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WWII Was Justified

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U.S. justified in using nuclear weapons against Japan in WWII On 6 August 1945, a B-29 Superfortress flew over the islands of Japan and unleashed the devastating power of the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Was the United States justified in dropping the bomb? This depends largely on your point of view. I believe that the U.S. was justified in dropping the nuclear bombs for three main reasons. The first was the unprovoked viscous attack on Pearl Harbor. The attack on Pearl Harbor which had taken place three and a half years before Hiroshima was bombed had taken the lives of countless innocent soldiers with innocent civilians, including women, and children also perishing. The United States had not been involved in the war as …show more content…

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 …show more content…

Even though the case of morality against using nuclear weapons is a very strong one it is very important to place their use in light of World War II and the total war that the world was experiencing. During World War II the vast majority of the world had thrown aside morality in favor a deadly struggle to defend against the large scale attacks of expansionists and fascism. The use of conventional bombing by either side was widespread and considered justified use of military force even though this form of attack produced massive civilian casualties. These mass bombing attacks were centered on crippling the enemy’s ability to produce war machines which were legal military targets and in so doing this type of bombing was considered justified use of military force. When America attacked Hiroshima and Nagasaki they bombed legitimate military targets and President Truman and his advisors considered them justifiable

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