Witness Douglas MacArthur offering surrender terms to imperial Japan aboard the battleship USS Missouri
On the deck of the battleship USS Missouri, Gen. Douglas MacArthur inviting representatives of Japan to sign the terms of surrender that would formally end World War II. From The Second World War: Allied Victory (1963), a documentary by Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
-
Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail Auckland Museum; Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.Learn about the 1919 Treaty of Versailles and its aftereffects.
-
Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Learn about the Potsdam Conference, attended by Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, and Joseph Stalin, to decide the future of Germany and Europe after World War II.
-
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.On December 16, 1773, American patriots dumped 342 chests of black tea off British boats into Boston Harbor.
-
National Archives, Washington, D.C.B-25 bombers lined up on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet during the Doolittle Raid, April 18, 1942.
-
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Hear Encyclopædia Britannica editor Michael Ray talk about the hierarchy of the German chain of command in western Europe as it stood on June 6, 1944, using an infographic.
-
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov, having negotiated the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact of August 1939, being greeted by German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and other officials in Berlin. From “The Second World War: Prelude to Conflict” (1963), a documentary by Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation.
-
Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, MainzJoseph Goebbels calling for total war before a crowd in Berlin, 1943.
News •
World War II 'Death Railway' station found in Thailand
• Nov. 11, 2026, 6:03 PM ET (Deutsche Welle)
More than 80 years after WWII, victims of Nazi Germany's war in Poland are still looking for reparations
• Nov. 10, 2026, 12:54 PM ET (Deutsche Welle)
‘De Gaulle’ Wins Top Prize at American French Film Festival as 30th Anniversary Edition Draws 18,000 Attendees
• Nov. 9, 2026, 3:45 PM ET (Variety)
King leads solemn Remembrance Sunday service at Cenotaph
• Nov. 8, 2026, 1:20 PM ET (BBC)
World War Two hero, 101, reflects on survival, loss and a new life
• Nov. 8, 2026, 4:23 AM ET (BBC)
Transcript
[Music in]
NARRATOR: At nine o'clock on Sunday, September 2nd, 1945, the surrender was taken by General MacArthur on the decks of the battleship "Missouri" in Tokyo Bay.
[Music out]
MACARTHUR: The issues involving divergent ideals and ideologies have been determined on the battlefields of the world--and hence, are not for our discussion or debate. I now invite the representatives of the Emperor of Japan, and the Japanese Government, and the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, to sign the instrument of surrender at the places indicated.
NARRATOR: At nine o'clock on Sunday, September 2nd, 1945, the surrender was taken by General MacArthur on the decks of the battleship "Missouri" in Tokyo Bay.
[Music out]
MACARTHUR: The issues involving divergent ideals and ideologies have been determined on the battlefields of the world--and hence, are not for our discussion or debate. I now invite the representatives of the Emperor of Japan, and the Japanese Government, and the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, to sign the instrument of surrender at the places indicated.
Last Modification: