First of all, we need to differentiate between surrender and unconditional surrender.
Even before the Soviet entry of the war, the situation was hopeless for the Japanese military leadership. Their best case scenario was to somehow avoid unconditional surrender, they would have gladly taken any deal to end the war that avoided that.
So a already devastating situation went from bad to worse when the Soviets entered the war. That was a absolute game changer in terms of strategy and made a conditional surrender pretty unlikely. So clearly were was no point in prolonging the war anymore.
The atomic bombs didn't really enter into the equation.
> If you want any further proof, just look at who the Japanese actually surrendered to. There is nothing in their culture (then or now) which would cause them to surrender to anyone besides their actual victor.
There are obviously good reasons why the leadership preferred to surrender to the US. The Soviets probably would have pushed for bigger societal changes, requiring something like the de-nazification campaign in Germany.
Even before the Soviet entry of the war, the situation was hopeless for the Japanese military leadership. Their best case scenario was to somehow avoid unconditional surrender, they would have gladly taken any deal to end the war that avoided that.
So a already devastating situation went from bad to worse when the Soviets entered the war. That was a absolute game changer in terms of strategy and made a conditional surrender pretty unlikely. So clearly were was no point in prolonging the war anymore.
The atomic bombs didn't really enter into the equation.
> If you want any further proof, just look at who the Japanese actually surrendered to. There is nothing in their culture (then or now) which would cause them to surrender to anyone besides their actual victor.
There are obviously good reasons why the leadership preferred to surrender to the US. The Soviets probably would have pushed for bigger societal changes, requiring something like the de-nazification campaign in Germany.