The spring of 1945 marked the completion of the atomic bomb. Created by Franklin Roosevelt in 1939, the Manhattan Project had used 2 billion dollars of taxpayer money to build the atomic bomb, equating to the most costly government project at the time. Political consequences of such wasted expenditures if the atomic bomb was never detonated justified dropping the bomb. When scientists finally witnessed its power in the demonstration at Alamogordo, New Mexico, newfound repercussions of this weapon of mass destruction propelled the subject to heated debate. Still, the majority opinion of government officials was to drop the bomb because it would reduce lives lost. Or at least that is what they told the American people. The alternative plan was invasions on Kyushu and Honshu, two strategic warfare locations of Japan which were to take place the coming fall and spring. There was no doubt that many lives would be lost through these invasions. Hisaichi Terauchi, Field Marshal of Japan, had already announced the execution of 100,000 Allied prisoners to deter any invasions from taking place. Extreme Japanese war customs also heightened Americans unwillingness to invade. Gyokusai, the Japanese term for suicide, was considered more honorable than surrendering. Committed to fighting to the death, Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, in 1944, declared 100 million gyokusai if circumstances were deemed necessary. The entire nation of Japan was prepared to die. Wartime estimates were imperative to
As World War II was coming to an end during 1945, the creation of one of the most destructive weapons known to humanity occurred within the United States. This weapon, known as “the atomic bomb,” was used on the two Japanese cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in a death toll unprecedented by any military weapon used before and an immediate, unconditional surrender. Some historians believe President Truman decided to drop the atomic bomb in order to intimidate the Soviet Union whereas others believe it was a strictly military measure designed to force Japan’s unconditional surrender. In the Report of a Scientific Panel of nuclear physicists, some scientific colleagues believed the atomic bomb was a “purely technical
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,
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)
Intense moral justification was needed in order to make the decision to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki however, President Truman was ultimately the man who made the final decision to launch ‘Little Boy’ and destroy Hiroshima, Nagasaki and their civilians, thus forcing an end to the war. Although there were many alternatives presented to President Truman, it is unknown as to whether they would have actually succeeded in ending the war or producing less casualties. Truman made the decision to drop these bombs in the heat of war but his justification of having a military target appeared extremely unrealistic, as both cities were full of innocent civilians. The morality of the bombs have been debated over the years, however the publication of the actual damage to civilian life caused a strong voice opposed to the usage in the 60 years following the action.
It was predicted that the invasion of the Japanese mainland at the Island of Kyushu, scheduled for November of 1945, would be even worse. The entire Japanese military and civilian population would fight to the death. American casualties for just the initial invasion to get a foothold on the island of Japan would have taken up to an estimated two months and would have resulted in up to 75,000 to 100,000 casualties and potentially up to 20,000 dead. And that was just to secure the beginning of the invasion. "If we were to go ahead with the plans for a conventional invasion with ground and naval forces, I believe the Japanese thought that they could inflict very heavy casualties on us and possibly as a result get better surrender terms.” said General Carl Spaatz who was in charge of the Air Force operations in the Pacific. He expresses in his words that he strongly believes that the Japanese knew they had a good chance of overcoming this invasion due to their potential to cause mass destruction in terms of outnumbering the American troops. Thus, due to the undesirable costs the alternative of invasion presented, the USA was justified in using the atomic bomb on Japan as the more ideal alternative.
The atomic bombs might have killed thousands, but the bombs also saved millions. Before the war even started Japan had a grudge on America for cutting off of their oil supplies. Germany lost to the allies after hitter committed suicide. Japan was the last remain axis power. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, America had a right to join the war and get revenge. When America dropped the bombs, they did their best not to harm many civilians. Also they saved more lives than they took. The atomic bomb was the best way toned the war efficiently.
World War II was considered as one of the deadliest war in the history. Many innocent civilians died due to the aggressiveness of the Axis powers because of this actions the Allies wanted to overthrow the Axis powers in response to its aggression and to establish a peaceful post-war. The United States decided to join the war along with the Allies after Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, which destroyed a lot of United States battleships. President Truman should have dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki because of Japan’s bombing attack of United States naval base on Pearl Harbor which resulted in the United States to declare war on Japan, to end the inhumane actions of the Japanese soldiers to its
Boom! The sound of the US dropping the atomic bomb that killed millions. Not only did the Atomic bomb cause many deaths but also a lot of damage on Japan.The atomic bomb was the US retaliation back at the Japanese for them bombing Pearl Harbor. While trying to get back at the Japanese the US killed 100s of 1000s of lives including children and claimed that they did this just to shorten the war and that by dropping the bomb they saved American soldier lives.
Secretary of War, Stimson was able to raise the possible outcomes that will come from the use of the bomb on non-combatants. It would taint the United States ‘international standing and reputation” . However, Truman did not take the location of the city into consideration. Furthermore, he was not particularly concern with the targets because he believed the air force would take of that. He left that to the military officials that were in charge of the operation, but he wanted to women or children to get hurt in the process. Ultimately, Truman trusted his officials in the matters of the atomic bomb. He’s faith in his official determined the consequences that would erupt.
The dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945 was a definite turning point in the Pacific War of World War II. Earlier that year, Germany had been defeated and the world then turned its attention to the Pacific war. Most history books state the argument that the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan was necessary to stop the war in order to save thousands of lives of American troops that were planning to invade Japan. "Had the bombs not been employed (so the "wisdom" goes), an enormous number of American troops would have perished in an inevitable amphibious operation against the Japanese mainland."(McManus 1) This paper will demonstrate that Japan was willing to
WWII was one of the deadliest wars in history. The war was ended only when the United States introduced the atomic bomb to the world and destroyed the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. A lot of controversy surrounds the decision made by President Truman to drop the bombs on Japan. The casualties were high and many were civilians, and with this it breeds the following question: Was it the right decision? Could there have been something else the United States could have done before going to such extreme measures? The decision to bomb the Japanese wasn’t an easy one and although the right decision was made it had more to do with political, ethical, and military reasoning than morality.
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
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
The horrific atom bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan on August 6th and 9th of 1945 brought about several reactions in the United States. Starting with the controversial events leading up to the atomic with the Potsdam Proclamation, many Americans began to wonder whether the total destruction of these two cities were necessary. However, immediate American responses and reactions to the bombs were contrary to what they became later on. Americans slowly stopped being ignorant of what had happened in Japan and began to question the actions of their government; although, this questioning of such events was popular at first, they slowly accelerated to stronger beliefs today. Finally, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 has had major effects on America from the day of the bombing to present day United States
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.