Year in review
1945
11 recaps from this year - events, occasions, and cultural moments.
19451945 San Francisco Conference
Delegates from 50 nations convened to draft the UN Charter, establishing the post-war international order and creating the institutional framework for Cold War geopolitics.
1945V-E Day (German surrender)
Germany signed away twice. Stalin demanded the encore.
1945Japan Surrenders in World War II
The bomb that ended everything, and the surrender that followed.
1945Atomic Bomb Dropped on Nagasaki
The second atomic weapon deployed against Japan, killing 70,000 instantly and cementing nuclear weapons as instruments of mass warfare.
1945Detonation of First Atomic Bomb
The Trinity test detonates the first nuclear weapon in New Mexico, initiating the atomic age and Cold War.
1945Formation of the United Nations
San Francisco Conference established the UN as successor to League of Nations, reshaping post-war international governance.
1945Potsdam Conference
Allied leaders redrew Polish borders, shifting the nation westward and ceding eastern territories to the Soviet Union, reshaping Central European geography.
1945Atomic bombing of Hiroshima
America's atomic gamble vaporizes a city and kills 140,000.
1945Indonesia Declares Independence
Sukarno and Hatta declared Indonesian independence following Japan's surrender, triggering a four-year guerrilla war against the Dutch and establishing the template for postcolonial independence struggles.
1945Japanese Surrender in WWII
Japan's formal capitulation aboard the USS Missouri ended World War II, reshaping global power dynamics and ushering in the nuclear age.
1945Nuremberg Trials Begin
Nuremberg Trials Begin