Compare And Contrast Dbq On Hiroshima And Nagasaki

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. The activation of the two nuclear bombs declared the United States as the rulers of the world stage. America knew they had to make a statement to every other power

This led America to attempt to prevent the Soviet Union from building an empire by showing their strength in the war. In the Yalta Conference, although the Soviet Union promised to assist America in the Pacific Theatre, the United States had to refuse their support in the war because it would have showed that they were weak (Lecture Notes). They could not seem as if they needed help to defeat Japan. The American army could not have requested for the aid from the Soviet Union for a war they had already had full control of against Japan (Document 3). The United States obligated themselves to manage the war with no assistance to show the Soviet Union that they were the ruling power of the

had already had Japan cornered in a sense and Japan’s defeat was inevitable, the bomb was not necessary to win the war. America’s main priority was to put fear in the Soviet Union and any other country rising to the world stage. It was nearly impossible for Japan to declare victory on America even without the deploying of the bomb (Document 2). This backs up the idea that America’s intentions of dropping the atomic bomb was not to end the war with Japan, but only to show they were the most powerful country. From the start of the war with Japan, a Japanese army leader Isoroku Yamamoto had realized their mistake early, quoting “I am afraid we have awakened a sleeping giant” (Lecture Notes). Japan had noticed they were unprepared for the United States’ firepower. The battle that led the U.S. to control the war with Japan was the Battle of the Midway. In the Battle of the Midway, Japan had lost most of their main navy forces, allowing the United States to obtain complete ownership of the skies in the remainder of the war. Although the Japanese army would not surrender and more troops started sacrificing their own life to kill many others, also known as kamikazes, this represents that the Japanese army were already weak and they could not fight a strategic war. Because Japan was already on verge of complete defeat, the atomic bomb was obviously not needed to win the war. The only objective when dropping the nuclear bomb was not to end the war,