Imagine. You are dressed and ready to go to work. With your briefcase in hand, you walk to the bus stop, ready to board your bus that takes off at exactly 8:20 AM. You have no worries in the world; sure, there is a huge war going on, but you are entirely innocent and safe. You’ve done nothing. But then, the whole world comes crashing down around you. You hear an unbearably loud boom, the world shakes, and the sky suddenly and inexplicably darkens. An amazing flash of white light sweeps through your surroundings, then you see things explode in flames. You are knocked to the ground, and in your last moments of consciousness, you think of your probably dead family and how you didn’t do anything to deserve this.
This describes the reality of
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Germany had already surrendered, and Japan was fighting against the Allies alone. The use of atomic force was not necessarily needed to knock out the Japanese. Assistant Secretary Bard himself was convinced that simple, regular military tactics would be enough to force Japan to surrender. He tried to persuade President Truman to forgo dropping both bombs. Therefore, the bombings were not militarily necessary.
Second, we should always avoid, at all costs, killing civilians in war. It has been estimated that 129,000-226,000 people lost their lives in the bombings, not including those that died from cancer resulting from the radiation poisoning they received. Many more were permanently blinded from the flash of light. So many of these people were civilians-innocent and uninvolved in the war. There were other ways to militarily end the war without taking the lives of so many undeserving, innocent, people.
In conclusion, I believe that the World War II bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were unjust and unnecessary. The war was practically over, and the US could have forced Japan into surrender without such a drastic action. In addition, so many civilians and innocent lives were taken needlessly. Therefore, I believe that the US should have found some other, less extreme way to end the war, without needless
In my opinion, the dropping of the Atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki wasn’t justified because many innocent civilians were killed when the Americans were close to defeating the Japanese. Nonetheless, I do acknowledge that others may have a different opinion, because dropping the bomb ended the war and they freed prisoners of war.
Some people would say that the bombing was necessary to end the war, but in the same breath would say that it was inhumane. Other standpoints say that Japan was already on their way to surrender.
1. The bombings killed 129,000-246,000 people in total over two to four months. The Japanese army managed to kill over 300,000 people in a single city over a span of just over a month. People really shouldn't be calling the bombings truculent when Japan's allies, the nazis, started the Holocaust and committed genocide .2. The US even gave Japan a chance to surrender before the bombs were dropped by issuing the Potsdam declaration which stated that if they didn’t surrender, Japan would face “prompt and utter destruction”. Japan did not surrender so they had to face the consequence. The US could have just dropped the bombs without any warning, but they decided to give Japan a chance to surrender first. This shows that the US were not inhumane in the bombings of Hiroshima and
Some say the decision was moral and some say it was immoral. The people who think the bombing was immoral was because they think that the atomic bomb is the last thing for destruction on God’s scale. It is immoral to God’s creation of mankind. As the author of Nippon Times (Tokyo) said, a nuclear bomb “strikes at the very basis of moral existence” (Document 4). The author said that it is ethically wrong to bomb innocent humans and destroy mankind. But although the Japanese had to face poor conditions, the American lives were saved by President Truman. The decision was indeed justified on the United States standpoint but unfortunately the decision was immoral on the Japanese
World War II lasted for six years from September,1 1939 to September 2, 1945 and resulted with Japan's surrender but believe it or not many events occurred both good and bad before anyone could make that choice. Before the declaration of this war japan had made an agreement with the U.S in which they gave them a friendship medal signifying peace. Turns out that wasn't the case japan actually backstabbed the U.S and on the morning of December 7th, 1941 the japanese attacked Pearl Harbor destroying nearly 20 American ships and more than 300 airplanes. About 2,403 sailors, soldiers and civilians were killed and about 1,000 people were wounded. After that the U.S could no longer trust Japan for many reasons they decided to fight back with two atomic bombs on Japan. The dropping of these two bombs on that country in my personal opinion is not justified. My reasons are that this was the first time the U.S was going to try these bombs out so in other words this was an experiment in which they had no clue the amount of damage that
Ray Bradbury once said, “After Hiroshima was bombed, I saw a photograph of the side of a house with shadows of the people who had lived there burned into the wall from the intensity of the bomb. The people were gone, but their shadows remained.” Keep in mind that quote only described the intensity of “Little Boy”, the nickname for the bomb that devastated Hiroshima. The bombs that dilapidated both Hiroshima and Nagasaki were harrowing, gruesome, and in all sincerity, needless. The reasoning people have given to justify the bombings was because it was a military necessity; they thought the atom bombs were needed to save lives and to end the war quickly. However, the Merriam-Webster dictionary explicitly defines a ‘military necessity’ as “the necessity attending belligerent military operations that is held to justify all measures necessary to bring an enemy to complete submission excluding those (as cruelty, torture, poison, perfidy, wanton destruction) that are forbidden by modern laws and customs of war.” According to this interpretation of a ‘military necessity’, both of the bombings do not match this definition. Various people wonder why the U.S. would condone the use of the explosives and inflict such destruction on others, considering that they had first hand experiences on devastating attacks that seemed gratuitous. Many have argued that there were multiple alternatives to such a catastrophe, and the bombs did not have to be utilized. Others state that the bombings were
The United States should not have dropped the atomic bomb because it was inhumane. By using that powerful bomb on japan lots of people died and lots of people lost their children, families, and it also ruined everything on their land so they can’t have access to anything. According to document ‘E,’ the evidence shows that it was hard for Japanese because they lost lots of people, 64,000 people total died from Nagasaki and 135,000 total died from Hiroshima which was terrifying. This evidence helps explain that the U.S. should not have dropped the atomic bomb because it took lives of civilians and innocent people.
Apart from my view that the bombings were unnecessary, I would also like to highlight the aftermath of both bombings, which is the massive collateral damage recorded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a devastating destruction that can never be erased in Japan’s
On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb to ever be used in the history of the world was dropped on Hiroshima. The result of this bomb killed roughly 80,000 people from the blast itself, and tens of thousands more due to radiation poisoning. After a few days passed, the United States dropped another nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, and threatened to drop another if the Japanese did not surrender. The bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki lead to the Japanese surrender to the United States, removing them from the war. While the use of this bomb was likely necessary at the time, was it an ethical decision? The lives that were affected from this blast were not just of those who experienced it, generations later, people who weren’t even alive at the time were faced with trauma as well. With that being said, the dropping of the bomb might have been necessary, but it was an unethical decision, even though the Japanese made it perfectly clear that they will fight until the last civilian.
I believe that the dropping of the atomic bombs were a necessity to end the war. There are 3 main reasons I believe this. Those reasons are that millions of American and Japanese lives were saved, there was no imminent evidence that Japan was going to surrender, The US was trying to show their power to the USSR.
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.
Firstly, the bombings were unjustified because of the locations where the bombs were dropped. Neither cities were military or naval bases. Hiroshima was
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.
The atomic bombing of Japan was an unjustified decision that many considered was inhumane. Through the use of atomic bombs, many innocents were harmed in one way or another. Berger described the atomic bombing of Hiroshima as "a terrorist act" and that it was "evil". While Berger 's argument was extreme, the U.S. still remains unjustified because they did not know exactly how much damage the bomb would actually cause. Bombing Japan, the U.S. harmed thousands of civilians and displayed the effectiveness of the atomic bomb despite having other options to end the war.