The Soviet Union’s invasion of Japanese-controlled Manchuria in 1945 is largely a forgotten campaign in the west. In our history books, the defeat of Japan at the end of World War II is attributed to the United States, its close allies, and the use of the atomic bomb. What we overlook is that the Soviet’s declaration of war on August 8th, 1945 played an equal, if not larger role in the Japanese surrender than the atomic bomb, and has had long lasting effects on the region and the world.
At the Yalta Conference in February of 1945 Joseph Stalin made a deal with Allied leaders to enter the war in Asia within three months of the end of the war in Europe. Historian Geoffrey Roberts (2006) points out in his book, “Stalin’s Wars,” that the Soviet leader hoped to undo Russian territorial losses from the Treaty of Portsmouth, a treaty that ended the Russo-Japanese War of 1904. Upon the defeat of the Japanese, the Soviet Union would regain South Sakhalin, a large island in the north Pacific, and would be leased control of Port Arthur and Darien, two ports along the Liaotung Peninsula. Additionally, the Soviets would maintain control of railway lines connecting the ports to Soviet territory. In accordance with this agreement, the Soviet Union launched an invasion of Japanese-controlled Manchuria on August 9, 1945 – the same day Allies dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
The invasion, as outlined in Tsuyoshi Hasegawa’s (2005) “Racing the Enemy,” consisted of 1.6 million Soviet troops and was launched as a three-pronged attack from the east, west, and north into Manchuria. Japan’s Kwantung Army, once their most prestigious military unit, was in charge of the defense with fewer than 1 million troopers. Within one month, the Soviet military had pushed as far south as Peking (modern day Beijing) and into the Korean peninsula up to the 38th parallel. The Soviet thrust was halted by the landing of American troops in southern Korea six days after Japan’s formal surrender.
The Soviet military campaign lasted from August 9th to September 8th. During that time the Soviets lost about 12,000 troops while Japan lost 20-60 thousand troops. Many more Japanese soldiers were taken prisoner and sent to Siberian work camps (Roberts, 2006). The Soviet Union also dismantled anything of industrial value and had it shipped back to Soviet territory; anything that could not be taken apart and shipped was destroyed.
In July of 1945, before the launch of the Soviet offensive in Manchuria, the Allied leaders issued the Potsdam Declaration calling for Japan’s unconditional surrender. The Japanese leadership ignored this declaration because they believed the Soviet Union could help negotiate peace with Western nations and help preserve Japan’s territorial gains. However, Japan did not know of the Soviet/Allied agreement and were not prepared for the Soviet declaration of war. According to historian Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, upon hearing of the invasion, Japanese Prime Minister Kantarō Suzuki realized Japan had a final chance to end the war. At the time of the Soviet invasion, Japan only had enough resources to continue fighting for two more months. Two alternatives were presented to Suzuki; declare war on the Soviet Union or accept terms of the Potsdam Declaration. Despite the belief by some in Japan’s government that the war was over, a deadlock remained between Japanese military and political leaders about their direction forward.
The Russian invasion shattered Japanese illusions of a negotiated peace and forced Japan’s Emperor Hirohito to intervene and break the deadlock by compelling the Japanese leadership to accept terms of the Potsdam Declaration (Hasegawa, 2005). The invasion, coupled with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, drove home the point that Japan’s situation was untenable and surrender was their best option.
The Soviet-Japanese War of 1945 had long lasting consequences for both the Asian region and the world. In Peter Worthing’s (2007), “A Military History of Modern China,” we learn that Soviet troops turned over captured Japanese weapons from that war to the Chinese communists. With Soviet support, they would later use Manchuria as a base of operations during the Chinese Civil War. The Communists won that war and China is a communist nation to this day. The losers in the civil war, the Nationalists, fled to Taiwan and remained Western allies, which still remains a point of contention between China and the United States.
Worthing also discusses how the Soviet occupation of the northern Korean peninsula led to the formation of North Korea as a communist state. The southern peninsula remained allied with the West. The Korean War of 1950 is a direct result of that division. Communist China aided North Korea with supplies and by sending 260,000 troops to fight in the war. This prevented a swift victory for United Nations forces and ensured the continued division of the Korean peninsula for decades to come.
The Soviet invasion of Manchuria in 1945 was both a blessing and a curse for Western nations. The invasion put tremendous pressure on Japan to reevaluate their situation in the war and ultimately to surrender. If not for this, the United States and its allies may have had to invade Japan at great cost. At the same time, the invasion led to an ideological division of Asia that persists to this day – a division that is the root of a number of conflicts between the East and West.
Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi. Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005. Print.
Roberts, Geoffrey. Stalin’s Wars: From World Wars to Cold War, 1939-1953. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006. Print.
Worthing, Peter. A Military History of Modern China: From the Manchu Conquest to Tian’anmen Square. Westport: Praeger Security International, 2007. Print.
