Was The Atomic Bombing Of Hiroshima And Nagasaki Justified?

They think that the Japanese were going to surrender, that Truman’s advisers didn’t all agree that the bomb was necessary, and that there was a better way to get Japan to surrender. But, it turns out that this was not the case. Japan was an honor-based country. Surrendering was not honorable to them. They were taught that suicide was an honorable death. “A prominent local Navy man, a former employee, had committed suicide the day before by throwing himself under a train- a death considered honorable enough to warrant a memorial service.”. (Hersey, 16). If it was honorable enough for a normal man to commit suicide, then people wouldn’t hesitate to die for their country. Japan would be wiped out because they wouldn’t know when to give up. In an interview with a high ranked Japanese officer on v-j day, Karl T. Compton asked him what he thought would happen if we hadn’t dropped the bomb, and invaded instead. He said, “We would have kept on fighting until all Japanese were killed, but we would not have been defeated.”. By this he means that they would have kept fighting until they were dead, and even though they would lose, it wouldn’t be losing if they died honorably, fighting for their country. Another reason why people did not think that he atomic bomb was not necessary was because people think that Truman’s advisors were not in favor of the bomb, therefore making the decision to drop the bomb only up to Truman,

On July 26, U.S. President Harry S. Truman and Allies issued a final ultimatum to Japan, known as the Potsdam Declaration. The Potsdam Declaration is a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces. The Proclamation Defining Terms of Japanese Surrender consisted of thirteen conditions that the Japanese had to abide by. Japan was warned numerous times from the United States about the potential threat of an invasion or the use of a new weapon. “Japan would be warned that the new weapon would be used against Japan unless surrender was forthcoming.” Premier Kantaro Suzuki had rejected Truman’s final warning by stating that it was unworthy of public notice. January of 1945, a reporter for Newsweek wrote, “This intense hatred was first aroused by the sneak attack on Pearl Harbour. I remember men who, when they came to the Pacific, had no particular hatred of or desire to kill Japanese. When treachery affects you, or somebody you know, you grow to hate violently.” President Truman was disturbed over the unwarranted attack of Pearl Harbour and the murder of their prisoners of war. Japan had, not only attacked Pearl Harbour, involvement of the Bataan Death March, and the bloody battles in the Pacific. Leaflets were also dropped over Japan to let the people acknowledge that if Japan would not surrender, the U.S. is willing

During world war two, the Imperial Japanese army forced an estimated 200,000 women into sexual slavery. This is just one of the many atrocities committed by Japan during world war two. Even though many say that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were inhumane, the US was completely justified because the future casualties were minimized and Japan and its allies committed atrocious war crimes.

Nearly seventy years later, there is still controversy amongst the atomic bombs that were developed and dropped during World War Two. These atomic bombs would unleash a force of destruction that the world has never yet seen. The Manhattan Project developed these bombs under their distinct codenames, Little Boy and Fat Man. Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima August 6, 1945, resulting in approximately 140,000 Japanese casualties. Three days later after the event occurred, Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki, which resulted in approximately 70,000 casualties. Historians can argue that the atomic bombs were a necessity to win the war. Others can argue that the war was already over and dropping the bombs was completely unnecessary. Although there are many solid points to both arguments, the atomic bombs dropped on Japan was justified.

With the closing of the Second World War at hand, Harry S. Truman represented the United States in Potsdam Germany to decide the fate of a post war world. The key individuals in the conference consisted of the allied leaders, Soviet Premier Stalin, Prime Minister Churchill, and Truman. Dubbed the “big Three” in the second conference of the post war, they were charged with the daunting task of dealing with Japan and their continued effort in the ending war. The Potsdam Declaration was devised. It simply stated that Japan must immediately agree to an unconditional surrender or face total destruction. Japan would ignore this declaration (Scoenberger, 1969).

The pressing question still lingers: Was the United States justified in using the Atomic Bomb against Japan during WWII? World War II stands as the bloodiest and deadliest war of all time. It involved more than thirty countries and resulted in over fifty million civilian and military deaths. It lasted six years, beginning with Adolf Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939. As the Allied Powers (mainly the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union) and the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) were in direct conflict with each other, many wonder if the cost of victory was too extreme. In late 1941, the process of creating the world’s first, most deadly weapon began. The production of the first atomic bomb was code named “the Manhattan Project.” After months of production, August 6, 1945, America dropped the “Little Boy” bomb on Hiroshima, wiping out ninety percent of the city. August 9, 1945, just three days after the devastation of the first bomb, America dropped the “Fat Man” bomb on Nagasaki. Dropping the atomic bomb on Japan was not necessary, nor justified in ending World War II. Due to the fact that America targeted heavily civilian populated cities (with limited military value), that Japan was in a position of surrender before the bomb was dropped, and the fact that the U.S. did not give enough time for Japan to process the devastation of the first bomb before the second in Nagasaki shows that America’s decision to drop the atomic bomb was entirely unjustified.

Japanese forces to surrender or prepare for a new lethal weapon at the Potsdam Convention

Before the United States dropped the bomb, they allowed Japan a chance to surrender. On July 26, 1945, the allies issued the Potsdam Declaration. This treaty was meant to make Japan surrender without a war. This was a warning that Japan will undergo harsh and utter destruction if they refused the declaration. Two days later Japan stated that they were going to ignore the Potsdam Declaration (“Was the Atomic Bombing”).

Were the Americans justified in dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945?

World War II was a catastrophic event that changed the course of history forever. Fifty million people were killed due to the abundance of destruction done in Europe and Asia. Although many events that took place during this time like the Holocaust were controversial the atomic bomb still is extremely controversial among millions of people. Dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki resulted in 80,000 innocent civilians lives gone. This is a ridiculous amount of deaths for one event in world history. Undoubtedly, it was not justified to drop the atomic bomb Japan, between the United States not giving Japan a reasonable amount of time to surrender and killing innocent civilians, the use of this barbaric weapon was rushed and uncalled

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

On December 7th, 1941 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was the target of an unannounced military attack by the Japanese Navy. This resulted in the United States entry into World War II. After almost 4 years of war, 400,000 US casualties, 6 months of air strikes on Japanese cities and an impending defeat of Japan, an ultimatum was delivered to Japan by the United States: surrender or be destroyed.

Declaring war is one thing. Even bombing a city, is another. But is completely out of range to endanger the lives of innocent people, and of future children. And that is exactly what America did with the atomic bomb. Needless to say, it was completely unjust for America to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. First of all, millions of innocent Japanese were killed, but also millions of children, present and future. Japan’s take on Hawaii was un-humane, but japan focused on the military, and wasn’t bombing innocent people for no reason, and endangering the lives of future children. Once the atomic bomb was dropped, radiation spread throughout the country, and once Japanese citizens’ lungs even took a whiff of the nuclear gas, their lives were done

Supports of the atomic bombs point out that Japan had been warned and given time to surrender. On July 26, the Potsdam Declaration was sent to Japan as a final ultimatum to accept unconditional surrender. The Allies would accept nothing but unconditional surrender with the document being concluded with “We call upon the Government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all the Japanese armed forces … the alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction.” In terms of warning, the US had dropped some 63 million leaflets on 35 cities warning citizens that if they didn’t surrender, Japan would be subjected to more bombing and eventual atomic bombing in an attempt to force the government.

The Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings. Genocide or not? ! The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurred on 6-9 August 1945. As stated by Jennifer Rosenberg: ‘‘Unlike many other bombing raids, the goal for this raid had not been a military installation but rather an entire city.’’1 The US wanted to scare the Japanese out of the war. The possible targets of the bombings were: Hiroshima, Kokura, Nagasaki and Niigata. Kyoto was one of the choices as well, but it was removed from the list. ‘‘The cities were chosen because they had been relatively untouched during the war.’’2 The bomb «Little Boy» was dropped on Hiroshima by the crew of a B-29 Superfortress «Enola Gay» bomber. On 9th of August it was followed by the bomb «Fat Man» that was