Surrender, submission, capitulation denote the act of yielding up one’s person, one’s forces, or one’s possessions to another person or power.
Surrender usually implies a state of war and present domination by a victor or by an admittedly stronger power; in addition it often also implies the immediate cessation of fighting <the commander replied that no terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender could be accepted>
Submission often implies surrender (as of an army, its supplies, and its fortifications), but it stresses the acknowledgment of the power or authority of another and often suggests loss of independence; it is used especially of those who rebel or of those whose weak condition leaves them at the mercy of a stronger power or subject to its threats. Unlike surrender, submission often implies not a previous state of war but a threat of disastrous warfare.
Capitulation also implies surrender, but it suggests a conditional one on terms agreed upon between the parties or the commanders of the forces concerned.