The Allied powers issued the Potsdam Declaration demanding Japan’s surrender on July 26, 1945.
The declaration was released during the Potsdam Conference near Berlin. The United States, the United Kingdom, and China called on Japan to surrender unconditionally and warned that refusal would bring “prompt and utter destruction.” The Soviet Union did not sign the initial declaration because it was still neutral toward Japan at that moment, although it later joined the war.
Japan’s government initially rejected the declaration with the term mokusatsu, often translated as ignoring or withholding comment. After the atomic bombings and the Soviet declaration of war, Japan accepted the terms. Hirohito’s August 15 broadcast announced that decision to the public.
The declaration also outlined broad postwar conditions, including disarmament, occupation of designated Japanese territory, and the elimination of militarism. It did not itself constitute the formal surrender document. That legal instrument was signed aboard USS Missouri on September 2.