Soviet-Japanese War of 1945

The entry of the USSR into the war with Japan was agreed upon at the Yalta Conference and confirmed at the Potsdam Conference. The circumstances surrounding the declaration of war, as well as the 1941 Neutrality Pact with Japan, are of particular interest. Unique declassified materials from World War II in Archival documents allow us to reconstruct the sequence and logic of events. To make it easier for readers, Presidential Library has included the most important documents in a collection dedicated to the Soviet-Japanese war. These documents cover the conclusion of the Tripartite Pact between Germany, Italy, and Japan in late 1940, negotiations between Japan and the USSR in early 1941, and the signing of the Neutrality Pact. Both sides preserved their neutrality during World War II: the USSR fought against Germany alongside Great Britain and the United States, but did not assist them in the Far East during the war with Japan. Japan did not aid Germany in its war against the USSR as well. In July 1940, the USSR established the Far Eastern Front and, in September 1941, the Trans-Baikal Front. In April 1945, the Soviet Union abandoned the Neutrality Pact, and preparations for the transfer of troops to the Far East began. At the Potsdam Conference in 1945, the United States and Britain issued an ultimatum to Japan, with the USSR joining in. Despite unsuccessful negotiations, USSR declared war on Japan on August 8. Two days later, the United States detonated the first atomic bomb in Hiroshima, and the Red Army launched an offensive against Japanese-occupied Manchuria on August 9. Within a month, the Kwantung Army had been defeated. This victory was due to the experience of Soviet troops in defeating Nazi Germany and the skill of renowned commanders such as Marshals A. M. Vasilevsky, R. Ya. Malinovsky, and K. A. Meretskov. The surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945 marked the end of World War II.

The collection includes new declassified documents from 1945, provided by the General Staff of the Russian Federation, the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation, the Archive of Foreign Policy, and the Central Military District of Russia. It also includes military maps, reports, and other materials from the Presidential Library's collection, provided by institutions such as the Russian Academy of Sciences, N. G. Kuznetsov Naval Academy, Far Eastern State Library, N. K. Krupskaya Moscow Regional Library, Russian Academy of Arts, and Central Naval Library. These materials allow us to understand the events of the war in their full diversity and tragedy.