The Atomic Bombs Released On The Doomsday Clock

Have you ever questioned why and how the US government decided to drop those two nuclear bombs in Japan in the World War II? It is still a universal concern while many disapproval have made toward its humanity. In a book that I’ve read recently, from the point of view of an eyewitness, Yamaoka Michiko, the author of story “Eight hundred meters from the Hypocenter”, shows how humanity was exchanged with the ambition of a nation by reviving a heartbroken experience when she witnessed her hometown was destroyed by such a terrific violence in the war.

The dropping of the atomic bomb was the first of many nuclear projects. The first project was called the Manhattan project. Three bombs were created, one was a test, and the two others were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, cities in Japan. These bombs created mass destruction for the two cities; buildings were obliterated, fires erupted, and radiation spread for miles. After foreign countries saw what the United States was capable of, countries all around the world started to develop their own nuclear weapons, creating a surplus of weapons of mass destruction. “Today, eight countries in the world have nuclear arsenals (weapon supplies). The United States and Russia (formerly part of the Soviet Union) have most of the world’s nuclear weapons. Other countries with nuclear arms include China, France, India, Israel, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom” (Kroenig). Following World War Two, the Soviet Union and the United States were leaders of nuclear weapons. This period was called the Cold War. Forty-five years of potential nuclear destruction loomed over the Soviets and Americans. It wasn’t until after the Cold War that diplomats created the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. The Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, or NPT for short, recognizes the United States, Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom as nuclear weapon states. Nearly every country in the world is a member of the treaty, even if they do not possess nuclear weapons, by law they state that they are a nonnuclear

“ 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.

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 morning of August 6, 1945 in Hiroshima, Japan did not begin in any exceptional way; in fact the people had no idea that they were about to be part of one of the most significant mornings in all of history. At 8:15 am, the United States Army Air Forces dropped the first atomic bomb, ironically called, when one considers the enormity of the bomb's significance, the "Little Boy" Three days later the U.S. dropped a second bomb nicknamed the "Fat Man" on the town of Nagasaki, Japan. Historically, the use of the atomic bombs is seen as a decision that the United States made during WWII in order to end the war with Japan. Regardless of the motivation for using the bombs, they left a death toll of 210,000 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This essay

President Truman and the United States were not justified in using this weapon to force the Japanese to surrender. First of all, the use of this weapon was inhumane to the Japanese civilians. The weapon resulted in an estimated value of 129,000-226,000 deaths. Even after the tragedy, survivors were affected by the high amounts of radiation in their bodies. Most of them contracted cancer and faced the consequences of the bomb. Survivors had to battle burns, starvation, and even severe sickness. Survivors also had to battle with the “inner scars”, physiological damage to the brain. While they were treated for radiation illnesses, many were left traumatized, some the only survivors from their family. Some who still bore inner scars committed suicide. For the rest of their lives, the Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors would be shunned by the Japanese society and haunted by the bomb's’ radiation. The usage of this bomb was inhumane

In World War II, Japan has been one of the biggest threat to the Allies. As the war goes on, the atomic bomb has been discovered and the U.S decided to bomb it surprisingly in Hiroshima, Japan, that had been one of Japan’s largest cities during late 1600’s. It became a horrible situation to the people who got bomb on August 6, 1945. America stated that they have a lot of reasons on why did they dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, like to save more of their people and lessen their casualties, to make Japan surrender as quickly as possible and according to President Truman, the main reason of it was to end World War II. Others were not convinced with their reasons and said that the bomb has been dropped on Hiroshima because America wanted to see how

was fully justified in dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, because of the unprovoked and brutal attacks on civilians, grounded airplanes, and the docked U.S. Pacific fleet by the Japanese. By retaliating with the atomic bomb to end the war the United States showed the world the power and weapons of mass destruction that it possessed and that it was not afraid to use them. This also issued a warning to the Soviet Union, who at the time was our ally, but was slowly turning into an enemy. In addition to showing the world the United States power, the atomic bombs crushed Japan not just physically, but also morally giving them no other option, but to surrender. Japan was on the edge of surrender with a great amount of inner turmoil, but Japans military leaders had declared no surrender and ordered their people to fight to the death of the last man, woman, and child, so in using the atomic bomb we forced them to the breaking point and saved millions of lives. Without the dropping of the atomic bombs the U.S. would have invaded the Japanese homeland in Operation Downfall where a great slaughter would have ensued. Nearly 500,000 Purple Heart medals were pre-made in anticipation of the invasion, but the atomic bombs saved this massive loss of life. The results brought about by the atomic bombs were very devastating and gruesome; they caused thousands of deaths and injuries and should not be employed except in the most dire

On the 6th and 9th of August, 1945, the United States of America dropped the Atomic Bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The use of these bombs brought a quick end to World War 2, yet caused extensive damage to the two Japanese cities. There have often been disputes as to whether the USA was justified in the dropping of the atomic bombs because of the damage they caused, not only to the cities, but to the people of Japan as well. Many people believe that the USA should not have dropped the bombs because of the damage they caused, and they also claim that Japan was already defeated. However, Japan did not surrender, and prolonging the war was not an option for America, as it believed it would cause even more casualties, not only to American troops, but to Japan as well. Thus the USA was justified in dropping the bombs on Japan.

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

On August 6, 1945 uranium gun-type atomic bomb (Little Boy) was dropped on Hiroshima, within the first day of the bombings the effects killed 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima. The effects of the atomic bomb left many dead, homeless, and sacred. Even four months later people would die from radiation poisoning and discovering they had cancer now. Skin would be peeling off like bark on trees, this was a true horrifying sight. The United States were at war with japan but, does that justify what they did? Some would say what they did was inhuman and just plan wrong. They say there were other alternatives that the United Sates could have done. I believe there could have been a better way of ending the war with japan but I understand why the United States did what they did. The Japanese came out of nowhere and attacked the United States did they think that the US would just roll over and die? The should of known not to surprise attack one of the strongest nations. The needed to be put back in place and show the rest of the world that the US was one not to be reckon with.

Hiroshima is an outstanding recreation of the complete annihilation and devastation of during the aftermath and the year following the United States’ dropping of the atomic bomb. As the war in the east carried on, many thought this desolated war might last a lifetime, all the while hoping for an end and praying it not mean their own end. To end the war, Americans had to pick a target that would leave the Japanese government with nowhere to retreat, allowing for a crippling effect that would essentially cause their collapse and surrender. In his writings, John Hersey proclaims that Hiroshima was a “… inviting target - mainly because it had been one of the most important military command and communications centres in Japan …” (HERSEY, P. 107). In the minds of American strategists, this must have seemed a flawless method to force the Japanese military into a corner, not allowing withdrawal without laying down of arms. There was surely no doubt that dropping this bomb of god-like destructive power would, at a minimum, tear into the souls of Japanese, causing catastrophic devastation.

With multiple chances from the United States to surrender in the war and rejecting each one, the Japanese set themselves up for disaster. On August 6, 1945 the course of history was changed. Two atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima, and three days later, August 9, 1945, on Nagasaki that ended World War II. Japan had already been a defeated nation from conventional bombs and World War II. Many innocent lives were lost, psychological scars were left on the lives of the bomb survivors, and thus many lives were changed forever. The atomic bombings caused many people to have genetic effects due to the radiation from the bombs. Revisionists have said the US used the bombs to blackmail the Soviet Union. The

During World War II, on August 6,1945, America took extreme action, and became the first and only country to ever use nuclear weapons in combat. It was an American B-29 bomber that released the first atomic bomb over the targeted city of Hiroshima located in Japan. The blast immediately demolished 90 percent of the city and caused the death of nearly 80,000 individuals. The deaths count would not end there, as the presence of radiation left behind from the bomb would continue to take many lives. Three days later, America dropped another atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki taking an additional 40,000 Japanese’s lives. There was only a few days to follow after the second bomb was dropped for Japan’s Emperor, Hirohito, to declared the absolute surrender of his country from World War II. From this point in American history and ongoing today, there is much controversy over the decision of whether or not the nuclear weapons should have been used. There are many points to consider however, with the given circumstances, releasing the atomic bomb on Japan was a necessary evil that gave America the upper hand in World War II. Many people felt that the use of atomic weapons was a vile and impulsive decision made by an unprepared President. Yet, the dropping of these atomic weapons brought along many positive consequences for America. One of the positive effects was that it brought the war to an end, as well as the arrangement of peace. The atomic bomb also revealed the power and

An abundant amount of Americans today automatically and very naturally consider the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan in 1945 as a merciless and completely unnecessary action to end WWII. They feel the sheer magnitude of innocent civilians that perished and suffered as a result of the bombs was a deliberate act of terror. Other people think dropping the bombs was completely justified and it brought a quick and necessary end to the war; it saved many lives on both sides. There are many questions that are unanswered; there are many what if scenarios we will never know the true responses to. This paper describes the happenings that lead up to the decision to drop the bombs on Japan’s cities and an analyzation of the destruction afterwards.