This history traces the Soviet-Japanese War fought from 8 August to early September 1945 across Manchuria, the Korean Peninsula, southern Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands. Drawing on newly available sources, it examines the American request for Soviet entry into the war, the fighting in each region, and the path to the end of hostilities, presenting the full picture of the last all-out war of the Second World War.

A reconsideration of the Soviet-Japanese War through international strategy and the fighting that continued around Japan's surrender.