Unconditional Surrender Quotes
Shortly thereafter the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. To this day there is historical debate over whether Japan received enough notice to afford them the opportunity to surrender or whether their cultural imperatives would allow surrender under almost any circumstances. This Japanese rejection of the surrender demand, seems so reckless in retrospect. Even after the second atomic bomb drop, most senior officers of Japan did not want to surrender. Even after the Emperor decided on surrender, there was an unsuccessful coup attempt of officers totally opposed to surrender.
At Potsdam the Allies had called for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese and reiterated what had been allied policy that the surrender must be unconditional. Even after the Hiroshima bombing, the Japanese military cabinet voted not to surrender. After the second atomic bomb, the Emperor decided to surrender, but even then there was an attempted military coup to prevent that. Fortunately, the coup failed. We did not have any more atomic bombs immediately ready and it would have taken months to construct more.
The religion of Islam for an individual starts with that “surrender” which is literally what Islam means. The person surrenders to God by giving control of his life to God’s Prophet and his commandments. However, most Islamic leaders would not accept Hoffer’s motivation for most cases.
Lincoln took the advice of avoiding pledges or promises. However, he did actively campaign.
When Confederate General Simon Bolivar Buckner suggested a negotiated surrender of Fort Donaldson, which protected Nashville, TN, his West Point classmate and friend wired back:
At that point the Japanese were losing the war on every front. It is not clear whether Hirohito would actually have done such and not tried to escape in the end, however he certainly expected his subjects, military and civilian to do so. That expectation and the behavior of the Japanese troops fighting to the death on many islands was a powerful factor in leading Truman, Marshall and other key American leaders to use the Atomic Bomb. See Marshall: {641063}
He was not supported and a peace was negotiated with the British. De la Rey became a Senator and later was shot while trying to organize another rebellion.
Warning of the problem of multiple contacts and negotiations with the enemy in the Vietnam War:
This appears to be the origin of the “bear the unbearable” phrase which appeared in many other documents around the Japanese surrender. See {604741}
