So emperor Hirohito died and lived to his 80s or 90s, why wasn’t he instantly killed or sent to jail after the war ended. Did he get punished at all?
In: 1701
afaik, leaving the Emperor alone was basically the only condition Japan (edit: tried to? Maybe they didn’t insist on it in the end but got it anyway?) insist on in an otherwise unconditional surrender.
Indeed, I think the *implied threat* of execution was one of the things prolonging the war. The USA government wasn’t planning on executing the Emperor, but public opinion in the USA thought he should be executed, so the USA didn’t *admit* to not wanting to execute him, and so the Japanese government were worried they would!
Also, I think (but don’t quote me on this) it was the Emperor who (normally not voting) broke the tie in his war council on whether to surrender or not. Had the Emperor not intervened, the war would have continued due to internal gridlock and inertia of the Japanese government. That doesn’t really make the Emperor a huge hero or anything, but it counts for something.
Latest Answers