Sukarno and Hatta proclaim Indonesian independence

Delegates from 50 states signed the UN Charter, creating an institution that declared sovereign equality and self-determination as principles. Yet most colonized peoples were not represented as...

The United States, Britain, and China issued the Potsdam Declaration demanding Japan’s surrender and setting out terms for postwar occupation and disarmament. The Soviet Union joined the declaration...

A U.S. aircraft dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing tens of thousands immediately and many more through burns and radiation. Survivors, hibakusha, lived with long-term illness and stigma. The...

A second U.S. atomic bomb devastated Nagasaki. The attack killed civilians and added another population of hibakusha facing radiation illness, bereavement, and reconstruction. Japan’s surrender...

Japan announced its surrender, ending its formal colonial rule in Korea. Koreans organized committees and prepared for self-government, but U.S. and Soviet forces soon occupied separate zones and...

At a mass gathering in Hanoi, Hồ Chí Minh declared the Democratic Republic of Vietnam independent, invoking anticolonial struggle and universal rights. The declaration followed the August Revolution...

Japanese representatives signed the Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri, formally ending the war. The signing established Allied occupation authority over Japan and ordered Japanese forces...

The UN Charter came into force, establishing an international body grounded in sovereign equality while hundreds of millions remained under colonial rule. The organization’s early structure gave major...

The International Military Tribunal began prosecuting leading Nazi officials for crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The trials helped establish legal language for mass...

Ratings at HMIS Talwar in Bombay began a hunger strike over food, racist abuse, and service conditions; the action quickly spread through the Royal Indian Navy. Workers and students joined...