The Soviet occupation of Manchuria took place after the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

invaded An invasion is a military offensive of combatants of one geopolitical entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory controlled by another similar entity, often involving acts of aggression. Generally, invasions have objectives of co ...

the

Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

's puppet state of

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...

in August 1945; the occupation would continue until Soviet forces withdrew in May 1946.

History

On 11 February 1945, the Big Three (

Roosevelt Roosevelt most often refers to two American presidents: * Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919, president 1901–1909), 26th president of the United States * Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945, president 1933–death), 32nd president of the United State ...

, Churchill, and

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

) signed the

Yalta Agreement The Yalta Conference (), held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the postwar reorganization of Germany and Europe. The three sta ...

. Yalta obligated the Soviet Union to enter the war against Japan within three months after

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

's surrender, in exchange for territorial concessions and Soviet influence in post-war Manchuria. Stalin ordered the invasion of Manchukuo on 9 August 1945, according to conditions of

Tehran Conference The Tehran Conference (codenamed Eureka) was a strategy meeting of the Allies of World War II, held between Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from 28 November to 1 December 1943. It was the first of the Allied World Wa ...

and inaugurated in one of the largest campaigns in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The Red Army steamrolled into Manchuria, brushing aside scattered Japanese resistance, and occupied

Mengjiang Mengjiang, also known as Mengkiang, officially the Mengjiang United Autonomous Government, was an autonomous zone in Inner Mongolia, formed in 1939 as a puppet state of the Empire of Japan, then from 1940 being under the nominal sovereignty ...

(

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

), southern Sakhalin, and the northern half of the

Korean peninsula Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically divided at or near the 38th parallel between North Korea (Dem ...

as well. The rapid defeat of the

Kwantung Army The Kwantung Army (Japanese language, Japanese: 関東軍, ''Kantō-gun'') was a Armies of the Imperial Japanese Army, general army of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1919 to 1945. The Kwantung Army was formed in 1906 as a security force for th ...

in Manchuria, along with the recent

atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, during World War II. The aerial bombings killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of whom were civil ...

by the Americans, contributed significantly to the

Japanese surrender The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, ending the war. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) was incapable of condu ...

on the 15th. Robert Butow, ''Japan's Decision to Surrender'', Stanford University Press, 1954 . Richard B. Frank, ''Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire'', Penguin, 2001 .

Robert James Maddox The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...

, ''Hiroshima in History: The Myths of Revisionism'', University of Missouri Press, 2007 .Tsuyoshi Hasegawa
, ''Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan'', Belknap Press, 2006 . The invasion, along with the surrender, prompted the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

to jockey for

position Position often refers to: * Position (geometry), the spatial location (rather than orientation) of an entity * Position, a job or occupation Position may also refer to: Games and recreation * Position (poker), location relative to the dealer * ...

vis-a-vis the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

(CCP) in mainland China. The Kuomintang signed the

Treaty of Friendship and Alliance The Treaty of Senock Dawkra, also known as the Treaty Friendship and Alliance, was signed on 16 March 1740, between King Edward I of Mosquitia and the British. Based on the terms of the treaty, King Edward relinquished his kingdom to King George ...

with the Soviet Union on 14 August 1945, which affirmed Chinese sovereignty over Manchuria in exchange for Chinese recognition of the Soviet-aligned

Mongolian People's Republic The Mongolian People's Republic (MPR) was a socialist state that existed from 1924 to 1992, located in the historical region of Outer Mongolia. Its independence was officially recognized by the Nationalist government of Republic of China (1912� ...

. The combined impact of the Soviet invasion and the atomic bombings left Japan little room for maneuver. On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's unconditional surrender to the Japanese people over radio, marking the end of World War II. In September 1945, the CCP dispatched soldiers to Soviet-occupied Manchuria. The CCP obtained Japanese arms with Soviet help. The Soviet stance regarding the CCP and the Chinese Nationalists oscillated during this period, and in November 1945 the Soviet Union requested that the CCP withdraw from major cities in Manchuria.

Chiang Ching-kuo Chiang Ching-kuo (, 27 April 1910 – 13 January 1988) was a politician of the Republic of China. The eldest and only biological son of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, he held numerous posts in the government of the Republic of China and ended ...

met with Stalin in January 1946 on the issue, and Stalin contended that the Soviet Army had shed blood in defeating the Japanese in Manchuria and therefore Japanese enterprises which had served the Kwantung army should be treated as trophies for the

. Between September and November 1945, the Soviet Union removed machinery from Japanese industrial plants in Manchuria and took them for use in the Soviet Union. The Soviets began withdrawing from Manchuria within three weeks of Japan's surrender, although they would delay the process several times. The resumption of the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

in early 1946 prompted the Red Army to finish the withdrawal, but not before secretly turning much of Manchuria over to the CCP in March in violation of the Agreement.

References

Note

Citations

{{Soviet occupation

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

Aftermath of World War II in the Soviet Union Soviet military occupations China–Soviet Union relations Aftermath of World War II in China

History

See also

References

Note

Citations