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The fatal atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the end of World War II are written down in history books today. This is because they had a drastic story behind them that changed the world and the lives of many civilians. The United States decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II had both positive and negative results.

On August 6, 1945 an explosion blew up the city of Hiroshima. It was reduced to rubble. In the months leading up to the bomb, WWII was close to being over. Germany had surrendered but Japan wasn't ready to give up without a fight. The USA issued a warning to Japan but Japan ignored it. The USA went ahead with their plan and dropped the atomic bomb from a B-29 which brought havoc to Hiroshima. The bombing of Hiroshima was justified because it saved American lives, the Japanese had been given an ultimatum and the bomb was a retaliation for the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

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.

Atomic bombs are so powerful that it immediately causes a widespread killing of the people close to the explosion. The aftermath of the explosions are horrific to where there were bodies floating down the stream (Document F). “The use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in out war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender” (Document B). This means that the Japanese thought these weapons were exceedingly brutal and would wipe out everything, so they weren’t in favor of the bombs. They were already defeated from the power of these bombs and they couldn’t do anything after the explosions, and this was just not necessary. After the attacks, Hiroshima was no longer a city but a burned-over prairie. To the east and west everything was flattened (Document D). Entire cities were wiped out and this caused shock and sadness to approach into

First, the bombs had a huge effect on the Japanese people, the countries that surrounded Japan such as Korea, and World War Two as a whole. The two bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Little Boy and Fat Man, killed at least 129,000 people in total. It ended up causing other issues, such as child birth defects and a boost in illness. In the year following the bombs dropped, 1946, there were an astounding 1900 deaths from cancer. This is said to come from the bombs radiation fallout. One good result that came from all the tragedy of the war, is that Japan ended up surrendering to the Allies. This was around the same time that Germany surrendered, so the allies took the win.

Many of us are taught in our early history classes that the use of the bombs was solely to bring a swift end to the war, but it was far more complicated than that. Under Japan's long-practiced doctrine of Bushido, a code of honor and morals developed by the samurai, America was looking at a direr, drawn-out conflict. This is important to know in the war because by this code the Japanese fought under the notion that they would never surrender. It seems simple but it had its effect on the U.S. military (in terms of morale) and the Japanese people. While our forces were island hopping, the inhabitants of those islands were conditioned by the Japanese military to believe that the American invaders would eat their children, or commit other heinously unspeakable acts, and

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.

First of all, the dropping of the atomic bomb caused the Japanese to surrender and leading to the end of the war. For the reason that, after the first bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, yet Japan did not want to surrender. The Japanese empire surrender after that second atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. According to Harrys S Truman’s Decision “One week later, on August 14, 1945, after the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, the Japanese surrendered” . The results of the significant and brave decision that President Truman made; put a stop to many issues that may had occurred during the WWII. Nevertheless, the usage of the second atomic bomb made the Japanese realize that the United States had created a powerful weapon, and lead to their surrender. Second of all, the atomic bomb was the most proper manner in avoiding a Japanese invasion. The United States was mostly concern on an unexpected invasion or attack from Japan, such as the attack on Pearl Harbor. According to the article History, President Roosevelt commented “I believe I interpret the will of the congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.” Moreover, the unexpected attack on Pearl Harbor is a perfect example of the damages that they

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

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 end results of the bombings were terrifying, however Truman’s decision was based on reducing the number of casualties and although no one can be sure what would have happened if the atomic bomb was never dropped there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the invasion would have gone through and the number of casualties would have been expontential. The bombings not only reduced the casualties of US troops and the Japanese peoples but of those who lived in territtories occupied by the japanese as the casualty rate during the years of 1931-1945 was at an estimated 17,222,500 and gradually continued increasing towards the end of the war (Landesman 34-35). Although the lost 250,000 lives is not insignifigant nor the damage done to the cities,

After the Japanese dropped the bomb on Pearl Harbor, the United States took serious offense to it. The Americans dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki because of them dropping the bomb on Pearl Harbor. America dropped the bomb because President Harry Truman commanded that if the Japanese made any attack on us, we would attack them. This bomb badly affected Japan. At least 140,000 Japanese people died, including 20,000 soldiers by December of 1945. At least 90% of the deceased were killed within two weeks of the bomb being dropped. 92% of 76,000 buildings were destroyed. (“Hiroshima Committee”)

Two days later the U.S dropped a bomb on Nagasaki, another small city in Japan, the Japanese willing surrendered and ended the war six days after. Hiroshima was significant because it changed warfare forever, wars would never be the same. Hiroshima demonstrated the amount of destruction that people could bring upon the world. In a way it changed the world for the better because it made people scared because they knew if another war was going to start it would be the most brutal and deadly war ever.

By bombing Japan, many civilians were killed as a result of the U.S. 's desire to use a new weapon. Laurence describes the bomb as, "a thing of beauty to behold" and "Never before had so much brain power been focused on a single problem" (11). This demonstrated how the U.S. saw Japan as a problem that needed to be dealt with quickly and that the new and supposedly destructive weapon was the best choice. While the targets, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, were both production areas ,they were inhabited by a number of civilians. By choosing to drop the bomb, thousands were annihilated and any survivors began to suffer from radiation sickness shortly after. Because of its destruction, the U.S. believed the atomic bomb was a quick solution to the war.