V-E Day is the term that designates the day of Victory in Europe in World War II. Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allied Powers on May 7, 1945, but May 8 was the date of the official announcements and celebrations of V-E Day. U. S. president Harry S. Truman, British prime minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet premier Joseph Stalin, representing the wartime Grand Alliance that had defeated Germany, decided to coordinate a time when they would formally announce the victory in Europe to their countries. Churchill and especially Truman (the Soviet Union was not yet at war with Japan) hoped to limit the excitement and keep their citizens from losing sight of the war in the World War II Pacific theater, where Japan was reeling but not expected to surrender soon.
World reaction to V-E Day varied according to country. Truman kept his speech restrained by expressing great satisfaction over Germany’s surrender, but also warning the country to stay focused on the war in the Pacific. Generally low-key celebrations took place in the United States, and within a week attention to the end of the war in Europe had faded and American newspapers were emphasizing the Pacific theater. Churchill, like Truman, reminded his nation that the war in the Pacific would likely be long and difficult. Still, compared to the somewhat restrained reaction in the United States, British reaction was jubilant—not surprisingly, since Britain had been directly attacked by Germany, had undergone such anxiety and loss in the war, and was not so heavily involved as the United States in the Pacific theater. For the British, the World War II European theater was the dominant part of their war, and V-E Day was a time of great celebration in London and throughout the United Kingdom. France, defeated by Germany in 1940 and liberated by the Allies in 1944, responded joyously as well, as did the Soviet Union, which had suffered so grievously from the German invasion, losing 20 million or more soldiers and civilians.
There was much work to be done after V-E Day, in rebuilding Europe, winning the war in the Pacific, and working to establish a permanent peace. Accordingly, Americans looked at V-E Day as a significant event to be celebrated, a giant but not the final step to the end of the war, and only the beginning of a period of readjustment at home and abroad.
See also V-J Day.
—Prathyusha B. Reddy
World History
