Hiroshima Bombing Argumentative Essay

During world war two, the Imperial Japanese army forced an estimated 200,000 women into sexual slavery. This is just one of the many atrocities committed by Japan during world war two. Even though many say that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were inhumane, the US was completely justified because the future casualties were minimized and Japan and its allies committed atrocious war crimes.

Many innocent lives were taken from the Atomic Bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. An atomic bomb explosion would inflict damage and casualties beyond imagination (Document A). In fact, the total number of casualties in the two bombings was almost 200,000. Most of the deaths were caused by flash burns. A flash burn is the direct exposure to the thermal radiation and 20 to 30 percent of the fatal casualties in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were caused by flash

The first bomb in Hiroshima killed 140,000 people by the end of 1945. The explosion its self killed 80,000 people instantly. The other major toll the bomb took on the city was the fact that it had killed 60,000 people in the next five years due to sickness from radiation from the bomb. The second bomb Fat Man killed 70,000 people by the end of 1945. Fat man killed 39,000 people instantly but left 25,000 people injured from the blast. If people who had cancer from the radiation that adds close to another 100,000 people who died from the second bombs. In the next five years 140,000 people died from sickness due to the bomb. In total in the five years after the bombs exploded 210,000 people died from effects from the bomb.

The most significant theme in John Hersey’s book “Hiroshima” are the long- term effects of war, confusion about what happened, long term mental and physical scars, short term mental and physical scars, and people being killed.

The atomic bombing on Hiroshima was very different to the normal previous bombing raids, because the previous bombs were much, much smaller and just started fires of the wooden houses/ buildings and spread through the cities or towns. This was known as the strategic firebombing campaign. The fire bombing campaign was in many cities in Japan. Where the atomic bombing strategy left no chance of survival for the people of Hiroshima and completely destroyed whole cities in seconds.

On August 6, 1945, 80,000 people died within seconds. On August 9, 1945, another 40,000 people died within the blink of an eye. It is said that after the sudden flash of light that was brighter than the sun, their shadows were literally burned into the sidewalks, buildings and streets they were roaming. Tens of thousands of the remaining survivors would later parish due to radiation exposure. What might've caused so many deaths, you may ask? Two life threatening weapons composed of half a dime's weight of nuclear fission uranium 235 and plutonium, better known as "Little Boy" and "Fat Man." These were the first atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan by the United States of America.

The primary bomb, dropped on the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, lost around 135,000 lives. The second bomb hit Nagasaki three days later and killed from 50,000 up to 74,000 deaths. In the article The View from Under the

As Japan was trying to figure out their next move the United States was already planning a second atom bomb attack. The second bomb, weighing nearly 10,000 pounds, was loaded into another B-29 bomber called Bockscar. The only difference besides the size and weight of this bomb and the first one was that this bomb was made of plutonium-239 not uranium-235. Major Charles Sweeny was the pilot of Bockscar. Similar to Enola gay, Bockscar was modified to support this bomb and also took flight from Tinian. The choice of target for this bomb was Kokura but there was a thick haze resting over the city and therefore the team could not sight in their target zone. The team ventured on to its secondary target, Nagasaki, and dropped the atomic bomb, named “Fat Boy”, at 11:02 in the morning. Causalities reached half the amount of Hiroshima, at the end of the year approximately 70,000 people died. The bomb was constructed to produce a 22 kiloton blast but because Nagasaki was burrowed in narrow valleys between mountains the blast was only 2.6 square miles. The reason the blast radius is considered to be so small is because this bomb was built to be much more powerful and destructive than the first. (Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 2014; The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 2014,

More than thousands of Japanese perished from the tremendous impulse of the bomb, in addition to the people who perished from the radiation effects. The article U.S History stated that “Instantly, 70,000 Japanese citizens were vaporized. In the months and years that followed, and additional 100,000 perished from burns and radiation sickness” . President Truman vital decision concerning the usage of the atomic bombs, lead to massive destruction, awful sickness, and a high number of deaths in Japan. Also, the physical health and mental health of the few Japanese who survived the impact of the bomb were very devastating. It is recorded in History “The first western scientists, servicemen and journalists to arrive on the scene produced vivid and heartrending reports describing a charred landscape populated by hideously burnt people, coughing up and urinating blood and waiting to die” . The atomic bomb left an unforgettable scar in the Japanese

On August 6, 1945 an American B-29 bomber successfully deployed and activated the first ever weaponized atom bomb over its target, Hiroshima. Upon detonation the bomb instantly killed around 70,000 Japanese also destroying ninety percent of the city. Three days later a second American B-29 bomber dropped another atom bomb over the city of Nagasaki killing an estimated 40,000 more people. The Japanese Emperor announced Japan’s unconditional surrender on August 15, 1945. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was tragic, however, it was necessary to dissuade Japan from continuing war efforts and to accept unconditional surrender offered by the United States.

August 6, 1945 was a day that would forever change the lives of the Japanese living in Hiroshima. On this day, President Truman gave the order to drop the first atomic bomb known as “Little Boy” onto the city. This city was strategically chosen due to its size, the low amount of damage it had from the war, and the high concentration of soldiers stationed there. The bomb instantly vaporized 80,000 people, and radiation sickness and burns killed another 100,000 in the years that followed. Three days later, a bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, where 80,000 Japanese perished (www.ushistory.org). Even though WWII finally came to a halt, the devastation for the people of Japan was only just beginning.

The two days in August 1945 should been engraved in the minds of every single American individual. The bombs that were dropped on the approximant 200,000 innocent Japanese citizens is indeed a war crime, and many people tend to overlook that fact. Nobody was even held accountable for the horrible bombings even though it’s clearly a crime against humanity. A survivor by the name of Akiko Takakura was only twenty years old when she experienced the horrific Hiroshima bombing in 1945. In an interview, she recounted what she saw that day saying, “Many people on the street were killed almost instantly. The fingertips of those dead bodies caught fire and the fire gradually spread over their entire bodies from their fingers. A light gray liquid dripped down their hands, scorching their fingers.

When the bomb was dropped it immediately killed 80,000 people. However the bomb did not stop there. After the drop thousands of people died due to wounds and nuclear radiation poisinging. Three days after the original bomb was dropped, a second bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. This bomb ended up killing about 40,000 more people and causing even more harmful radiation poisioning. A few days later, Japan announced its surrender (Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima). Japan would never fully recover from the devastating effects of the bomb. This attack became a major political and ethical issue for all of the nations. Because of the impact of this bomb, no nation has used nuclear weapons sense.

At about eight A.M on August sixth, 1945 the Japanese city Hiroshima was destroyed by the deployment of the first nuclear weapon, nicknamed “Little Boy.” Soon after, at about eleven A.M the following day, a second bomb was dropped, called “Fat Man” on Nagasaki. Together, these bombings caused massive destruction. The death total was well near 220, 000. Only portions of these deaths were from the days of the bombings, with an equal number occurring later in the year from exposure to radiation. More have died since from leukemia.

By bombing Japan, many civilians were killed as a result of the U.S. 's desire to use a new weapon. Laurence describes the bomb as, "a thing of beauty to behold" and "Never before had so much brain power been focused on a single problem" (11). This demonstrated how the U.S. saw Japan as a problem that needed to be dealt with quickly and that the new and supposedly destructive weapon was the best choice. While the targets, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, were both production areas ,they were inhabited by a number of civilians. By choosing to drop the bomb, thousands were annihilated and any survivors began to suffer from radiation sickness shortly after. Because of its destruction, the U.S. believed the atomic bomb was a quick solution to the war.