Atomic Bomb Dbq Essay

When Japan attacked pearl harbor the United States finally joined World War II. During this period the Allies fought in the Pacific and went after Japan. High casualties from this war because of island hopping in Japan and kamikazes dropped onto U.S ships were devastating and fueled the continuing of the war. As Japan refused to surrender new methods were developed to try and end the war once and for all. Wanting to save American lives, Truman decided to use an atomic bomb on Japan which led to it being dropped on Hiroshima and a few days later Nagasaki, ultimately moving the emperor of Japan to surrender. Although some people agree that dropping the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima was the right thing to do as it ensured their power and ended the

As Admiral William E. Leahy, who was President Truman’s Chief of Staff explained in Document 2, they had “adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages.” This statement compared the people of the United States as barbaric, making it clear that the events that took place were as uncivilized and not morally modern. The mentioning of the ethical standards raises awareness to the fact that there was indeed a sort of unjust social outcome. In this document it also mentions how Hiroshima was filled with innocent women and children. Another wrongdoing that occurred with the dropping of the atomic bomb as many of the lives taken were not soldiers of war but innocent citizens who lived in Japan. Along with that, there is a quote from the Nippon Times in Document 4 that agrees with the Admirals rationale by mentioning “How can a human being with any claim to a sense of moral responsibility deliberately let loose an instrument of destruction which can at one stroke annihilate an appalling segment of mankind?”. This statement furthers the claim that the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was not the right thing to do because it upset the “moral responsibility” of knowing when the principles should be valued and people should not have had that kind of power to kill thousands of people in an

The effects of an atomic bomb are major. As shown in Document 7 displaying images of children and families saddened and injured after the attack, we can get a better sense of just how destructive the bomb was. Towns that were full of innocent children and women were destroyed along with the infrastructure and advancements that the city had made. The destruction caused by the atomic bomb was not justifiable as there were no soldiers there. Document 6 supports this when it says “ Hiroshima was no longer a city but a burned-over prairie. To the east and to the west everything was flattened. The distant mountains seemed nearer than I could ever remember… How small Hiroshima was with its houses gone.”. This quote describes how a Japanese physician viewed the city after the bomb was dropped and it is clear that the one beautiful city that was full of life was now crushed and houses were destroyed. The physician also states how ”The view where a moment before all had been so bright and sunny was now dark and hazy…” really making it obvious that there was a sudden shift in the atmosphere and everything went dark and the city was