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Atomic Bomb Dbq Essay

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President Truman once said, "America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand." He was the current president during the last years of WW II. By 1945, the only axis power remaining in the war was Japan. The other main axis power, Germany, had just surrendered, leaving Japan to fight America in the Pacific. The Americans continued to fight the Japanese by firebombing the mainland, however this was not enough, Japan kept fighting. To end the biggest war in history the Americans dropped the new atomic bombs on Japan. By dropping the bombs the Americans officially ended WW II. Further, dropping the bombs prevented even more causalities American and Japanese alike. …show more content…

After dropping the bombs, the Americas ended the war once and for all. Next, dropping the bombs was the quickest way to end the war with Japan. A land invasion would be difficult with still an estimated 5 million men at the Japanese disposal (Document D). With that large of a military force it still would be very difficult to launch a successful land invasion. On the other hand, some argue that after the air attacks on Japan they were weakened enough that the bombs would not be necessary (Document H). However, American lives were still being lost with the air attacks and it was taking a long time because the Japanese still had a sizable military force protecting the main island, though their navy was weakened by the Americans effort. Last, the Japanese were sending for help from Russia in hopes that they would aid them with fighting the Americans (Document J). If the Japanese received that help they could have created a stronger military stretching out WW II by many more years. Ties with Russia would cause many problems not only for America but for other allied countries and would destroy the trust the Allies had with Russia perhaps starting another …show more content…

Some Americans believed that the Japanese military and specifically navy was weak enough that the Americans could launch a successful land invasion on the mainland. However, if this was done it was estimated that over one million American lives would be lost and the Japanese would suffer many causalities as well (Document D). Also, there was many very bloody battles leading up to the dropping of the bombs that would support the idea. For example, Pearl Harbor that left 2,402 people dead and 1,100 people wounded. Battles like Pearl Harbor left Americans dead and supplies diminished (Document A). Consequently, over 130,000 Japanese people were killed when the first bomb dropped. On the other hand, this number is insignificant to the amount of Americans the Japanese killed throughout the war and Pearl Harbor. Last, the Japanese citizens were committing suicide. Due to the Japanese honor code when the Americans took over islands or places with Japanese citizens often the citizens would commit suicide by jumping off of cliffs. They did this because they thought it was a better solution then giving into the Americans. To conclude, the bombs dropped saved the lives of Americans and Japanese people supporting making the necessary decision by the military to drop the atomic

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Even though dropping the bomb on Japan was controversial it was the only way to end this war. Following, like what Justice Chamber said: “How to defeat an enemy that could not, would not admit defeat?”(Doc 3), Japan was different than any other country that US faced because Japan committed inhuman and selfless actions just to kill more US

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After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, America decided they had to take drastic measures and bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end the war. One argument about the bomb was that it was necessary to use it in order to end the war. Some Americans believed this because Japan had shown that they would

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In his postwar memoirs, former president Harry Truman recalled how military leaders had told him that a half-million Americans might be killed in an invasion of Japan. This figure has become canonical among those seeking to justify the bombing. But it is not supported by military estimates of the time. As Stanford historian Barton Bernstein has noted, the U.S. Joint War Plans Committee predicted in mid-June 1945 that the invasion of Japan, set to begin Nov. 1, would result in 193,000 U.S. casualties, including 40,000 deaths. America’s decision to use the atomic bomb was only one factor considered.

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The strategy of the war was to destroy the Japanese military by any means necessary. The total manpower of the US was more than the Japanese so bombing was not the only option. There was a costlier yet more humane way to do this that was not reliant on the atomic bomb. On the down side millions of lives just on the American side would be lost. Also, the longer the fighting the more likely communism was to spread and then the task would be more to handle than the US felt they could alone.

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By dropping the atomic bomb it ended the war and saved Americans lives. In document J the estimated total casualty of Japanese people was estimated to be 199,000 people that is to the estimated 1 million American casualties if we kept fighting until the Japanese surrendered. Also, in document I it says “His (Truman’s) advisors had warned him to expect massive casualties if the United States invaded Japan.” Truman didn’t do it out of revenge he did it out of protection for American lives. In document A it says “It was their (committee of top men) recommendation that the bomb be used against the enemy as soon as it could be done.”

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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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Even though dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed thousands of Japanese citizens in a matter of seconds, it was still justified. On December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, a naval base on one of the Hawaiian Islands, thus plunging the US into the biggest war the world had ever seen. President Harry S. Truman decided to use the atomic bombs to save American lives by not invading Japan. American soldiers were able to return to their wives and children since they did not have to fight in the war any longer. The war ended just six days after the bombs were dropped.

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The alternative for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his advisors was doing nothing and letting Nazi Germany develop atomic power and going on to use it to conquer the world. The United States of America wanted to end World War II on both the Atlantic and Pacific fronts and needed the quickest possible method to do so. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s advisors concluded that hundreds of thousands of American lives would be lost on an assault on the island of Japan. The U.S. Armed Forces was over 16,000,000 strong and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s main motive for dropping the atom bombs was to save American lives.5

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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.

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The dropping of the atomic bombs on World War II on the city of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a very important part of World War II. The atomic bomb ended the war between America and Japan. This was just one of the important events during the battle in World War II. The Battle at Pearl Harbor, where the Japanese attacked U.S. soil was also why the americans bombed Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Some believe that the United States was correct in dropping these bombs on Japan because of the attack on Pearl Harbor while others believe that it was very wrong to dropped the bomb.

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