In 1945, a year destined to be recorded in history, its profound impact on the world and China, ending the fascist nightmare and reshuffling the fate of a great power.
At the surrender ceremony, He Yingqin (left) accepted the surrender letter of Okamura Yasuji (right).
What does 1945 mean to the world? This is the last year of World War II, the year when the fascist nightmare was torn apart. Nazi Germany finally fell apart under the precise attack of the Soviet Red Army and the Allies. On May 9, the Soviet Union met successfully in Berlin, and the European battlefield declared victory. You can imagine that this is an unforgettable day in European history. Countless living lives were finally rescued from massacre, oppression and artillery fire.
Just three months later, another loud bang shocked the world. The atomic bomb explosion in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August opened the cruel prelude to the era of nuclear terror. The United States announced the innovation of global military technology to the world in this way, and made mankind truly understand the devastating power of nuclear weapons. All of this quietly laid the groundwork for the formation of the Cold War situation, but for China, it marked a more important turning point: Japan's unconditional surrender! The victory that day and night finally came before us.
If 1945 was the turning point in the world, then for China, it was the bloodiest dawn before dawn. From the September 18th Incident in 1931, in 2014, more than 5,200 days and nights, this ancient Eastern country was ravaged by invasion and ravages. At the last moment of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Chinese military and civilians exchanged more than 8 million blood for a declaration of victory. On August 15, the Japanese Emperor issued the final battle edict. China's long-standing land finally began to remove the iron hoofs of the enemy from this moment, but the price of justice of the war is not light. The common hatred of the whole nation also means the interweaving of torn and hardship. What kind of thorns do China need to cross if it seeks a new life?
1In 945, Chongqing became the focus. On the one hand, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party quickly launched a dominant battle after Japan surrendered. The competition between the negotiating table and the battlefield was approaching the peak almost at the same time. Chongqing negotiations were struck with the extreme endurance of the various internal factions of China in detail, but it can be imagined that even if this year's glory was full of history, the footprints of blood sprinkled on the road ahead never stopped.
Behind the victory, how to defend the territory is a huge test that is pressed on the hearts of the Chinese people. The ownership of the Northeast was under the political black hole left by the Japanese occupation, the Soviet Red Army, and the Japanese puppet Manchukuo, and became a very easy-to-ignite powder keg. After 1945, China not only had the victory of foreign wars, but also urgently needed to make choices in the direction of regime, order, and future. The fuse burning at the end eventually caused the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in the next three years, and all of this can be traced back to the cracks in 1945.
But this year, it was not a fragmented drift with the flow, and a certain "rebirth" atmosphere was slowly sprouting. After World War II, all countries were eager to find a solution that could truly end conflicts and coordinate conflicts. This is the United Nations. Its establishment has to some extent carried the common expectations of major countries around the world for collective security after World War II. On October 24, 1945, the Charter of the United Nations officially came into effect, and the reconstruction of the world was launched in an institutionalized way, and the system of the five permanent members of the United Nations was also laid.
What about China? As one of the countries with the most heavy losses in World War II and an important force on the victory, China is not without its own voice. From the Asia-Pacific to the international community, although the Republic of China was still a stormy political situation at that time, becoming one of the founding countries of the United Nations also means that the Chinese nation has returned to the world stage with a sovereign state attitude and is trying to talk to the international community in a new way.
But don't forget that war has never really left, especially for a country like China that has been weak for a long time and has just escaped from aggression. Although the anti-fascist chapter ended in 1945, it also brought more unknown post-war trials. The world where the balance of great powers was broken is clearly visible.
Why look at China again. The war is over, but the wound has not healed yet. The liberated areas and the Kuomintang-controlled areas are clearly distinguished. Local armed forces are intertwined with the crisis of belonging. At the same time, tens of millions of people who have been destroyed by the Japanese army can rebuild a society on the ruins that can carry them to survive. What is placed before everyone is not choice, but survival.
No matter what, 1945 is a critical year that cannot be bypassed. While it completely tore the old world apart, it also quietly outlines the eyebrows of a new world. The demise of fascism made the winners feel relieved, but greater shadows such as the explosion of the atomic bomb and the split of the Cold War also came at the same time. China wrote about victory in blood, but it still endured the pursuit and reconstruction of the modernization process that was cut off for decades. Although the war was extinguished, the contest between the old and new orders had just begun. China not only had to find a path of independence for itself, but also provided an Eastern answer to the change of the future world's destiny.
In 1945, the world turned from the blade and a tranquil trial restarted. From Tokyo to Berlin, from Chongqing to Hiroshima, human devastations and hopes entangled with each other, leaving deep cracks in time. There is no need to say much. This is a crucial year in modern history.
