, American, German, Japanese, French or Italian, then you undoubtedly would answer, without hesitation, in 1945. But if you happen to be Estonian, Latvian or Lithuanian, then you would answer as Mart Laar, twice a prime minister of Estonia does: “It ended only when the last Russian soldier left my country.” That puts the end of World War II as 1994. In a series of programmes based on places that have shaped our world, I have been exploring with government leaders and politicians like Mart Laar, historians, economists, diplomats and others who took part, some of the momentous decisions agreed at the end of World War II which have shaped our world ever since. ‘Big Three’ From 4-11 February, 1945 the Big Three – Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt – met at Yalta, a resort in the Crimea. They put the seal on what became the division of Europe for almost 50 years. Yalta put the Iron in the Iron Curtain – the Cold in the Cold War. What happen
