The Importance Of Military Necessity

When the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki all living things in a five square mile radius of where the atomic bombs impacted died instantly, it ended the war and saved thousands lives. The following documents tell you about the importance of dropping the atomic bomb and the thinking behind there strategies. The US wanted Japan to surrender and wanted no more bloodshed and wanted the Soviet Union to be surprised. As stated in document 13 the Americans concern for Japan's unwillingness to resign, “imminent threat of a landing, on Japan proper by us, to convince them of the hopelessness of their situation”1. and again in document 16 shares thoughts for Russia involvement, “atomic attack against Japan would shock the Russians”2 finally document 17 shows the stubbornness of “Japan to agree Japanese leadership would probably not have surrendered if the Truman administration had clarified the status of the emperor when it demanded unconditional surrender prolongation of the war and cost a large number of human lives”3. Although some people think dropping the atomic bombs on Japan wasn’t justified, I think that dropping the atomic bombs on Japan was justified.

On August 6, 1945, the 33rd president of the United States, Harry S. Truman, made the executive decision to drop a 10,000 pound atomic bomb named “Little Boy” on the city of Hiroshima in Japan. Three days later, Truman ordered another atomic bomb, called “Fat Man” to be dropped on another Japanese city, Nagasaki. Each bomb had a blast radius of fifty miles. The decision to utilize these weapons of mass destruction will always be a very controversial topic because of the debated morality of the decision.

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped the Atomic Bomb “Little Boy” on Hiroshima. On August 9, 1945, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb “Fat Man” on Nagasaki. The first bomb was dropped to scare the Japanese into surrendering when it didn’t work the second bomb was dropped causing destruction and the surrender of Japan. In a time of need and anguish, Harry S Truman made the courageous decision to drop the first atomic bombs on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The big question is whether America was justified in dropping the bombs and it was because it would help stop the war, save American lives, and avenge those who were sadly murdered or hurt in the process.

The two atomics bombings dropping on Japan are forever remembered today as a changing moment in history. The US dropped the atomic bomb called “Little Boy” on Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945. Only three days later on August 9th, 1945, the second atomic bomb called “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki. This has been the only time that nuclear weapons have been used in war. These bombs have been questioned through history if it was moral or immoral correct. However, the bombs were definitely a moral decision, which helped the country immeasurably. The atomic bombing of Japan was a military success, and a moral decision because it was less harmful than the fire bombings and it helped the country immeasurably.

The dropping of the atomic bomb saved Japanese lives in many different types of ways. If United States did not drop the atomic bomb then they would have to invade the home islands of Japan which would lead

By avoiding a highly questionable land invasion, the bomb saved “half a million” American lives. In his personal diary, Truman wrote, “General Marshall told me that it might cost half a million American lives to force the enemy’s surrender on his home grounds.” This estimate was based on previous battle figures at Okinawa, where Americans suffered 50,000 casualties despite outnumbering the Japanese by two and a half to one.

One may argue the atomic bomb dropped on Japan ended the war, saved lives, and saved a small amount of money by not going to waste. The two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Iwo Jima overall ended the war by forcing Japan to surrender. “For Americans in uniform and those who waited for them to come home, outrageous as this might appear from the moral heights of hindsight, it was a sunburst of deliverance.” (Doc 13) Lester Bernstein gave examples of the alleviation felt once the war ended. Although many were relieved, the act of dropping the bomb was completely barbaric.

The dropping of Little Boy and Fat Man on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, opened up the eyes of the US and people responsible for creating and dropping the bomb. Now we know how much the damage the bomb is capable of and how we need to go about dropping another one if we are forced to do

Imagine you are standing in a city in Japan overlooking Hiroshima. Smoke in the distance and everyone frightened at the scene. Buildings collapse by the dozen and people rushing to their houses. You get inside and check the news Hiroshima was bombed. In 1945 the U.S. dropped 2 bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to stop Japan. The bombing of Hiroshima made an important impact on our history and culture.

Although dropping the Atomic Bomb was detrimental to a group of Japanese citizens, it saved many American lives and ultimately ended the war. If the American Army tried to make a land attack against the Japanese they would have lost many American lives, and possibly many more Japanese lives. And there would have been a possibility of many more years of fighting. Also the Japanese were given fair warning, on July 26 the Japanese were given the chance to surrender known as the Potsdam Declaration. Even though many people see the dropping of the Atomic bomb as a good thing, many people were against it because it cost many civilians their lives.

This is what lead the Japanese to continue fighting long after success became futile, and long after their only strong ally had fallen in Europe. This insane perseverance is what lead the United States, forced into a war they never wanted to be in to begin with, to take drastic actions to finally end the bloodshed. America had two options at this point to force Japan to surrender: either they launch a full scale ground troop invasion of Japan, risking many lives on both sides, or they could cause such devastation to Japan with these bombs that they would essentially nuke them into compliance. The United States obviously chose the second option in this case, and this option did exactly as it intended: Japan surrendered and World War II was over.

At the time of the United States decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, World War II had been waging for six years. Both Japan and the US had lost tons of supplies and resources, millions of dollars, and thousands of troops. The decision that finally ended the war was taken by the U.S on August 6, 1945, when the American bomber Enola Gay dropped the very first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. Three days later, the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, and Japan finally surrendered. However, Japan's surrender was not the intent of the United States when dropping these bombs- this was a diplomatic measure taken by the government to warn the Soviet Union against their growing influence in Europe. Dropping the atomic bombs was an unnecessary decision which cost the lives of over 300,000 innocent people and has detrimentally affected the health of generations to come.

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

The decision to drop the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the hardest decision for President Truman to make. He had the power right there in his hands to end the war but he would have to unleash the most powerful weapon known to man, at this time. Everyone was very tired of fighting but the Japanese would not give up so Truman decided to drop it. Even though we told Japan that if they did not surrender we would completely demolish some of their cities, they did not listen and they did not surrender. Maybe they did not think about what kind of weapons we would use because

Through the efforts of the “Manhattan Project” and the scientists within it, several nuclear bombs were created. Two of which, “Little Boy” and “Fat Man,” ended up being dropped on Japan. “Little Boy,” the only uranium bomb created was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 (Batchelder 99-105). “Fat Man,” the second nuclear bomb ever used in warfare, detonated above Nagasaki on August 11, 1945 (Batchelder 95-105). The leaders of the United States, decided that dropping the newly developed atomic bombs on Japan was the smartest action they could take at the time, given the current situation that the United States and the world was in. Dropping the bombs on Japan was mainly motivated by the belief that human lives could be saved. A massive invasion of the Japanese mainland was the only other option if no bombs were going to be dropped. The fact that the Japanese main army of approximately two million had never before been defeated on top of the Japanese terrain which was much better suited for guerrilla warfare than the mechanical ways of the U.S. put estimated American deaths alone well over the deaths at Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined (Batchelder 114-118).