Journal of Strategy and Politics, Issue 2 (Autumn 2015)Seventy years ago this summer, Japan surrendered after B 29s dropped two atomic bombs and the USSR declared war on Japan. These events, and the strategies and policies that produced them, have been hotly debated ever since. The end of the Pacific War did not merely end World War II, but determined the power structure in Asia for subsequent decades. It is imperative to understand 1945, whose legacies affect the peace and stability of the region to this