Atomic Bomb 8

As World War II was coming to an end during 1945, the creation of one of the most destructive weapons known to humanity occurred within the United States. This weapon, known as “the atomic bomb,” was used on the two Japanese cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in a death toll unprecedented by any military weapon used before and an immediate, unconditional surrender. Some historians believe President Truman decided to drop the atomic bomb in order to intimidate the Soviet Union whereas others believe it was a strictly military measure designed to force Japan’s unconditional surrender. In the Report of a Scientific Panel of nuclear physicists, some scientific colleagues believed the atomic bomb was a “purely technical

The U.S. continued conventional bombing in the 1940s but determined that it would not be enough to cause Japan to come to an unconditional surrender. Japanese military leaders strongly opposed the idea of surrendering while political leaders urged for the country to surrender

Japan during the 1940’s was a nation that prided itself on the concept of never surrendering. It was something that they took fierce and obsessive pride in. Their culture dictated that they are never to give up, even if they fought until every single man,woman, and child living in Japan was slaughtered, they would never surrender. This doctrine was one of the key deciding factors that influenced Truman in making the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Several weeks before the Atomic bomb was dropped, The Untied States of Military issued a warning to the Japanese government. “It warned the Japanese to surrender immediately or face ‘prompt and utter destruction.” (Yes! Harry Truman’s Simple Decision) Unfortunately, a mere two weeks before the first atomic bomb dropped, the Japanese prime minister publically dismissed the warning and refused to surrender. Even after the bombing of Hiroshima, the Japanese government refused to stand down. Even though they had suffered over 225,000 civilian casualties in the attack, the Japanese military refused to surrender. It took until the second bombing of Nagasaki to finally force the Japanese to surrender on American

The two atomics bombings dropping on Japan are forever remembered today as a changing moment in history. The US dropped the atomic bomb called “Little Boy” on Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945. Only three days later on August 9th, 1945, the second atomic bomb called “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki. This has been the only time that nuclear weapons have been used in war. These bombs have been questioned through history if it was moral or immoral correct. However, the bombs were definitely a moral decision, which helped the country immeasurably. The atomic bombing of Japan was a military success, and a moral decision because it was less harmful than the fire bombings and it helped the country immeasurably.

In conclusion, the Japanese are a resilient and honor bond people who know when they are beaten. This along with all the other statements mentioned in this paper goes to show that Japan would have surrendered if the bombs were not dropped. Although funding the War would have been much harder to do. Many more Americans and Japanese soldiers would have died as well. But, in the end the bombs didn’t need to be

This is what lead the Japanese to continue fighting long after success became futile, and long after their only strong ally had fallen in Europe. This insane perseverance is what lead the United States, forced into a war they never wanted to be in to begin with, to take drastic actions to finally end the bloodshed. America had two options at this point to force Japan to surrender: either they launch a full scale ground troop invasion of Japan, risking many lives on both sides, or they could cause such devastation to Japan with these bombs that they would essentially nuke them into compliance. The United States obviously chose the second option in this case, and this option did exactly as it intended: Japan surrendered and World War II was over.

According to the General, who was also the Commander of the American Air Force at the time, Japan was already on the brink of economic collapse. He writes, ¨Our B29s had destroyed most of the Japanese industries and, with the laying of mines, which prevented the arrival of incoming cargoes of critical items, had made it impossible for Japan to carry on a large scale war.¨ (Document B). It had become increasingly unfeasible for Japan to launch offensive attacks and defend themselves for much longer, because they were out of resources and money. The tactics the army was using were working, and it wasn´t going to be much longer until the economy of Japan collapsed. This would have forced Emperor Hirohito to surrender, because his country would be unable to fight the war given their economic

On the 6th and 9th of August, 1945, the United States of America dropped the Atomic Bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The use of these bombs brought a quick end to World War 2, yet caused extensive damage to the two Japanese cities. There have often been disputes as to whether the USA was justified in the dropping of the atomic bombs because of the damage they caused, not only to the cities, but to the people of Japan as well. Many people believe that the USA should not have dropped the bombs because of the damage they caused, and they also claim that Japan was already defeated. However, Japan did not surrender, and prolonging the war was not an option for America, as it believed it would cause even more casualties, not only to American troops, but to Japan as well. Thus the USA was justified in dropping the bombs on Japan.

“As the war progressed and it became obvious that American technology was superior to Japan’s, the Japanese began utilizing kamikaze pilots to attack Allied ships in the Pacific to balance the power” (Document 3). The Japanese were sending their troops on these planes knowing they would not make it out alive, and the men knew it too. They were practically sent on suicide missions. They already did not value each individual life and while what we did to them may have seemed extreme, it protected our men.

decision to bomb Japan was mainly focused on Truman's confrontational approach to the Soviet Union.”Moreover, this subject is thought to be more appropriately thought as a side benefit of dropping the bomb and not so much its sole purpose.

“A 21-year-old American second lieutenant recalled, ‘When the bombs dropped and news began to circulate that [the invasion of Japan] would not, in fact, take place… for all the fake manliness of our facades we cried with relief and joy. We were going to live’” (Harry S Truman’s Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb). The members of the army were so relieved they were crying. They were terrified of going into war, and when they heard they didn’t have to go against the Japanese who never seemed to surrender, they were so glad they could live.

The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki put an end to the Japanese war. It stopped the fire raids, and the strangling blockade; it ended the ghastly specter of a clash of great land armies. In this last great action of the Second World War we were given final proof that war is death." Death is inevitable in war. The fights would have continued until either the U.S. or Japan surrendered which could have taken months to happen. Many people died during the war. The U.S. not dropping the Atomic Bomb would have led to having more battles in Japan, more deaths. In 1990, Paul Fussell, a World War II Soldier, wrote an article, Thank God for the Atomic Bomb. In it he writes, “On Okinawa, only a few weeks before Hiroshima, 123,000 Japanese and Americans killed each other. War is immoral. War is cruel.” Numerous Japanese live were lost in battles throughout the war. The Atomic Bomb killed 39,000–80,000 people in Nagasaki. This one battle alone killed 123,000 people. More battles like this would have been fought and more people would have died then the amount of people who died due to the

Paul Fussell article states that in PFC E. B. Sledge memoir With the Old Breed at Pelieu and Okinawa. As the U.S military fights closely to the mainland of Japan, the fighting in the surrounding islands in Iwo Jima and Okinawa was getting more vicious than in previous fights and that having a new land invasion would be a “ghastly bloodletting” and would shock the American public and the world ( Fussell, pg. 16). The Japanese were ruthless fighters and would never give up and would die for their country. It was said that every Japanese soldier, woman and children would fight from coast to coast (Fussell pg. 17). The Japanese code bushido meaning “the way of the warrior” meant that surrendering was absolutely dishonorable to the Emperor and the country and most soldiers would prefer to take their own lives rather than surrender to the enemy (Correll Enola Gay). The Japanese were prepared to take as much casualties as possible with an estimation of commitment of 2.3 million troops (Correll Enola Gay). Yes the atomic bomb would kill thousands of civilians but these civilians may have been trained to commit suicide runs against the allies if an invasion was put through (Fussell pg. 17). With the

The use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had a positive outcome for the United States by creating less casualties in war. The use of the bomb gave the United States a trump card in warfare to come making way to a forced wave of diplomacy in war. Then the bomb established an example of why all out warfare can no longer occur, and forced the way of warfare to change. The bombing also set a new standard for war that the majority of other countries could not, and for some still can not, meet which causes subjacent nations not to fight as much as they would have.

How can anyone be certain that Japan would have continued to fight? It is possible that they were preparing for surrender, no one can say for certain exactly what would have happened but by examining evidence of Japanese culture and warfare it is obvious that would not have been the case. At the time of WWII systematic and organized education made efficient "brainwashing" possible. In public schools, students were taught to die for the emperor. By late 1944, a slogan of Jusshi Reisho meaning, "Sacrifice life," was taught. In addition to civilian’s dedication to their country, there was a group of military pilots called the Kamikaze. Kamikaze were “suicide” pilots. They would load up an airplane and try to nose dive it into an enemy target. Think about what must be on that pilot’s mind. Imagine the undying love for his country. He would fight to the bitter end for his emperor. The most frightening part of this is that the entire Japanese military thought this way. The fact that the enemy is willing to die so long as you die with him is not something