Events relating to europe
A new constitution strengthens Tito's hold on Yugoslavia, and is soon followed by repressive measures
Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill meet at Yalta to discuss Allied post-war plans
Stalin agrees at Yalta to declare war on Japan after the end of the European war
Stalin, at Yalta, promises free elections in post-war eastern Europe
The Germans surrender Budapest to the Soviets after a costly siege
The Soviets instal a puppet government in Romania while the fight continues against Germany
Tito becomes head of a provisional government in newly liberated Yugoslavia
Dietrich Bonhoeffer is executed in a Nazi concentration camp just a month before the end of the war in Europe
Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are shot by partisans and their bodies are hung from a gibbet in Milan
Against Hitler's specific orders, the commander of the German army in Italy surrenders to the Allies
British general Bernard Montgomery receives the surrender of German forces in the north and west of Europe
World War II ends in Europe on V-E day (Victory in Europe day)
The British electorate dismisses Winston Churchill, giving the Labour party and Clement Attlee a landslide victory
Winston Churchill, losing the postwar general election in Britain, has to yield his seat at Potsdam in mid-conference to Clement Attlee
The USSR declares war on Japan, two days after an atom bomb has been dropped on Hiroshima
TheAllies celebrate V-J Day – victory over Japan and the end of the war
A death sentence for the 89-year-old Vichy leader Philippe Pétain is commuted by de Gaulle to life imprisonment
Ho Chi Minh proclaims the democratic republic of Vietnam, independent of the colonial power, France
Vichy leader Pierre Laval, sentenced in a French court as a collaborator, is executed
Vidkun Quisling, Fascist president of occupied Norway from 1942, is tried and executed for treason
Evelyn Waugh publishes Brideshead Revisited, a novel about a rich Catholic family in England between the wars
In George Orwell's fable Animal Farm a ruthless pig, Napoleon, controls the farmyard using the techniques of Stalin
Sergei Eisenstein completes Part 2 of his intended epic film trilogy Ivan the Terrible
Sadler's Wells Ballet moves to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden (and is known from 1956 as the Royal Ballet)
The takeover of the Bank of England launches an extensive programme of nationalization by the Attlee government