This April 1865 image provided by the Library of Congress
shows Federal troops in front of the Appomattox Court
House near the time of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender to Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, in Appomattox,
VA. (AP Photo/Library of Congress)

On March 29, 1865, the final campaign of the Civil War began in
Virginia when Union troops under General Ulysses S. Grant
moved against the Confederate trenches around Petersburg.
General Robert E. Lee’s outnumbered Rebels were soon forced
to evacuate the city and begin a desperate race west.

 
Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender (left) to Union Lt. Gen.
Ulysses S. Grant.

During the Russo-Japanese War, Port Arthur, the Russian naval
base in China, fell to Japanese naval forces under Admiral
Heihachiro Togo. It was the first in a series of defeats that by
June turned the tide of the imperial conflict irrevocably against
Russia.

In February 1904, following a Russian rejection of a Japanese plan
to divide Manchuria and Korea into spheres of influence, Japan
launched a surprise naval attack on Port Arthur, decimating the
Russian fleet. In the subsequent fighting, Japan won a series of
decisive victories over the Russians, who underestimated the
military potential of its non-Western opponent.

Surrender of the Russian defenders to the Japanese after the Siege of Port Arthur, Russo-Japanese War.

Hopelessly trapped at Yorktown, Virginia, British General Lord
Cornwallis surrendered 8,000 British soldiers and seamen to a
larger Franco-American force, effectively bringing an end to the
American Revolution.

Lord Cornwallis was one of the most capable British generals
of the American Revolution. In 1776, he drove General George
Washington’s Patriots forces out of New Jersey, and in 1780
he won a stunning victory over General Horatio Gates’ Patriot
army at Camden,South Carolina.

Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
(December 31, 1738 – October 5, 1805)

CAMILLE BOHANNON

The original Instrument of Surrender of Japan’s surrender to the
Allied Forces in World War II is shown at an exhibition held by
the Japanese Foreign Ministry,

In what later became known as Victory Day, an official announcement
of Japan’s unconditional surrender to the Allies is made public to the world on August 14, 1945. Japan formally surrendered in writing two weeks later, on September 2, 1945.

Even though Japan’s War Council, urged by Emperor Hirohito, had
already submitted a declaration of surrender to the Allies, via
ambassadors.