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How Did The Potsdam Conference Dbq

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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. Three days later, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. These cities were of civilian majority and most are unsure on the choice of them for the …show more content…

(source 2)AKA THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WERE AGAINST THE DECISION EVEN THOUGH THEY WANTED THE WAR TO END They wanted a quick end to the war and agreed that the use of the atomic bombs would be an effective method but they believed it was unjustified to do so on Japan.(source 2) Unless the details of the attack were made public and Japan was given an opportunity to surrender, the atomic bomb attack would not be justified. (source 2) The sheer possibility of the use of atomic bombs would be enough to keep Japan at bay.(source 2) “The added material strength which this lead gives to the United States brings with it the obligation of restraint and if we were to violate this obligation our moral position would be weakened in the eyes of the world and in our eyes.”(source …show more content…

President Truman wanted to limit the number of American casualties as the United States had already lost so many people during this war. There were over 82,000 casualties for the U.S. during the battle of Okinawa alone. Scientists who worked on the production of the atomic bombs determined that they “ may very well be an effective method of warfare”(Source 2). Truman said, “The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor. They have been repaid many fold. And the end is not yet”(source 4). Japan was also given an opportunity to surrender and for the most part they denied. So the United States went forward with their

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As the Japanese forces were considered the aggressors of the conflict by the Allies and Japanese veterans alike, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified. Their aggression previous to the bombing was demonstrated through the attack on Pearl Harbour, which led to America’s involvement in World War II. The attack was not one born out of vengeance and was not strategically logical, whereas there was a reason behind the bombing of Hiroshima, that reason being that the Japanese military would not agree to the clauses presented in the Potsdam Declaration. This declaration was given to the military officials as an invitation to surrender before the first bombing, providing ample time for them to make a decision to hopefully end the

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Another fact was that American and British intelligence had confirmed that Japan would most likely surrender when the Soviet Union joined the war against Japan in August. The surrender terms themselves were very similar to the ones that Japan eventually accepted after the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombs were also suspiciously dropped around the time that the Soviet Union was going to attack the Japanese.

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Afterwards, the United States declared war on Japan, and joined allies against the axis powers. The United States’ use of the atomic bombs is justified because it saved American lives; Japan was given fair warning, and their aggressions towards the U.S. The atomic bombs on Japan saved many American lives. Document 15 reads: The entire population of Japan is

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The dropping of the bombs were necessary and fair due to the refusal of the Japanese to surrender, the millions of lives saved by a quick end to the war, and the warnings given to the Japanese. To begin, the Japanese soldiers have it ingrained in their brains that it is dishonorable to surrender. The author of Drop the Bomb as agreed by saying that “the Japanese have demonstrated a willingness to fight to the death”. During the war there were many times for the Japanese to surrender, but it was never done. With this in mind, they would have continued to drag out the war, which shows that dropping the bombs sped up the war which lessened the casualties.

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did not always know it all. The solution to war lay under the noses of former Japanese leaders. The United States was unaware of Japan's plan to eventually surrender, proving they did not plan to fight to the end but planned to keep up the illusion. Unfortunately, after the invasion seemed to have no effect, the U.S. strayed from typical warfare and brought out its deadliest weapon. After two nuclear attacks, Japan was not in any shape to go against both the Soviets and Americans and was forced to surrender earlier than planned.

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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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The U.S. gave Japan many chances to surrender and they never backed down. The Potsdam declaration was one of the many times when Japan didn't want to surrender and on July 26th, 1945, the U.S., Great Britain, and China made the choice to give them the unconditional surrender or they would be devastated. According to Trumanlibraryinstitue, the declaration said something along the lines of “We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces, & to provide proper & adequate assurances of their good faith in such action”. Potsdam goes here). Still with this warning there was no surrender made.

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This decision was to drop the atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of

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In fact, Ralph A. Bard, Undersecretary of the Navy wrote to Secretary of War Stimson in a June 27, 1945 memorandum. “I define this decision as an emotional and reckless decision, Japanese government may be searching for some opportunity which they could use as a medium of surrender” (Bard). In fact, the Japanese government expressed desire to end the war, and would have accepted conditional surrender before the mainland invasion in November. The reason for dropping the bomb was forcing Japan to surrender unconditionally. In America’s opinion, Japan had lost the war; they did not have any capital to negotiate with.

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This was the wrong decision. America should not have dropped the atomic bomb. Firstly, the use of the atomic bombs caused trauma and suffering to millions of people around Japan. When America dropped the Hiroshima bomb, 13 year old Yoshitaka Kawamoto was in his classroom, when suddenly he was

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Ending the War and Saving Lives: People who defend the use of the atomic bombings argue that they were necessary to bring a quick and decisive end to the war, and that it would stop the need for a possible costly invasion of Japan. It is estimated that an invasion would have resulted in possible millions of additional casualties on both sides. By dropping the bombs, the argument goes, the United States sought to minimize overall loss of life for themselves. Japanese Stubbornness: Supporters of the bombings also say that Japan's refusal to surrender, coupled with their extreme defence of Okinawa and other territories, left the US with no viable alternative than to use the atomic weapons. The Japanese government during the war had a saying of "no surrender" it showed their willingness to sacrifice civilian lives in defence of their country.

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Different perspectives on the US decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II are how immoral it was to do. In Document 4 from 1945, it states, “This is a crime against God and humanity which strikes at the very basis of moral existence,” The author explains how heinous the idea of dropping the bomb was. Any one with morals would be against such thing because of the destruction one bomb can make and how it can annihilate anything in its path. It was pure cruelty to drop a bomb that powerful on any one, it wasn’t war or murder it would be consider nihilism because of destruction that occurred. Another perspective was of a GI soldier, in Document 5 and how the bomb was a relief to soldiers and their family.

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Even though they have already lost the war they still wanted to keep on fighting and not surrender for anything. They would still attack and then the United States had to act in order to guarantee Japan surrendering.

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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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Due to Japan wanting to call its quits, there was no need for America to bomb them in the first place. If we did not bomb them they would have surrender but since they were already conventionally bombed and fire bombed to the point of weakness they called its quits. Afterwards, 70,000 Japanese citizens were vaporized and in the months and years that followed, an additional 100,000 perished from burns or radiation sickness stated article “The decision in dropping the bomb.” Since so many innocent lives were taken it could have been easily

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