Originally published: United Kingdom : HarperCollins, 1995.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 431-434) and index.

May 8, 1945, 23:30 hours: With war still raging in the Pacific, peace comes at last in Europe as, one half hour before midnight, the German High Command in Berlin signs the final instrument of surrender. After five years and eight months, the war in Europe is officially over. If you were in Paris, it had ended nine months before, and if you were in Belsen or Dachau concentration camp, it ended with the arrival of British and American tanks in April. If you were serving in the Pacific, your war would not end until August. And indeed, for all too many, the realities of war - the dangers and uncertainties, the hunger and disease - would continue for weeks and even months to come. Yet, for people everywhere, this date took on a significance that has resonated for a half-century. This is the story of that single day fifty years ago and of the days leading to it. Hour by hour, place by place, it recounts the final spasms of a continent in turmoil. Here are the stories of combat soldiers and ordinary civilians, collaborators and resistance fighters, statesmen and war criminals. Here are the victorious, the defeated, the liberated, and the long-subjugated. As with everything he writes, Martin Gilbert chronicles the personal stories as well as the public events, all in vivid, dramatic detail. Stretching across the face of Europe and into Asia, encompassing the United States, Australia, and the Pacific, this book brings alive the last moments in this all-consuming conflict. The book is more than a moment-by-moment account, for Martin Gilbert uses every event as a point of departure, linking each to its long-term consequences over the next half-century. In this way, the events of May 8, 1945, stand out in bold relief, mapping the world to come. The result is a compelling story of our past and a lucid introduction to our present by a consummate historian of our age. Indeed, if we are to understand the world we inherited in 1945, there is no better starting point than The Day the War Ended and no better guide than Martin Gilbert.