Sixty years ago today, the Japanese government accepted surrender terms from the allies, saving millions of lives in what would have been a futile last-ditch defense of the home islands. A formal signing would take place a couple weeks later, on September 2, 1945.

And Ann Althouse points out another anniversary today, from a quarter of a century ago. It was the beginning of the liberation of eastern Europe, and the beginning of the end of the Cold War.