Ending the First Nuclear War to Prevent the Destruction of Civilization.

The Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War, approved by Emperor Hirohito on 14 August 1945, is primarily remembered as the document announcing Japan's acceptance of the Allied terms. However, one passage has received little attention in international scholarship. Referring to the atomic bomb, the Rescript warned that continued warfare would bring about not only the extinction of the Japanese nation but also "the destruction of human civilization." This article reexamines the Rescript as a historical source produced at the conclusion of the first war in which nuclear weapons were used in combat. Focusing on the text itself, it analyzes how the document presented atomic warfare as a threat extending beyond military defeat and national survival. The study also considers the military situation of August 1945, when substantial Japanese forces remained deployed across East and Southeast Asia and the projected invasion of the Japanese home islands had not yet taken place. The article argues that the significance of the Rescript lies in its explicit recognition that atomic warfare posed a civilizational danger. Since August 1945, nuclear weapons have never again been used in combat. The document therefore deserves renewed attention as an early official warning concerning the consequences of nuclear warfare.