Atomic Bomb Dbq

One of the most controversial and heavily scrutinized issue of the twentieth century was President Harry S. Truman’s decision to unleash atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The motives behind Truman’s actions are shrouded in controversy as top military officials publicly denounced the use of such a disastrous weapon. There is overwhelming evidence supporting both sides of the decision, as historians are split in opinion. The United States had been using conventional bombing to try to push Japan over the edge to surrender, but with countless Japanese civilians loyal to their country, invading Japan proved to be more problematic than first thought. Harry S. Truman made the ultimate decision of dropping the atomic bomb in hopes that it would end the war, but the amount of casualties caused by it has historians questioning if it was morally right, “The bomb was unfortunate, but it was the only means to bring Japan to a surrender,” historian Sadao Asada states (Bomb 9). Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justifiable because they would ultimately lead to the end of the war and would demonstrate U.S. supremacy.

The United States decision to release the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a way to terrorize the Soviet Union. The United States terrorized the Soviet Union by revealing what they were capable of doing during war. Also, the United States wanted to posture the power they had obtained throughout time.

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.

On May 1945, a long-awaited V-E Day finally came and brought an end to the war in Europe. But, the war in the Pacific was still continuing against Japan since they are being reluctant to surrender despite the continuous indiscriminate bombardments The United States began to consider about using the atomic bombs as the only way to end the war immediately. On the other hand, many argued that Japan’s staggering losses were enough to force Japan’s surrender. In the end, President Harry S. Truman didn’t hesitate to use this nuclear weapon and bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki with only three days interval between the two bombing. As a result, Japan has surrendered, but if I were to make a decision, I haven’t used atomic bombs because it was unnecessary since Japan has virtually lost already.

The use of an atomic bomb is something that has lingered in the conscience of many Americans since the American B-29 Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb ever used on August 6, 1945. The United States was urging Japan to surrender, when they refused to comply with these terms, the bomb was dropped and 100,000 people were killed. Two professors of American History, Robert James Maddox and Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, share their opposing views on weather the atomic bomb was necessary to end World War II. Maddox claims that the atomic bomb forced the Japanese army to agree to surrender, which significantly saved more lives than would have been lost. Hasegawa asserts that the Soviet invasion of Japan was a more prominent reasoning for surrender in

Throughout American history, the art of war has become increasingly advanced and geared to kill more people. This was especially true in the early 20th century with World Wars I and II, when tactics and weaponry were being developed to kill as many people as possible (i.e. total war, civilian bombing, etc), and reached its peak with the US dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945. The atomic bomb was a revolutionary invention that raised many questions, most comprehensively, why? Why did we drop the atomic bombs? This question regarding the motivations behind dropping the atomic bomb has been mostly buried by the actual event.

This statement says nothing at all about Soviet Union or intimidating Soviet Union. So how could The United States decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima be a diplomatic measure calculated to intimidate the Soviet Union in the post Second-World War era rather than a strictly military measure designated to force Japan’s unconditional surrender? The dropping of the atomic bomb was a way to ensure Japan’s surrender and a speedy way to end the

There are three main reasons as to why the atomic bomb should have been dropped on Japan. The main reason behind the atomic bomb being used is that Japan failed to respond to the Potsdam Declaration. President Truman also knew that the american public wanted the war to end soon. Within his knowledge was the admittedly high american casualties. To meet the demands of the public and to minimize further american casualties, president Truman made his decision. The atomic bomb was to be dropped on Japan.

What made the second Great War change and bring it to an end? The answer to that is actually quite simple and it isn’t what you think. The real reason the war ended was actually because of the atomic bombs. The dropping of the atomic bombs was a turning point during World War II.

America’s use of the atomic bombs on the Japanese cities also opened the door to other countries challenging them through their own use of nuclear bombs. Many have criticized that the atomic bomb was an act of “muscle flexing” due to the sheer power and destruction caused by the decision to drop the two bombs. (Nicholls, 67). Not only were these bombs a demonstration of the power that these nuclear weapons had, but they were a testament of power that the United States now held. Never before had a country surrendered in war without first being invaded, so the decision to drop the bomb and Japan's subsequent surrender were extremely significant (Baldwin, 39). These bombings didn’t just impact the Japanese, but the whole world and gave way to

Another criteria necessary for a country to drop an atomic bomb on the target country is the target country refuses to back down otherwise. During World War II, Japan had no intentions to surrender or make peace with the United States, nor the Allies. The only reason Japan did eventually surrender was due to the atomic bombings. The Allied powers had cryptographers decoding Japanese military messages. After much study, the cryptography team found messages that clearly indicated the Japanese had no intention of surrender.

The atomic bomb that America used on Japan killed thousands of people most of which were civilians. According to my reading, I feel that using the bomb was unforgivable and sinful for numerous reasons. The sources I used to write this article reveals that Albert Einstein had warned how damaging the bomb can be in a written a letter to Franklin Roosevelt. He had also mentioned in that letter that it was the most powerful weapon that humans could every built and using it would change the history of the world for many generations to come.

The atomic bomb was deemed one of America’s greatest weapons, giving us victory in World War II against the anti-sematic Hitler and his expanding empire and the ruthless Japanese. The Atomic bomb has become a controversial topic in history, debates have arisen on whether or not the dropping of the bomb was necessary in winning the war or strategic weapon in the power struggle between the US and the Soviet Union. By analyzing primary documents and the history leading up to the dropping of the bomb, the use of the bomb was deemed unavoidable. The theory and production of the atomic bomb was developed over time by a number of Jewish scientist, who fled from their home countries to America due to fear of Hitler’s conquering power and his Anti-sematic

The spring of 1945 marked the completion of the atomic bomb. Created by Franklin Roosevelt in 1939, the Manhattan Project had used 2 billion dollars of taxpayer money to build the atomic bomb, equating to the most costly government project at the time. Political consequences of such wasted expenditures if the atomic bomb was never detonated justified dropping the bomb. When scientists finally witnessed its power in the demonstration at Alamogordo, New Mexico, newfound repercussions of this weapon of mass destruction propelled the subject to heated debate. Still, the majority opinion of government officials was to drop the bomb because it would reduce lives lost. Or at least that is what they told the American people. The alternative plan was invasions on Kyushu and Honshu, two strategic warfare locations of Japan which were to take place the coming fall and spring. There was no doubt that many lives would be lost through these invasions. Hisaichi Terauchi, Field Marshal of Japan, had already announced the execution of 100,000 Allied prisoners to deter any invasions from taking place. Extreme Japanese war customs also heightened Americans unwillingness to invade. Gyokusai, the Japanese term for suicide, was considered more honorable than surrendering. Committed to fighting to the death, Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, in 1944, declared 100 million gyokusai if circumstances were deemed necessary. The entire nation of Japan was prepared to die.

​Japans assault on Pearl Harbor was what pushed the United Staes to end up in WWII. After numerous fights and losses against the Japanese, Truman knew the time had come to make a move to end this war. Variables that legitimize the dropping of the nuclear bombs are to anticipate any longer setbacks, reason impact on the soviet union, local legislative issues, and the come up short of the Potsdam Declaration. Contentions made against utilizing the bombs are the setbacks of guiltless lives, and Japans armed force at the purpose of falling. Truman 's choice to drop the bombs was a helpful decision. The utilizing of the nuclear bombs likewise had its post-war clashes; radiation in Japan, and struggle between United States and Soviet Union.