In 1945, the Allies rejected peace offers by German SS chief Heinrich Himmler, insisting on unconditional surrender.

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The letter was given to General WHM Lowe after Pearse agreed to an unconditional surrender on 29 April, 1916.

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As U.S. strategists knew from having broken the Japanese military and diplomatic codes, there was virtually no inclination toward unconditional surrender.

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Instead the war's critics propose an entirely new approach that drops or downplays military means and abandons unconditional surrender as the goal.

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From that moment on, the Japanese government decided that the only remaining option was to sue for peace and accept the allied terms of unconditional surrender.

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