Ib History Internal Assessment : The Bombings Of Hiroshima And Nagasaki

On July 26, U.S. President Harry S. Truman and Allies issued a final ultimatum to Japan, known as the Potsdam Declaration. The Potsdam Declaration is a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces. The Proclamation Defining Terms of Japanese Surrender consisted of thirteen conditions that the Japanese had to abide by. Japan was warned numerous times from the United States about the potential threat of an invasion or the use of a new weapon. “Japan would be warned that the new weapon would be used against Japan unless surrender was forthcoming.” Premier Kantaro Suzuki had rejected Truman’s final warning by stating that it was unworthy of public notice. January of 1945, a reporter for Newsweek wrote, “This intense hatred was first aroused by the sneak attack on Pearl Harbour. I remember men who, when they came to the Pacific, had no particular hatred of or desire to kill Japanese. When treachery affects you, or somebody you know, you grow to hate violently.” President Truman was disturbed over the unwarranted attack of Pearl Harbour and the murder of their prisoners of war. Japan had, not only attacked Pearl Harbour, involvement of the Bataan Death March, and the bloody battles in the Pacific. Leaflets were also dropped over Japan to let the people acknowledge that if Japan would not surrender, the U.S. is willing

In the midst of World War II, August 1945, the United States unleashed the first ever atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The usage of the atomic bomb was effective, but at the same time devastating and unnecessary. The United States should not have dropped the atomic bomb because it maimed countless of Japanese civilians, caused radiation poisoning whose effects impacted future generations, left both cities in ruins, left citizens homeless, and it was absolutely unmoral for the United States to have created such havoc and chaos in these two cities. Being there on the day Hiroshima was struck by the atomic bomb, junior high student,

Although WW II ended over 50 years ago there is still much discussion as to the events which ended the War in the Pacific. The primary event which historians attribute to this end are the use of atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although the bombing of these cities did force the Japanese to surrender, many people today ask "Was the use of the atomic bomb necessary to end the war?" and more importantly "Why was the decision to use the bomb made?" Ronald Takaki examines these questions in his book Hiroshima.

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

The United States made the right decision to bomb the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. President Truman, felt that is was evident that the other alternatives where the Allied forces thought of invading Japan could have led to a lot of casualties on their part (Roark 685). Another reason can be because it is the same Japan that agitated America to join the Second World War, which it had initially avoided, by bombing the Pearl Harbor (Riggs 3). Apparently, this grudge was carried forward.

The document includes how the targets were selected, a description of the cities before the bombings, how an atomic bomb functions and what it can accomplish, a statement by Franklin D. Roosevelt (the President of the United States at that time), the attacks, a summary and description of the damages and injuries caused by the atomic explosions, a comparison of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a total number of casualties, and eyewitness accounts.

On the clear morning of August 6, 1945 in Hiroshima, Japan, the world was hit with a total shock, that went down in history as a day for the history books. This day, the city of Hiroshima was blasted by the world’s first atomic bomb, which sent the grounds quaking, and leaving thousands dead. The debates for years since the bombing were having us all wonder if the attack was a military necessity or not. Considering both sides of the argument, it is clear to me that the bombing was the best plan for ending the world war. The use of the bomb saved more lives than it took.

The research question of this essay is “To what extent was the atomic bombing of Japan at the end of the Second World War Justified? In 1945, the United States authorized the dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The first bomb, dropped on August 6th 1945, had a total casualty rate of 135,000, including non-combatant civilians, and as this, the atomic bombing of Japan at the end of the Second World War has indeed been a hugely discussed topic within academic and social circles until today. There have been historians, academics, and other influential individuals throughout the world who have argued on both sides of the spectrum regarding the effects of the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and whether they were necessary and justified towards the ending of the conflict. According to the Center For Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), by 1944, it had become clear to both the United States and the Empire of Japan that Japan was indeed losing the war, and as this, there are many arguments and counterarguments regarding the effectiveness of the atomic bombing of Japan, as well as suggestions regarding alternatives due to the enormous human toll the bomb caused.

During World War II Americans dropped atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing nearly 200,000 people. This resulted in Japans surrender in World War II. J. Samuel Walker analyzes this historical event in his book Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs. Over the past 70 years’ extensive research has been conducted and there is an understanding that Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bombs is inconclusive. It is impossible to determine that the use of the bomb was the quickest way to end the war. An analysis of President Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb reveals one challenge: was the decision to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki a show of good judgment.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki altered the course of world events by starting the Cold War, ushering advancements in technology, and by influencing cultures worldwide. Occurring on August 6 and August 9 in 1945, the bombing of the cities set of a series of events that would forever change history. The United States and the Soviet Union emerged from the war as superpowers with seemingly limitless power. Their ideologies, however, contrasted greatly, and the once allied nations would turn against each other, setting the entire world into a period of uncertainty. The atomic bomb, alone, would influence countless decisions, technologies, and policies in the following years and strike fear and awe into many around the world.

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

World War II spanned from September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945 and resulted in approximately 80 million deaths. This infamous war was born out of a thirst for power and control by Nazi Germany, their fascist allies, and Japan. The war ended in 1945 after one of the most destructive weapons ever created was used to decimate regions of Japan. On August 6th, 1945 the United States dropped the first ever atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, and dropped the second one August 9th on Nagasaki. These two nuclear weapons destroyed entire cities: people were literally dissolved on the spot, buildings collapsed as if they were made of dust and paper, and the two bombs resulted in approximately 200,000 deaths (not counting those who died after the bomb of radiation exposure). The decision to drop the atomic bomb was and still is highly controversial as the destruction that it caused was devastating, to say the least, and its destructive nature exceeded everyone’s predictions. However, as disastrous as the bomb was, it seemed to be the only weapon and act great enough to end the world war. Veterans, historians, and scientists still debate over both the ethics and necessity, or lack thereof, of the bomb being a solution to end the war, but when examined, it truly was the only thing powerful enough to push Japan to surrender. This investigation will take a close look at the events of World War II, the conditions in

The Japanese reluctance to surrendering in 1945 set the stage for the United States to enter a seemingly winnable, yet fatal ground invasion of Japan. In the hopes to limit American casualties, President Harry Truman and his advisors authorize the dropping of two atomic bombs in the hope that the loss of civilian lives in Japan would force a Japanese surrender; six days following the bombing of Nagasaki, Emperor Hirohito extended his formal surrender to the United States. Truman later explains his controversial and cold-blooded decision behind dropping the lethal bombs by saying, “We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans." ("Public Papers of the Presidents: Harry S Truman, 1945", pg. 212).Thus, Heller creates Daneeka’s fear of the Pacific to echo the sentiments of American leadership, who care not about military or civilian losses in other countries or armies, but only for the lives under their own

Would you kill a thousand to save millions? Well the drastic actions taken by the United States did save millions. There were two actions that had to occur to save the millions and end the war, the dropping of the two atomic bombs being the first of their kind were to be the most powerful bomb ever invented using atomic and nuclear forces so create it and packed over 20,000 tons of TNT and was about ten feet long. The bomber that transported and dropped them was called the 'Enola Gay’. The two Japanese cities’ that were struck by such creations were Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In this essay I will be discussing on how the actions taken by the United States of America were completely justified in dropping the two bombs as is established a future power image, saved millions, ended the war and ended the axis of evil.

This investigation will explore the question: To what extent was the nuclear bombing of Japan necessary to end World War II? The years 1940 to 1950 will be the focus of this investigation, to allow for an analysis of the circumstances during the war and commentary of the decision to drop the bomb after the war ended.