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How Did The Us Decision To Drop The Atomic Bomb Dbq

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The United States decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was barely motivated by the idea that it would intimidate the Soviet Union. Dropping the atomic bomb was designed to demoralize the Japanese and demonstrate to them that if they did not surrender, th . In Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson’s memoirs in document A, he writes, “The total strength of the Japanese army was estimated at about 5,000,000...I was informed that such operation (the invasion of Japan) might be expected to cost over a million casualties, to American forces alone” (Doc A). Stimson’s memoirs were written with the intention of being published and he knew he had to defend the government’s decision to drop the bomb and is writing from the point of view of someone …show more content…

As Dwight D. Eisenhower remarked to Harry S. Truman in July of 1945 in document C, “it was my personal opinion that no power on earth could keep the Red Army out of the war unless victory came before they could get in” (Doc C). The private conversation between Eisenhower and Truman means that what was said was not censored and was Eisenhower speakly freely to the president, which provides a sense of honesty. Eisenhower expressed his concern of the growing power of the Soviet Union and president Truman also held similar beliefs. In 1941, he is quoted as saying, “ If we see Germany winning, we ought to help Russia and if we see Russia winning we ought to help Germany and that way let them kill as many as many as possible” Truman holded no love for the Russians and the desire to show off to the Soviets played a minor role in the decision to drop the bomb. The main reason for dropping the atomic bomb was to force the surrender of the …show more content…

Document D demonstrates the idea Russia would join the war with Japan, “The Soviet Union shall enter into the war against Japan on the side of the Allies” (Doc D). It was not a surprise when the Soviets enter the war with Japan. The Soviet Union already cemented their claims in Asia before the atomic bomb was dropped, so the deterrence factor of the bomb was null and void, in regards to intimidating the Soviets in the Pacific. From the point of view of the Churchill and Roosevelt, they guaranteed Stalin significant territory in the Pacific in the the hope of keeping him out of a war with Japan for as long as possible. The atomic bomb would be used to defeat Japan , but it would not halt Stalin’s territorial grab in Asia as he already had a guaranteed claim on several areas. The bomb’s goal was not to intimidate the Russians to stop their advance as they already had control of the areas they

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The Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Harry S. Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb is one of the biggest and deadliest controversial turning points in history. America’s president, Truman, decided that on August 6, 1945, the atomic bomb would be dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II. President Truman’s choice to drop the bomb on Japan was considered one of the most debatable turning points. The settlement to drop this bomb was a wrong decision because this bomb killed more than 70,000 innocent people with 10,000’s dying later. Also, bombing a country that was going to surrender in a few months would not be necessary, and last but not least, the atomic bomb could give ideas for the world to start nuclear warfare.

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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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Most people know that the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan during World War Two. But what most people don’t know is why the United States decided to drop weapons of mass destruction on their enemies. America decided to develop and use atomic bombs during World War Two to save both American and Japanese lives, end the war, and to have a defense against Germany. One of the main reasons the United States decided to drop the atomic bombs was to save lives. While it may seem contradictory, by dropping the atomic bomb, the number of lives lost was minimized.

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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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McArthur, an American general, believed The United States should have used the atomic bomb to completely end the war. At this time, however, The Soviet Union also had

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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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However, this is a weak defence when taking Japan’s imminent defeat and peace efforts, as well as the likelihood of Japan’s surrender before the land invasion, into consideration. Furthermore, the usage of the bombs only accelerated the surrender of an already defeated enemy and resulted in high civilian casualty rates. This, along with the ulterior motives in the bomb’s usage, undermines any kind of justification even further. The usage of the atomic bombs was both highly immoral and militarily unnecessary, and had no function in bringing the war to an

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The first reason we dropped it was to end the war as soon as possible. When Truman decided to drop the bomb, he was not looking for an excuse to use it. One might say that he was looking for an excuse to use it because he wanted to show Russia how powerful we were, and he did want to show Russia that we were very powerful, but this was not just an excuse to use the bomb, it was to impress Russia with the United States superior knowledge, since Russia controlled most of Eastern

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The final decision to drop the atomic bomb was left to President Harry S. Truman. If the bomb was not dropped, it is believed that the war would have gone on for about four more years. Truman once said, “We have used it to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans''(Doc. I).

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Second, America dropped the bomb not to win the war and save American lives, but to show its power to the Soviet Union. First, it was not necessary for America to drop the bomb to win the war because the United States had already won a comprehensive victory in the Pacific. The United States had an absolute advantage in the number

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World War II introduced the most dangerous weapon in the world, the atomic bomb. When the US used it on Japan we went to far and caused unnecessary damage to the people. Many people believe this to the only truth but, the real truth is that dropping the atomic bomb was a necessary evil we had to use in order to win the war in World War II and future wars to come. It save many american soldiers lives, stopped the Soviets from joining, and helped us win against Japan. First and foremost, World War II caused many casualties for both sides of the war.

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The atomic bomb was the final kick in the teeth to the already beaten Japan. Overall the dropping of the bomb on Japan was an unnecessary decision. The United states used Japan as a tool. Power hungry in the downfall of a war I believe the U.S. used Japan as a pawn to show Russia who has the real power.

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Where Japan didn 't get a warning about the bomb, they weren 't prepared and neither were the other countries so there was a better chance of nothing happening in return and nothing did. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were chosen, not the entire country. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were hit on target pretty well. Not all the Japanese were a target as well, just the military. Yeah this was bad, but it could 've turned out worse if we didn 't do it.

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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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I put on my radio to see what was happening in the world after world war two when I heard that the united states had dropped little boy and fat man in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I knew that the united states had just made a horrible decision, in fact some could even say it’s a decision that may come and haunt them in the future. Little boy and fat man were the names given to the 2 atomic bombs that were dropped in two cities of Japan called Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I believe that this was the wrong decision, as I believe that dropping these two bombs caused more deaths than the amount of deaths that would have occurred if the war between Japan and America carried on , sure America had the motive to commit this act as Japan did attack them first

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