1945 The Second World War in Photographs

The final year of the war saw Allied victory in Europe and in the Pacific theatre, and the beginning of new tensions as the Cold War began. At the beginning of the year, and throughout the next few months, the Allied and Soviet forces liberated began to discover and liberate the concentration camps. The true horrors of the Nazi regime began to be revealed. In February, Dresden was almost completely destroyed by Allied air raids, during which at least 25,000 people were killed. Shortly before this, the Allied leaders had met at the Yalta Conference to discuss the German terms of surrender and the occupation of German territories. From then on, it was a race to Berlin. The Soviet forces arrived there first, and began shelling the centre, which led to the Germans surrendering unconditionally on 2 May, after Hitler and many of his officials committed suicide on 30 April. At the beginning of the month, President Roosevelt also died, having played an important role in the war from the attack on Pearl Harbor onwards. With the end of the war came the advent of a new weapon: the atomic bomb. In August, an American B-29 bomber dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, causing the deaths of thousands of civilians. Following the discovery of the full extent of Nazi atrocities, the Nuremberg trials began in November. Twenty-three Third Reich leaders were tried in the space of a year, and twelve were sentenced to death. The final book in this series of year-by-year books covering the major events of the Second World War ends with a war-weary world beginning the process of rebuilding under the shadow of the Cold War as the Iron Curtain closes.