The Soviet declaration of war on Japan exerted even more pressure on Japan, triggering even the emperor to urge the government to just accept the Potsdam Declaration and surrender. Its involvement meant that Japan might be fighting a two-front war as the Soviets had already settled in Japanese-held Manchuria, and had orders to attack Japan 's northern and southern isles. This influenced Japan 's unconditional surrender as no strategy remained and it may not hope for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to mediate for an appropriate peace. On August 15, Japan surrendered unconditionally based on all the Potsdam terms. C. Evaluation of source: Source A - Five Days in August: How World War II Became a Nuclear War by Michael Gordin. …show more content…
Furthermore, the source mentions plans for further nuclear weapons, indicating that the Nagasaki attack was not carried out with the intention of decisively ending the war and therefore not necessary. However, it may be limited by the fact that it does not reference enough primary sources that originate from Japanese officials; or directly provide evidence of Japans impending surrender from credible Japanese sources, only using statistics to claim Japan was ready to surrender – but doesn’t take into account the Japanese spirit or determination to continue the war; which suggests there may be an element of bias against the American perspective. (Historynewsnetwork.org, 2015) Source B: The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb by Henry Lewis Stimson Written by Stimson, who was secretary of war in 1947, an article was released in response to the being questioned to comment on the use atomic weapons and whether their use was justified. As a source released only two years after the end of the war, it is valuable because it is indicative of the mind frame of the U.S. government during the time: Stimson 's account is vital when considering the nuclear attacks because of his direct involvement; he led the project and his analysis details why the atomic bombs were used and how the project developed, providing insightful information on how the U.S. government wanted the bombing to be perceived as well as the psychological impact of the bomb on surrender. However, the
In the last piece of evidence, Harry S. Truman, radio address (August 1945). He stated that the atomic bomb was not something to be taken lightly. The enemies week in search of this powerful weapon and if they found it, every peaceful nation would be in danger. America has won the race on discovery this lethal weapon. They have used it against those that attacked Pearl Harbor. They will continue to use it until they gain the complete and total surrender of the Japanese. (Document E). It develops more on the idea that the America used the bomb as a form of stating world domination. It is great that the Americans were able to win the race in getting the hands on the atomic bomb because knowing the opposite sides plans, every nation in the world would be on trouble seeing as they wanted world dominant. America saved many lives that could have been lost if the opposite side had the atomic bomb. But the fact that it was stated that America would use the bomb on those that attacked them and until Japan would completely surrender. This can be perceived as a need for revenge which makes one question weather this bomb would have been good in the hands of anyone at all especially seeing ad America dropped not one but two bombs on Japan. This only adds onto the idea of whether they used it to intimidate the
President Truman during the WWII era had “issued the Potsdam Declaration” which meant that the Japanese have surrendered in July 26, 1945 because they believe the United States will launch their staggering force of Brutality into their lands as it will be extremely painful to endure. The Potsdam Conference was held at Berlin Germany where the country surrendered to end the “European conflict of World War II”. However it does seem the Japanese Empire had raised the White flag of surrender does not conclude Truman’s decision to let the damage dealt at Pearl Harbour to fade.
Japan had already admitted to being defeated and knew they were ready to surrender. “The use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were
America's decision to use the atomic bomb on Japan was only done to assert our position over the Soviet Union, and Japan's surrender was only an extra accomplishment of the attack. During the years 1939 to 1947, numerous conferences were held to discuss diplomatic matters, and the strive towards getting Japan to accept an unconditional surrender. The Japanese had already been weakened, and the military predicted that they would eventually be forced to surrender in a short amount of time. Even the scientists who worked on the atomic bomb agreed that it was unnecessary to drop the bomb on Japan, since their surrender would be evident in the near future. Therefore, the United States' decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan had nothing to do
The essential source has numerous records, notices and petitions inside it dated back to 1945, before the dropping of the nuclear bomb. The documents give direct records of the worries to dropping the atomic bomb and the influences it could have. They discuss the likelihood of Japan's surrender and one of the archives was consequences of a survey gone up against the utilization of the nuclear bomb that was directed July 18, 1945. Add to Understanding: Groves delineation of that day demonstrates not just the energy of seeing what was made, yet additionally the broad measure of pressure that was on the researchers.
Japan during the 1940’s was a nation that prided itself on the concept of never surrendering. It was something that they took fierce and obsessive pride in. Their culture dictated that they are never to give up, even if they fought until every single man,woman, and child living in Japan was slaughtered, they would never surrender. This doctrine was one of the key deciding factors that influenced Truman in making the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Several weeks before the Atomic bomb was dropped, The Untied States of Military issued a warning to the Japanese government. “It warned the Japanese to surrender immediately or face ‘prompt and utter destruction.” (Yes! Harry Truman’s Simple Decision) Unfortunately, a mere two weeks before the first atomic bomb dropped, the Japanese prime minister publically dismissed the warning and refused to surrender. Even after the bombing of Hiroshima, the Japanese government refused to stand down. Even though they had suffered over 225,000 civilian casualties in the attack, the Japanese military refused to surrender. It took until the second bombing of Nagasaki to finally force the Japanese to surrender on American
Document 1 shows that President Truman knew the extensive damage the atomic bomb would cause and never once doubted the importance of using it. He stated the bomb was a “military weapon” that was essential to ending World War II. Supporters of the decision to drop the atomic bomb also argued that death is an “inevitable” outcome of war. In Document 3, for example, Henry Stimson called war “the face of death,” and states that although a hundred thousand lives were lost, it was the “least abhorrent alternative.” According to Stimson, if World War II didn’t end, the “fire raids” and the “strangling blockade” would have continued, resulting in more deaths than the atomic bomb caused.
“On August 6, 1945, the world was changed forever with the denotation of an atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima, followed three days later with the use of another bomb over Nagasaki”1. The United States use of atomic weapons on Japan in 1945 was an event that triggered the fear of many individuals because it was during the period of war. The use of atomic weapons by the United States however, was justified because they had to end the war quicker, they intended to do minimal damage, and they had no other alternative.
On August 15th Japan surrendered, and on September 2nd, 1945 they signed the “Instrument of Surrender”. Hospitals were filled with patients who had not seemed sick before. People vomited, bled from their gums, and spots had begun to appear on their skin. Later Japanese doctors discovered that the people were dying from radiation that came from the atomic bomb. {look up: conspiracy theory} When considering using the atomic bombs, President Truman took into account the lowest possible cost for ending the war, he also wanted to end the war quickly. Truman once stated, “When you have to deal with a beast you have to treat him as a beast.” After the Pearl Harbor invasion. The U.S. started with “Operation Downfall,” invading Kyushu, many casualties where estimated, but this war proved to be even more deadly than predicted. General MacArthur thought that dropping more bombs, and using air power by itself would protect American lives, while also bringing forth a quicker surrender from the Japanese. When I look at both sides of the 1945 Japan bombing I really tried to stay open about the different viewpoints. The fact that the U.S., Britain, and the Netherlands crippled Japan was interesting to find. I felt that the Japanese did not want to compromise, and in some way bit the hands that fed them. It seems these allies had allot of power. The Japanese seemed to only
The Truman administration did not want to give Japan a conditional surrender and let them maintain their emperor because they feared that there would be a backlash from the American public who felt that the emperor was a war criminal. President Truman was also sold on this and there was really no moving him to change his mind. Herbert Feis in 1961 wrote that, “I think it may be concluded that the fight would have continued into July at least Unless…the American and Soviet Government together had let it be known that unless Japan laid down its arms at once, the Soviet Union was going to enter the war. That, along with a promise to spare the Emperor, might well have made an earlier bid for surrender effective” (Alperovitz 23). If the United States would have done this we could have been on the move to reconstructing the Japanese nation. Leaving the Japanes Emperor would have helped the Japanes feel some what better about the American invlovment at that time. On August 9 the Russian army invaded Manchuria and completely handled the
There were many causes for the United States dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. One of these causes was because we wanted to increase the chances of Japan surrendering so that
The Japanese saw this as an incredible insult to their ruler, and therefore refused surrender (Lawton). The only reason why America could follow through with the term of “The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction” (“Potsdam Declaration”) was because it had made the terms of the Potsdam Declaration completely disgraceful and unacceptable for Japan. Clive A. Lawton argues “Many Japanese politicians would only agree to surrender if Emperor Hirohito remained on the throne”. Had the U.S. revised its treaty terms in order to keep Hirohito in power and leave at least some of the Japanese military intact, Japan would have likely surrendered quicker and the bombs would not be needed.
Hasegawa explores other possibilities, perhaps involving Stalin in the Potsdam Proclamation so Japan would finally give up hope of the Russian mediation. Thus, Japan would be forced to face the terms presented by Truman and give a clear status of surrender. Hasegawa attributes the Japanese surrender to the soviet invasion rather than the atomic bombs anyway. “An alternative was available, but they chose not to take it” (Hasegawa p. 247). Hasegawa believes that there were multiple routes Truman could have taken and avoided nuclear warfare, instead, his actions were motivated by
Although WW II ended over 50 years ago there is still much discussion as to the events which ended the War in the Pacific. The primary event which historians attribute to this end are the use of atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although the bombing of these cities did force the Japanese to surrender, many people today ask "Was the use of the atomic bomb necessary to end the war?" and more importantly "Why was the decision to use the bomb made?" Ronald Takaki examines these questions in his book Hiroshima.
In addition to the desire to end the war and thus the casualties to the American troops, Truman had other reasons for considering the approval of the atomic attacks. Truman was enlightened by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson in a meeting on April 25, 1945 on the capability of the bomb, and the enormous expense incurred in developing it. This was one reason that Truman’s conclusion was to use the bomb against Japan, as there had to be a justifiable explanation for the expense incurred. Also, if he had not employed the use of the atomic bomb, he would not be able to justify to the American people why he had chosen not to do so, as there were so many American lives lost. It was alleged after the