Actors portraying a scene where Soviet diplomat disembarks from a United States Army Air Force aircraft during World War II. Reporter interviews "His Excellency" on Soviet Union's attitude towards division of Germany. Diplomat answers saying the Allies should control Germany's key industries and take away its economic power to wage war.
Representatives of three nations, seated around table at Potsdam Conference held at Cecilienhof in Potsdam, Germany. British prime minister, Clement Attlee; President of United States, Harry Truman; and representative of Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin at the Potsdam Conference, July 1945. They deliver an ultimatum of unconditional surrender to Japan. Swarms of B-29 bombers and Aircraft Carrier Task Forces destroy Japanese homeland. Planes on carrier decks.Navy Grumman carrier-based TBF aircraft dropping bombs.. Destruction of ships at sea. Mushroom cloud due to atomic bombing. Chart depicts the power of one atomic bomb. Britain's 'grand slam' bomb, most destructive conventional bomb ever produced. Doctor Ernest Orlando Lawrence, inventor of the cyclotron (atom smashing machine). A man works at the Cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley. General Leslie Groves, head of the project speaks. He is seated with Dr Vannevar Bush, government director of science and research, and Dr Richard Tolman, technical expert. Quantities of uranium shipped from Alberta, Canada are used in bombs. The atomic bomb process (Manhattan Project) is developed in widely separated areas; scenes from Hanford Project plant in Richmond, Washington. Project personnel exit cars and enter into the search area before starting their work day. Lieutenant colonel Franklin T Matthias with the army corps of engineers, appointed to the Hanford Project. Sign of 'Oak Ridge' in Tennessee. Largest of the three atomic bomb plants located near the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) dam. Employed personnel in atomic bomb plants are seen going to work. Man and woman employees at the plan read and smile at a Knoxville Journal newspaper in August 1945 with news headline "Power of Oak Ridge Atomic Bomb hits Japs" after the atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima. View of dense prefabricated home communities to house large number of Oak Ridge plant workers. View of families setting up their houses in trailer towns after the prefabricated homes were full. People come out from the Henebry's Jewelers and supermarket, among stores setup to meet the needs of the quickly built city. Scenes changes to show view of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at conference. Russian artillery and troops in a parade at Red Square in Moscow, Russia (these parade scenes are from the May 1, 1945 May Day parade, just days before Germany's surrender). President Harry Truman reports on the latest developments regarding the war with Japan. He states that the United States is prepared to destroy every productive enterprise in Japan and the U.S. shall completely destroy its power to make war. He warns of an attack by the U.S. due to the rejection of the July 26th ultimatum at Potsdam. He warns that Japan "should expect a rain of ruin from the air; the like of which has never been seen on this earth." Truman notes that it will be followed by an unprecedented sea and land invasion of Japan.
On the one year anniversary of Adolf Hitler rising to power as Chancellor and Fuhrer in Germany, Americans assemble in Madison Square Garden, New York to denounce Adolf Hitler's ascendancy in Germany. People gathered in Madison Square Garden including New York Governor Al Smith, Ray Moley (seen speaking at podium), Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and Mayor Fiorello La Guardia (also seen speaking at podium). Views of dignitaries on platform and of the gathering of 20,000 attendees in Madison Square Garden. Photographers click pictures. People watch and listen. From a March 12, 1959 newsreel featuring events from 25 years earlier.
End of World War II in Europe. A map shows Atlantic coast of France. American and German officers facilitate the repatriation of their soldiers at port of Dunkirk. Red Cross workers exchange papers with officers. Officers and soldiers in a boat. The soldiers stand in a group and talk. They stand at a road side. They happily board boats to take them home. German military high command consult and broadcast to the people of Germany about actions being taken to return their troops to their homeland of Germany.
Headlines of prominent newspapers show rising tensions prior to World War 1. Headline of New York American 'Czar expects war declaration today, England and Germany ready to strike, Austrians and Serbs in big battle'. Montage of headlines from various newspapers regarding looming war. Berliner Tageblatt New York Times headlines say 'Austria and Serbia ready for war, Russia gives warning to Germany, London still sees hope for peace'. New York Times and Freier Press headlines about the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. Serbian police dragging the assassin. Blood stained tunic of Archduke. Burial ceremony of Archduke Ferdinand with coffin covered with Austrian flag. Czar Nicholas II of Russia reviews troops. Various Cossack regiments being reviewed. Russian Revolution scenes and mass demonstrations and riot in streets of Moscow as Bolsheviks seize power in 1917. Russian civilians and Bolshevik loyal soldiers armed with rifles marching in mass funeral processions and demonstrations in Russia against the Czar led government. Leon Trotsky speaking to a crowd and saluting Red forces as Bolshevik troops parade. Food distribution to Russian children and people eating on snow covered streets of Moscow around time of revolution. Headlines showing Russian entry in World War I. Snow covered Kremlin. Vladimir Lenin at a desk talking. More views of newspaper headlines regarding outbreak of World War 1.
United States and Soviet Union soldiers celebrate their victory as world War 2 comes to an end in Germany. "Elbe Day": Soviet and American soldiers meet at the River Elbe on 25-26 April, 1945. View of Nazi swastika being blown up at Zeppelinfeld in Nuremberg Germany in 1945. Scenes of celebration in the streets of Paris with French civilians cheering American and French soldiers and celebrating the end of World War 2. French women kiss soldiers. Crowd gathered in Times Square in New York celebrating VE-Day (Victory in Europe Day). Foreign Ministers of fifty nations arrive at San Francisco to sign the United Nations Charter. United States President Harry S. Truman addresses the delegates at the closing ceremony of the conference on June 26, 1946. Ships bring American soldiers back home, including some wounded, after World War 2. Women and families on dock at harbor wave and smile at arriving troop ship with American soldiers returning home. Also seen are soldiers of other countries including Soviet Russian soldiers returning to their families at a train station, with smiling and tearful family reunions. Cemeteries with headstones honoring soldiers who died in the war. Military hardware being scrapped to make peacetime goods. Views of explosive charges being set and military aircraft being blown up for scrap. Piles of scrapped military vehicles. A woman in a factory organizes newly manufactured clothes irons. Workers in a factory perform final assembly on newly manufactured ovens and stoves for homes.
CRITICALPAST.COM: About Us | Contact Us | FAQs - How to Order | License Agreement | My Account | My Lightboxes | Shopping Cart | Advanced Search | Featured Collections | Website Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy ©2026 CriticalPast LLC.
License Agreement |
Terms & Conditions |
Privacy Policy
©2026 CriticalPast LLC.