Modern history Germany-occupied [[puppet state]] and an Allies-friendly state in the South; Germany surrendered in May 1945. Following the [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]], [[surrender of Japan|Japan surrendered]], marking the end of the war on September 2, 1945. [[File:Underwater Atomic Bomb Test At Bikini Atoll.webm|alt=Atomic Bomb underwater testing, 1946|left|thumb|Atomic Bomb Test, 1946. The use of Nuclear strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought WWII to an abrupt end.]] [[File:Roosevelt Pearl Harbor.ogg|thumb|U.S President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Franklin Roosevelt]] declaring war on the [[Empire of Japan|Japanese Empire]] in the aftermath of the [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor Attack]]. Captions provided]] [[File:Trumann hiroshima.ogg|thumb|Excerpt of [[President of
Whaling in Japan there was halted in March 1945 when the islands were taken by US forces. By November 1945 the whaling stations received permission to reopen; however, most whaling ships had been commandeered by the Imperial Japanese Navy, and by the end of the war the factory ships and most of the whale catchers had been sunk. General Douglas MacArthur encouraged the surrendered Japan to continue whaling in order to provide a cheap source of meat to starving people (and millions of dollars in oil for the US and Europe). The Japanese whaling industry quickly recovered as MacArthur authorized two tankers to