The Potsdam Conference, held from 17 July to 2 August 1945 in Potsdam in eastern Germany, decided how the Allies would deal with a defeated Germany and how they could best conduct the ongoing campaign against Japan as the Second World War (1939-45) drew to a close. With victory in Europe achieved, US President Harry S. Truman, UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and then his successor, Clement Attlee, and the Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin issued a surrender ultimatum to Japan, known as the Potsdam Declaration. The ultimatum was ignored until US aircraft dropped atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrendered on 14 August.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original content at https://www.worldhistory.org/Potsdam_Conference/.