The Potsdam Declaration on Japan's surrender terms was issued in Potsdam.
The declaration was released on July 26, 1945, during the Potsdam Conference near Berlin. The United States, the United Kingdom, and China called on Japan to surrender its armed forces and warned that refusal would bring “prompt and utter destruction.”
Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Chiang Kai-shek were the leaders associated with issuing it. The Soviet Union did not initially sign the declaration because it was still neutral toward Japan at that moment; the Soviet Union entered the war against Japan in August.
Japan's government ultimately accepted the declaration in August 1945, with the emperor's broadcast referring to the Allied “joint declaration.” The instrument signed aboard USS Missouri later formalized that acceptance. Potsdam is sometimes confused with Yalta, another wartime conference, but the surrender ultimatum was issued at Potsdam.