Atomic Bomb Dbq

Some people believe that the use of nuclear warfare violated the principles on what makes a war just. They believe dropping the atomic bomb used excessive force to defeat the enemy, civilians and non-military personnel were the main target, and the damage caused was neither limited nor contained. On the other hand, others believe it was justified. The United States gave Japan one last opportunity to surrender during the Potsdam Declaration. It warned them that if they chose not to, the consequences would be severe and

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

During World War II, President Harry S. Truman ordered for an atomic bomb to be dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6th ,1945. The second and last atomic bomb to ever be dropped was in the city of Nagasaki on August 9th, 1945. Many Americans believed dropping the atomic bomb was necessary to end the war in a more timely manner, however, many others believed dropping the atomic bomb was too extreme of a measure to take against Japan. With the creation of the atomic bomb, the United States had a weapon of mass destruction that no one else yet had. Therefore, with the power the atomic bomb possessed, some people believed its use should only be used as a last resort. If Japan would not surrender during this war, then the United States would have a valid and necessary reason in using the power of an atomic bomb. For the other Americans that believed in the immediate drop of the atomic bomb, dropping it would end the war sooner, which would then decrease the amount American soldiers who would be killed during the war. Whether dropping the atomic bomb on Japan was the most ethical decision that President Truman could have ordered is still debated.

During 1941 through 1945 a war had occurred in the Pacific between the Americans and the Japanese this war was called The Pacific Theater. This war was also being fought during the duration of another World War against Germany and Japan but on May 8, 1945 Germany surrendered to the allied powers leaving Japan to still be dealt with. However Japan would not surrender even after the major battles between the Americans and Japanese in Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The Americans then came to conclusion to try and get to a new military weapon which then started the ManHattan Project. The Manhattan Project established a new powerful military weapon known as the Atomic Bomb. This new entirely militarized weapon was designed to force Japan into surrendering because Japan was still willing to fight even though they were on a brink of defeat and they were

1. Long after World War II and the use of the atomic bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a great debate remains. It seems that there are two main potential arguments as to why the bombs were detonated and whether or not they were even necessary to begin with. The first theory surrounds the notion of the national security interests of the United States. In this theory essentially, Truman’s actions had been defended and justified as necessary in order to quickly end the war with U.S. causalities kept to a minimum.

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 US’s declaration of unconditional surrender was called the Potsdam Declaration and it was issued on July 26, 1945 demanding that Japan surrender or face utter destruction. In addition to administering the Potsdam Declaration, US warplanes rained 63 million leaflets on 35 cities that were to be targeted by the bomb. These leaflets said that these 35 cities ,which got the leaflets, should evacuate due to the fact that they were being targeted by US warplanes. The Japanese had known that the US had something specially planned for them, so it was fair game to drop the bomb. Also the leaflets stated that the Japanese should evacuate but since they ignored the leaflets and didn’t evacuate the people, they had to suffer the consequences. In addition, the Potsdam Declaration was never responded to so the US went ahead with their plan and dropped the atomic bomb. This was entirely Japan’s government fault because although many Japanese citizens feared of what was to come and believed the leaflet, the Japanese arrested anyone who had a copy of it. The atomic bomb was justified due to the negligence of Japan not responding to the Potsdam Declaration or following the orders of the

The retaliation of the Japanese had the world concerned by the oppression of military actions and to reveal power during the modern era (1900’s). The strategy of the Japanese

The atomic bombs might have killed thousands, but the bombs also saved millions. Before the war even started Japan had a grudge on America for cutting off of their oil supplies. Germany lost to the allies after hitter committed suicide. Japan was the last remain axis power. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, America had a right to join the war and get revenge. When America dropped the bombs, they did their best not to harm many civilians. Also they saved more lives than they took. The atomic bomb was the best way toned the war efficiently.

Dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified under the information they had at the time. When criticizing the actions of the Truman administration one needs to consider the effect of knowledge in hindsight. Truman was working under the knowledge that dropping the nuclear bombs would bring a short and fast victory to the Pacific front of the Second World War. As the war had already ended in Europe by this time, leaders were looking to end the campaign in the Pacific as quickly as possible. From a cost benefit perspective dropping the bombs on Japan meant that very few American lives were lost, and the cost of building the bombs compared to the cost of a minimum six month continuation of fighting.Additionally, there was no testing

Boom! The sound of the US dropping the atomic bomb that killed millions. Not only did the Atomic bomb cause many deaths but also a lot of damage on Japan.The atomic bomb was the US retaliation back at the Japanese for them bombing Pearl Harbor. While trying to get back at the Japanese the US killed 100s of 1000s of lives including children and claimed that they did this just to shorten the war and that by dropping the bomb they saved American soldier lives.

Just days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor President Roosevelt was convinced that the Japanese fleet was heading for Southeast Asia and avoiding the United States. He believed that so much on December 6, 1941 President Franklin Roosevelt went to Japan’s Emperor for peace. America had thought that World War 1 was the ‘war to end all wars’. “So it wasn’t the ‘war to end all war’...-or so 40% or more Americans thought thought on December 8, 1941.” Ambrose said. The Japanese reason for bombing America was that they wanted to end the strong economic power.

1) There are many opinions for the reasons the atomic bomb should have been used in the destruction of Japan. The bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941 certainly helped make the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombing of Pearl Harbor destroyed the U.S.S. Arizona and killed over 2000 Americans. As quoted by President Harry S Truman,” The atom bomb was no “great decision”.

As the war continued and violence escalated, bombings caused enormous destruction and high death tolls, leading inevitably to the use of the atomic bombs. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki represented a culmination in the destructiveness of bombings, not a significant deviation from previous bombing practices. The alternatives to the use of the atomic bomb were likely to have caused equal suffering for the Japanese people. The use of the atomic bomb was no less moral than these horrific wartime practices. Harry Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan was justified by Japan’s refusal to immediately surrender. Harry Truman gave the Japanese time to surrender in order to preserve the existence of their people. They did not comply and as a result endured the consequences. (Walker) Yet an alternate perspective states that it was quite unnecessary to drop the Atomic Bombs in that Japan was practically an already defeated opponent. If a conditional surrender were to be issued by the United States to Japan in

we did not ever tell them that we had an atomic bomb. (“The Decision to Drop the Bomb”)