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Positives and negatives of using the atomic bomb
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Positives and negatives of using the atomic bomb
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Imagine being put in a predicament whereby you have to make a crucial decision, either by dropping bombs to save countless lives or to let the enemy proceed on brutally killing thousands more…What would you do? Quite frankly I feel that the answer is a “no brainer!” Harry Truman’s decision, the president of the US, on dropping atomic bombs upon Japan in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified. Japan was the one who first attacked the American Pearl harbour, and up until this time America was completely neutral during the war.
The Allies could've made clear that the Japanese imperial family could retain power in post-war. The Japanese military fought on despite the hopeless situation for the honor of defending the emperor. Even after the atomic bombings, Emperor Hirohito told Prince Asaka that he was determined to continue the war if the sovereignty of the Japanese imperial family could not be preserved. Wouldn't it have been better to discuss the imperial family's post-war immunity before using nukes. The main argument for using nukes at the time was to bring complete unconditional surrender.
Would this imperialistic empire accept an unconditional surrender that would go against their national interests for the international welfare and security? Aforementioned evidence puts forward a different approach, the idea that Japan would have been persistent in their futile efforts to combat Allied forces—to maintain dignity and avoid humiliation. Inevitably lengthening the war, an estimated 1.7 to 4 million American and 5 to 10 million Japanese casualties would have occurred through a ground invasion of Japan. An actively planned invasion proposed by allied forces for a means to neutralize Japan and end World War Two. Also known as “Operation Downfall”— an atrocity prevented as a result of Harry Truman’s decision to use nuclear warfare.
Truman the War Hero On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb called Little Boy hit Hiroshima, Japan, killing thousands of people. The war hero Truman making the right decision, ended the war with Japan leading to an American victory. Truman made the right decision because the U.S. did not want to lose anymore troops, Japan would refuse to surrender, and waste of money for America. To begin, Truman made the right decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan because he did not want to lose any more American troops. The United States has lost 416,800 military troops (Research).
It seemed as though asking Japan to surrender only prompted them to prolong the war. As a result, there was an increase in U.S. casualties. It was too late into the war for Truman to change the Japanese opinion on unconditional surrender. He stressed that, “The longer the war lasts, the greater will be the suffering and hardships which the people of Japan will undergo-all in vain. Our blows will not cease until the Japanese military and naval sources lay down their arms in unconditional surrender” (Wolk, “Sixty-Five Years On..”, 11).
Japan was already going to surrender, but they wanted surrender terms that they would find acceptable (Walker). They had problems within their country such as starvation. Britain and the United States had knowledge that when Russia entered the war, they were close to accepting surrender terms (Alperovitz). One might argue the bomb was unnecessary and we should have waited a longer amount of time to give Japan time to make their decision. The United States rushed the droppings of the two bombs on August 6th and 9th (Alperovitz).
First off, not disagree with the decisions of the president to drop atomic bombs in Nagasaki, Hiroshima. The reason why I disagree with the atomic weapons that were drawn in japan is because there were thousand of people who were killed, innocent peoples who died in that bomb drops. there were military men who died, but at the same time is was acceptable for united states to fight, and win the war. United states were discomforted the lost thousand of people, including military, 48,000 people from the united states, military, and innocent peoples. It was grave that the united states had thousands of life that are why they proposed the attack besides japan.
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.
The military has a hard time in war. If Japan were to invade the U.S. the military would have a hard time recovering the land that they had just lost. Many of the Japanese were not loyal and would join Japan in the invasion. The military deals with a lot in wars, if they were to be attacked from the inside, it would leave them very vulnerable. “Military forces feared an invasion of our West Coast and… because they decided that the military urgency of the situation demanded that all citizens of Japanese ancestry be segregated from the West Coast temporarily”(Korematsu 4).
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.
Finally, if they had just used smaller bombs, it might have been enough to push Japan past their tipping point of following the Bushido code, a code that says that they should never surrender, something that proved costly to both sides, as the Japanese used kamikaze throughout the captures of Midway, Okinawa and Iwo Jima. Because Truman could use other, available options, he did not possess the right to resort to dropping the atomic bombs. Even though America warned Japan about the bombs, they still should not have used them. Japan had no idea of the grand effects caused by the atomic bombs. For instance, when the bomb was dropped the radius of the blast was many times larger than any bomb before it.
Japan was planning on surrender, before the bomb was dropped. One reason was, Japan was getting ready to negotiate a peace settlement, yet Truman still decided to drop the bomb. The U.S. saw they were going to surrender (they knew). The U.S. was able to set up spying devices, and were able to hear some of the plans Japan was negotiating.
There are many reasons why it could be argued that the dropping of the atomic bomb was justified. One reason is that Japan was warned, they were given plenty of opportunities to surrender such as the Potsdam declaration. The Declaration was issued to Japan by President Truman and the Allies of America after America had tested the Atom bomb on July 26th. The declaration was a proposition of surrender to Japan that linked directly to the dropping of the atomic bomb.
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.
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.
