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Atomic Bomb Dbq Essay

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The atomic bomb dropping was the last resort for the Americans during the brutal pacific front warfare. Fighting the war on the pacific homefront was different than in Europe because the terrain was different, the weather was vastly different, and the jungles were booby-trapped. The Americans tried the strategy of island hopping, the goal was to take over the islands one by one, and work closer to the mainland. They also wanted to establish bases on those islands and be closer to the enemy. The Japanese had the bushido mentality; death before dishonor. This means that the Japanese would refuse to surrender, they would rather die than surrender and dishonor their families. They were difficult to defeat because they would never surrender, so …show more content…

If the United States never dropped the atomic bomb then soldiers would have had to invade Japan which would result in a large number of casualties. “I have been convinced that we saved more lives than we took. It would have been morally wrong if we’d have had that weapon and not used it and let a million more people die”(Source 8). Due to the Japanese bushido mentality, they were never going to surrender, and they would fight until the last man was standing. “The Japanese had demonstrated near-fanatical resistance, fighting to almost the last man on Pacific islands, committing mass suicide on Saipan, and unleashing kamikaze attacks at Okinawa”(Source 11). After the atomic bomb was dropped and Japanese soldiers got the order to surrender, they started killing themselves because they did not want to surrender because of their bushido ideology. “ The notion that the atomic bombs caused the Japanese surrender on Aug. 15, 1945, has been, for many Americans and virtually all U.S. history textbooks, the default understanding of how and why the war ended”(Source 9). The atomic bomb convinced Japan to end the war, the bomb was catastrophic to Japan and immense damage was dealt in Hiroshima and …show more content…

It is understandable as to why people believe that dropping the atomic bombs was inhuman, however, the pro’s outweighed the cons of dropping the bomb. The Manhattan project was the trials and tests that the US government was doing to try and create an atomic bomb. Without Truman’s intelligence strategy and his brilliant scientists led by Julius Oppenheimer, the bomb America would have not been able to end the war. Japanese soldiers were not going to surrender, and they would fight until the last man standing. The atomic bomb dropping was the nail in the coffin for the Americans during World War II in the Pacific. Overall, the gruesome war in the Pacific was ended by a tragic event that ultimately saved millions of lives by sacrificing a small portion. If the United States decided to not try and create the atomic bombs, how could that have affected America’s

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They had the choice to save their people from the destructive consequences of battle, but instead they chose to keep fighting a war they had already lost (Doc. I). The Japanese refused the ultimatum because Hirohito “resisted facing reality and never acted resolutely”(OI/ history.com). In other words, the Japanese government wasn't facing the facts, and wished to continue in a war that would largely damage their cities, population, and any hope of being successful. Instead, they went on with fighting, which ended with them losing two of their major cities and an increased number of civilian casualties. As you can see, the decision to drop the atomic bombs was justified due to the fact that the Japanese weren't going to stop, so we needed to end

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In 1945, Germany surrendered, leaving Japan as the only Axis Power still fighting in WWII. The US devised plans that would force Japan to surrender. In August, 1945, the US ended up dropping two atomic bombs; one in Hiroshima and one in Nagasaki, which ultimately led to the surrender of Japan. Some believed that the atomic bomb should have not been dropped because it was barbaric as it killed many innocent civilians while some thought that the atomic bomb was necessary in order to get Japan to surrender, ending the war. President Truman’s decision to use the atomic bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a justified action as it was necessary to end the war while saving the American troops lives and prohibiting Russia from interfering with Japanese affairs.

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In fact, May and Astore’s “Atomic Bomb: Was the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Justified?” claimed that Harry Truman and his colleagues didn't know what the aftermath of the bombing would look like, they didn't know about the illnesses it would cause or the war it was kick-starting . They still dropped the bomb in ignorance. Thus, dropping bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused unforeseen consequences like the start of the cold war. Instead of ending a war and bringing peace they ended one war and started another one. The evidence proves just how ignorant and extreme the measures taken by the US government was when they decided to drop the atomic bomb on innocent civilians.

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Towards the end of the war, it was clear that Japan was not going to surrender, and a full-blown invasion of the mainland may be necessary to end the war. Out of fear of unnecessary American and Japanese deaths the U.S. made a drastic choice. “Instead, in an effort to end the war quickly, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945” (Gale in Context 18). After the two bombs were dropped, Japan surrendered and agreed to cease fighting.

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Even though they have already lost the war they still wanted to keep on fighting and not surrender for anything. They would still attack and then the United States had to act in order to guarantee Japan surrendering.

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