Theoretically of course, what if a country was to develop a weapon strong enough to completely disintegrate cities and all the people living in it? Coincidently, the United states discovered a bomb that did exactly that and ended up thrusting the world into a new era of weaponized technology towards the end of World War II. Countries from this point on became wary of opposing the United States, aware of the power they possessed, especially since the US had already used this weapon on Japan to end the war. However, the Japanese were committed to fight to the bitter end of the war and see it all the way through, regardless of the fact that the United States demanded unconditional surrender from the small country of islands. This further emphasizes that since the Japanese were not simply going to give up, Truman came to the conclusion that in order to save millions of lives, he had to take thousands. President Truman decided to drop the atomic bomb on Japan to warn the world about the new found power of the United States, force an unconditional surrender of the Japanese, and save millions of lives. With the controversy over whether or not Truman should have dropped the bomb, some consider the decision irrational and unnecessary. However what these sceptics don 't realize is that the use of the atomic bomb not only helped end the war, but facilitated the dominance of the United States that the Japanese finally gave in to. In the section titled, NOTES OF THE INTERIM
This resulted in the surrender of the Japanese on August 14, 1945. Military analyst suggest that Japan was on their knees, and about to surrender. The atomic bombs were unnecessary. Later, critics even stated that the atomic bombs were a form of racism, and it would have never happened if it were on white Americans. Truman insisted that his decision was a military action, and should not be looked at any other way.
In 1945 the United States was faced with an extremely difficult decision, this decision would bring a beginning to the “nuclear age” and end world war 2 but was it worth it. The decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan is thought to have been done to prevent the loss of an estimated 200,000 American troops; the bombs were an alternative to occupation/invasion . The first crucial point to consider is the alternative options available to the United States to achieve victory in the Pacific Theater; the two primary Alternatives were a full-scale invasion of Japan or a Prolonged blockade. Both of these options would have likely resulted in Far higher casualties on both sides and an invasion of Japan would have exposed countless soldiers to brutal Warfare, leading to a catastrophic loss of life.
At this point in the war America had already suffered losses of more than 418,000 lives, both military and civilian. Thanks to the manhattan project they had a weapon of mass destruction within their grasp, the atomic bomb. It is right to say that the use of the weapon helped to near the end of WWII. Germany was already out of the picture, but Japan held its strength, conquering several hundred islands in the Indian Ocean. In an article
Though the US attempted to justify that these bombs were to end WW2 as quickly as possible to shorten the extent of people's lives being taken and destroyed, this is entirely untrue; there was a better plan that would have had the same effect. According to President Truman and others as a part of his administration, The atomic bombings were necessary to cut the war in the Pacific short, avoiding the US invasion of Japan and saving thousands upon thousands of Americans. 1
Imagine that there is a decision to be made to launch the atomic bomb or not. The bomb was launched but was it justified? Years ago during WWll, a scientist Albert Einstein sent a letter to the president. It said that Germany was creating a bomb that would cause major destruction and the United States had to make one as well. Scientists started making the bomb and it became the Project Manhattan.
In the twentieth century, the United States dropped two atomic bombs, which were the most powerful weapons at that time, on Japan. It happened on August 6 and August 9, 1945. The atomic bombs killed 226,000 Japanese and ended the war. However, America should not have dropped the atomic bombs for two reasons. First, it was not necessary to drop the bomb to win the war militarily or to get the Japanese to surrender.
On August 14 Emperor Hirohito announced to the Japanese people that they would surrender” (“Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb” 14). The United States dropping the atomic bomb on Japan was the reason for its surrender. They knew that they could not risk the chance of another bomb being dropped. It was imminent that they would lose the war. People against the atomic bomb say that the act of international bombing that the U.S. did was illegal.
Name: Course Instructor: Class: Date: Critical Book Review: Prompt and Utter Destruction Introduction Within weeks, word on the US dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki began to spread that the main reason behind the bombs was to save the lives of Americans (Bernard). It was put that hundreds of thousands of American military causalities were saved through the bombings.
Was America Justified in dropping the atom bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945? On August 6th, 1945 at 8:16 AM, a great yet horrific event in history occurred. This event is known as the dropping of the atom bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan, the event that would begin and end the pain and suffering of millions. The atom bomb was dropped by an American B-29 Superfortress bomber named Enola Gay and
As stated in document A, President Truman believed that it was his duty as president to use every weapon available to save American lives. By making the decision to employ atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it successfully brought an end to World War II. Now, while these bombs did ultimately spare thousands of American lives, it did also put an end to about 200,000 lives as shown in document E. Document A stated that Admiral William Leahy, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, opposed using the bomb because it killed civilians indiscriminately. He believed that an economic blockade and conventional bombing would convince Japan to surrender. As an opposite end of the spectrum though Truman’s advisor, James Byrnes thought that the use of “the A-bombs would not only cause Japan to surrender, but also impress the Soviet Union, and hopefully stop its expansion” (Doc C).
The United States and Japan fought in World War II during 1941 to 1945. Japan planned to expand their land and gain resources- which led them to invade China whom was an ally of the U.S. In result, the United States cut off the supply of oil to Japan. On December 7th 1941, Japan’s air force did a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor because that is where their military base is located.
World War Two was drawing to a close in Germany, but still going relatively strong in the Pacific, and Truman was given a choice; he could use the expensive bomb manufactured in the Manhattan Project or he could choose to find some other method of quickly ending the war. Although it still remains a highly controversial issue, Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb upon Japan was ultimately the most logical choice he could make in that situation. The only way to truly win a war is to so demoralize the enemy that they lose their will to continue fighting as was best demonstrated by Sherman’s march to the Atlantic in which he destroyed the south so that the people would no longer want to fight. If the United States wanted to win the war, it was necessary to make sure that the Japanese had absolutely no more will with which to carry on the war. Also the ultimate goal of the United States during the war was to force an unconditional surrender from Japan,
President Truman and his associates believed that if they dropped the bomb they would receive surrender from Japan. Thus, saving millions of American lives, and ending the war. Nevertheless, by saving American lives they would sacrifice thousands of Japanese civilians. They had other idea to have Japan to surrender, but were willing to take the one that would have the most consequences. They were thinking too much about the US instead of creating actually peace within the nations.
I was reading on The Week magazine 's website that on July 18th, 1945, President Truman was informed that the atomic bomb tests were successful. In other words, he now knew that America held the most deadly weapon in history, a weapon able to wipe out entire cities, or even nations. What a day. Imagine the possible accomplishments with such power; imagine what America could have become if we had used the atomic bomb to conquer the world.
Thesis statement: Though many speculate that the act of dropping the atomic bomb on Japan (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) while not doing so on Europe (Germany and Italy) was racially motivated, racism played little to no role in these bombings. The United States of America and her allies were willing to end World War II at any cost, had the atomic bombs been available they would have been deployed in Europe. In the 1940’s there is no doubt that the United States of America was engulfed by mass anti-Japanese hysteria which inevitably bled over into America’s foreign policy. During this period Japanese people living in both Japan and the United States of America were seen as less that human.