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Atomic Bomb Dbq Essay

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Intimidation to the brim
On August 1945, America dropped an atomic bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The explosion over Hiroshima wiped out 95 percent of the city and killed 80,000 people. Thousands more would die of radiation exposure. Two days later an atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 50,000 people. Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s surrender on August 15, citing the devastating power of “a new and devastating bomb.” Was dropping an atomic bomb too extreme given the situation? Were their other options to end the war? Did it have anything to do with America flexing its muscles at the Soviet Union? In my opinion, the nuclear bomb should have never been an option for ending the war between the United …show more content…

We were told this was the necessary thing to do to lower the amount of casualties in both the United States and Japan. Many American politicians support this idea. The politicians among them were Harry S. Truman, the one-term president the one who made the final decision on dropping the bombs on Japan. In Truman’s 1955 memoirs, he stated that the bombs saved half a million lives. Truman bragged that he felt no remorse and stated in an interview that he never lost any sleep over the decision of bombing Japan. While also calling the Japanese bitter names such as fanatic, ruthless, merciless, and savages. In 1991, George H.W. Bush also stated dropping an atomic bomb saved millions of lives. In 1995 a crew member of one of the planes that dropped the bombs claimed that the bombing saved six million lives - One million American lives and five million …show more content…

Shortly after the bombing, the Soviets looked at us as enemies. According to several historians, the bombing was done to show intimidation to the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin the leader at the time was outraged and stated in a speech, “Our cannons are ready for war even though they have had no break since the last war.” Stalin found this to be a personal offence of America flexing its Muscles. The bombing of Japan was the primary cause of the nuclear arms race and the cold war. Dropping the bombs could one day lead to ending the world because of nuclear

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301 Words | 2 Pages

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).

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645 Words | 3 Pages

Truman’s decision to bomb Japan was right for many reasons. One piece of evidence that shows Truman made the right decision is when Japan captured our American troops and kept them as prisoners, they beat and starved them and even went as far as executing them, he talks about this in his radio report to the American people. " against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war" (DocF). A second piece of evidence that shows Truman made the right decision is he was just trying to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans. He talks about both of these pieces of evidence in his radio to the American people. "

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1062 Words | 5 Pages

On July 26, 1945, an ultimatum known as the Potsdam Declaration was announced at the Potsdam Conference. This offer was created by the United States, China, and Great Britain and it called “for the unconditional surrender of Japan”(Encyclopedia Britannica). The Japanese Prime Minister at the time, Kantarō Suzuki, replied with “mokusatsu.” The translation was continuously disputed so no one is exactly sure what was said. President Harry S. Truman interpreted Suzuki’s response as a refusal to the surrender, so on August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, Japan.

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719 Words | 3 Pages

The Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Harry S. Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb is one of the biggest and deadliest controversial turning points in history. America’s president, Truman, decided that on August 6, 1945, the atomic bomb would be dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II. President Truman’s choice to drop the bomb on Japan was considered one of the most debatable turning points. The settlement to drop this bomb was a wrong decision because this bomb killed more than 70,000 innocent people with 10,000’s dying later. Also, bombing a country that was going to surrender in a few months would not be necessary, and last but not least, the atomic bomb could give ideas for the world to start nuclear warfare.

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769 Words | 4 Pages

The United States’ order to drop the pair of nuclear bombs was debated until logical conclusions were presented. The decision to finally deploy the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a diplomatic measure calculated to intimidate the Soviet Union in the post-Second-World-War era. America needed to show that they ruled the world stage, and they needed to make Russia more manageable. In addition, the atomic bomb was not required to win the war, displaying that the United States exploited the war as an excuse to show their force and power to other countries on the world stage.

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642 Words | 3 Pages

On the clear mornings of August 6 and 9, 1945, the first atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagaski. Gigantic clouds of ominous dark smoke stained the sky, signaling the end of a seemingly incessant war. Americans and Europeans rejoiced throughout the world; many lives were spared from the brutality of continuing the war. Although this was an extremely hard decision to make and the results were devastating, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a military necessity. To begin, America had already seen how ruthless and cruel the Japanese could be.

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1248 Words | 5 Pages

If a nuclear bomb was dropped today, it would most certainly lead to a nuclear war killing many people. But, in 1945, two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan by the United States just to end World War Two. Or one thinks so. Another theory about the atomic bomb droppings claims that the United States dropped the bombs to intimidate the Soviet Union in the post-Second-World-War era. Ultimately, this claim can be seen as credible because the war in Japan was on the brink of ending, the U.S wanted to make the Russians manageable by showing are capability, and America did not want to make allies with the Soviets.

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611 Words | 3 Pages

In an attempt to get Japan to surrender to the Allies, in August 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the nation. The first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and the second on Nagasaki. Although these bombs did contribute to Japan’s surrender and the end of the war, the use of this atomic weapon was an irrational and horrible decision. The United States should have abstained from using the two atomic bombs on Japan for the sake of civilian lives and possible alternatives to their decision. These bombs not only had detrimental effects on Japan, they also led to an arms race amongst several nations.

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676 Words | 3 Pages

Japan was weakening, “The food situation gradually becoming worse and worse…” Stated in source H. America had many industrial resources to use against Japan and so Japan had essentially been defeated. Japan pushed only for the sake of their countries honour as the shame of unconditional surrender goes against their code of honour. Furthermore a warning was given to Japan with America promising to drop the atomic bomb, however there was no evidence and so it could have easily been deemed a bluff. An American nuclear scientist stated, “A demonstration of the bomb best be made… Japan could then be asked to surrender.” This source seems somewhat reliable as it is from one of the American scientists and they would know the strength of the bomb.

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1327 Words | 6 Pages

However, this is a weak defence when taking Japan’s imminent defeat and peace efforts, as well as the likelihood of Japan’s surrender before the land invasion, into consideration. Furthermore, the usage of the bombs only accelerated the surrender of an already defeated enemy and resulted in high civilian casualty rates. This, along with the ulterior motives in the bomb’s usage, undermines any kind of justification even further. The usage of the atomic bombs was both highly immoral and militarily unnecessary, and had no function in bringing the war to an

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717 Words | 3 Pages

had another solution. In fact, they were given the solution to them by the scientists working on the bomb. The solution was to demonstrate the atomic bomb so the Japanese would be able to see the effects and surrender accordingly. In document 4, it states,”...belief that the worldwide political and social consequences of the power of the weapon being developed…(require the United States to have that power to be) made known by a demonstration to the peoples of the world… Therefore we recommend that before this weapon be used without restriction…its powers should be…demonstrated, and the Japanese nation should be given the opportunity to consider the consequences of further refusal to surrender.”

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1192 Words | 5 Pages

In order to end an agonizing war, the Americans felt it necessary to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, as “conventional weapons” were not as effective as needed. Once and for all the Americans hoped to pull the rug under the Japanese and stop them from standing up once more to fight a terrible war. The attack on Pearl Harbor lead to escalating tensions between America and Japan. Finally, the atomic bomb was used to save more lives than it took. Although there is no way to know how many more soldiers would have died if the atomic bombs were not dropped, there most likely would have been millions more lying dead at the end of war.

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852 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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President Harry Truman gave an executive order in 1945 to drop to atomic bombs in popular downtown cities in Japan. With the guidance of many scientists and political leaders President Truman made the extremely tough decision to drop the bombs. After listening to arguments from both sides President Truman came to the conclusion that dropping bombs would be the best thing to do for this war. It would also show that the United States had an extreme military power. Many American politicians were for the idea of dropping the bomb, because they believed that it was the only way to end the war and get Japan to surrender.

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The Nuclear Bombing In Japan Imagine your county getting bombed by the world’s most powerful bomb of all time. The worse that could ever occur is when everyone dies. On August 6,1945 America dropped the first nuclear bomb in Hiroshima,Japan. Due to all of the risks of dropping the bomb, US was not justified.

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