How Did The US Use The Atomic Bomb In World War II?

“ The atom bomb was no ‘great decision.’ It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness.” This quote was said by Harry S. Truman the first President who used an atomic bomb. The program that was able to create this monstrous power was known as the Manhattan Project. Creating this weapon was their main priority. The United States was in the midst of World War 2. The atomic bomb is considered to be the main factor that ended that war. It was a race against the multiple enemies of the United States, to be the first to acquire this power and use it when necessary. The Manhattan Project was kept strictly confidential and, created the foundation of the future and more powerful nuclear weapons to come.

In August 1945, America dropped two Atomic bombs on Japan in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The two bombings killed at least 130,000 people and were the first and last use of nuclear weapons in warfare.

World War 2 was one of the worst wars in world history. The allied forces, the U.S., France, China, Russia, and Great Britain, were at war against the axis powers, Germany, Italy, and Japan, to stop the nazis from taking over the world. There were many bad events and battles that happened over the 6 year time span of the war; but one of the worst has to be the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings at the end of the war. Some people say that the U.S. Needed to drop the bombs to save American and Japanese lives. Some think otherwise, that the bombs were not nessecary to end the war. Even the scientists who created the bombs believed it shouldn't have been used. Once the bomb was created, there was controversy

Was it necessary for Truman to drop the Atomic Bombs on Japan in World War II? On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped by a US aircraft on Hiroshima. This atomic bomb was dropped to force Japan into surrender, this bomb alone destroyed Hiroshima and over 90,000 people were instantly killed in the explosion and an additional 100,000 people perished from burns and radiation sickness. On August 9, 1945 only three days later, the second atomic bomb was dropped over Nagasaki resulting in an additional 80,000 casualties of the Japanese population. The people of Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945 soon after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many people opposed to the use of the atomic bombs because people argued that Truman 's decision to use atomic bombs was a barbaric act of cruelty. People also argued that the US government had other ulterior motives to drop the atomic bomb that were necessary for America 's ideals. Necessary motives like presenting The Soviet Union a strong message for the Soviets to watch their step around America. A conventional way of warfare for Japan 's surrender would have costed many more American lives. Truman and others believed that the atomic bomb was necessary to save American lives but also Japanese lives. These actions from President Truman marked the end of the most destructive war in history. The two sources that will used and evaluated in this paper are is The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb by Dennis D. Wainstock (1996)

With the start of World War II the race for the first atomic bomb started. With Germany under Hitler’s reign, the Nazis began separating uranium to form the first atomic bomb to control the world. The push for the United States build the first atomic bomb began with this knowledge. With the help of several scientists the United States succeeded in building the atomic bomb first. Two atomic bombs were used; a uranium bomb on Hiroshima and a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki. Along with the many deaths were six stages of A-bomb illness which includes acute stages, atomic bomb trauma, A-bomb radiation illness, radiation blood injury at lethal dosage, blood injuries, and secondary radiation illness. Seven unhealed scars were also an effect of the atomic bombs that includes keloids, A-bomb cataracts, leukemia, cancers, chromosome changes, exposure in utero and microcephaly, and genetic surveys. Regulations and guidance were set in place soon after the bombings to protect the people of the world based on the information that was gathered and it has changed over the years based on the new information that was learned. With the use of the atomic bombs in World War II, a lot of pain and suffering was caused, but a great deal of information was learned to help protect future generations from radiation.

Even before the outbreak of War, the United States was concerned with a fascist regime in Europe researching in nuclear weapons. In retaliation, the United States began to fund an atomic weapon development program which became known as “The Manhattan Project” led by J. Robert Oppenheimer. Over the next several years, the Manhattan project started obtaining key materials such as Uranium-235 and Plutonium and testing prototypes until they reached a working model (Coroner).

The pressing question still lingers: Was the United States justified in using the Atomic Bomb against Japan during WWII? World War II stands as the bloodiest and deadliest war of all time. It involved more than thirty countries and resulted in over fifty million civilian and military deaths. It lasted six years, beginning with Adolf Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939. As the Allied Powers (mainly the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union) and the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) were in direct conflict with each other, many wonder if the cost of victory was too extreme. In late 1941, the process of creating the world’s first, most deadly weapon began. The production of the first atomic bomb was code named “the Manhattan Project.” After months of production, August 6, 1945, America dropped the “Little Boy” bomb on Hiroshima, wiping out ninety percent of the city. August 9, 1945, just three days after the devastation of the first bomb, America dropped the “Fat Man” bomb on Nagasaki. Dropping the atomic bomb on Japan was not necessary, nor justified in ending World War II. Due to the fact that America targeted heavily civilian populated cities (with limited military value), that Japan was in a position of surrender before the bomb was dropped, and the fact that the U.S. did not give enough time for Japan to process the devastation of the first bomb before the second in Nagasaki shows that America’s decision to drop the atomic bomb was entirely unjustified.

The United States dropped their first atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945. The explosion was tragic, “90 percent of the city was wiped out and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens and thousand more would later die to radiation exposure” (Lemay and Paul). Innocent children and citizens would die.

1942: The Manhattan Project: The Manhattan Project was a military project that created the Unites States’ first atomic bomb. The project that was researched, put together, and tested was used as a threat to Japan so that they would surrender. The Japanese military refused to surrender

The Atomic Bomb or known Atom Bomb was created by a scientist, which assembled the first bomb. He and General Leslie Graves officially and successfully tested it in New Mexico, July 21, 1945. Despite this, two refugees from Italy and Germany in the early 1940’s, Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard were the first to ever produce a controlled chain reaction. The bomb was created to use during WW2 and end it. This was big for America as president Franklin was notified that Germany was working on a similar weapon to use on America and its Allies. This bomb was needed to win the war and it took approximately 160,000 lives as a result while also having many affects on the people then, the people today, and the environment (Henretta, Edwards, & Self, 2012). The US was the first and only country to this day to drop an atomic bomb on another country, not once, but twice. This did end the war; however, the results were quite devastating to Japan. The environment and lives lost were all greatly impacted however, the world as a whole would be impacted for years to come. It also had its political reasoning behind it to show the global power of America. The devastation caused by the bombs also created deterrence from using them in the future at the time. Furthermore, now as other countries have improved technological

The United States placed restrictions on what could not be exported to Japan after Japan's take over of northern French Indochina. The United States tried to prevent a war from Japan by forbidding the exporation of steel, scrap iron, and aviation fuel. The United States used the atomic bomb on Hiroshima to end the war they entered when Japan, without warning, bombed Pearl Harbor. The United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima because it would end the war by Japanese surrender sooner, it would prevent the United States from asking the Soviet union to help, and ending the war would potentially save American lives.

This investigation assesses to what extent the atomic bomb was necessary to end the Second World War. This investigation will be limited to the years 1939 to 1945, the duration of World War II, to assess the justifications for the bombing. However, this investigation will also examine sources as recent as the 2010s to evaluate the objective necessity of the bombing because it has remained a consistently controversial topic despite the time difference. Additionally, the necessity of the bomb is a matter that is independent from the initial bombing because its effect went beyond just ending the war, and, contextually, it is essential to examine its causes and effects with respect to events both before and after the war. Throughout this investigation, novels, memoirs, and web articles will be analyzed with evaluations of their origins, purpose, values, and limitations.

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 nature of the Atomic Bomb created a global and theoretical set of stakeholders that few other ethical dilemmas reach. In many ways this use of nuclear technology created the Cold War and the global fear of a nuclear Armageddon. At that time every citizen of the globe feared how the use of nuclear weapons would harm them and their world. The future is also a stakeholder in this conversation. The effects of nuclear fallout were not well understood at the time. Nuclear aftermath could last for decades and even longer, effecting the health and livelihood of all living things for generations to come. The information that could be collected and research opportunities created after a nuclear weapon detonation would be studied for centuries and will change medicine and research forever. Future citizens and scientists were also stakeholders in this decision.

As previously stated, the reason two superpowers like Russia and the United States long for nuclear weaponry is down to the fact that frankly, they are paranoid. If you can stockpile most of the nuclear warheads in the world then surely nobody could ever harm your country. This is certainly not the case. By having so many dangerous weapons you are not only a bigger threat to terrorists but also a huge threat to your countries morality. If the leaders of a country say that it is ok to use nuclear weapons to threaten enemies then what’s to say that civilians do not do the same thing to a smaller scale? In the beginning atomic bombs were created to end the war and to save numerous amounts of lives. By this, I mean that multitudinous lives were saved due to the fact that when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima the Japanese surrendered straight away. If they hadn’t surrendered then the war possibly would have gone on for a lot longer. In contrast to this, look at what has become of the nuclear weapons now. Instead of saving lives, atomic bombs are now kept with the intention of unnecessary mass murder. What makes the monsters that enforce the use of nuclear weaponry any different from Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot or Joseph Stalin? Even though the atomic bombs are not in use at this moment, anyone or any government in possession of these weapons have the intention to inflict large amounts of pain on vast