The summer of '45: stories and voices from VE Day to VJ Day

Description

Introduction: Stories that shaped the 20th century -- 1. Uneasy excesses: VE Day in Britain -- 2. VE Day across the world -- 3. The future of a ruined Germany -- 4. The pendulum swings: elections in Britain -- 5. The Potsdam Conference and the new shape of Europe -- 6. From Belsen to Vichy: justice and revenge -- 7. Demob happy: the pleasures and pains of civilian life in Britain -- 8. Little Boy and Fat Man: two bombs that changed the world -- 9. VJ Day: the end of the war : ticker-tape, kisses and queues -- 10. Epilogue: Beyond VJ Day.;"Beginning with the signing of the German surrender to the Western Allies in Reims on 7th May, The Summer of '45 is a 'people's history' which gather voices from all levels of society and from all corners of the globe to explore four months that would dictate the order of the world for decades to come. Quoting from generals, world statesmen, infantrymen, prisoners of war, journalists, civilians and neutral onlookers, this book presents the memories of the men and women who danced alongside Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret outside Buckingham Palace on the first night of peace; the reactions of the vanquished and those faced with rebuilding a shattered Europe; the often overlooked story of the 'forgotten army' still battling against the Japanese in the East; the election of Clement Attlee's reforming Labour government; the beginnings of what would become the Iron Curtain; and testimony from the first victims of nuclear warfare in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Combining archive sources and original interviews with living witnesses, The Summer of '45 reveals the lingering trauma of the war and the new challenges brought by peacetime ."--Book jacket.