Nanking Massacre Dbq

December 8th, 1941, one day after the horrific events of Pearl Harbor, the United States officially declared war on its foes in Eastern Asia, the Japanese. After strategically taking out many American battleships, including the USS Arizona, (the last of "super-dreadnoughts" from Pennsylvania), Japan had set off a series of chain reactions, unfortunately ending with the sanctioned bombing of their homeland (Document A). The struggle for victory lasted four years before the devastating, yet just action, occurred. America took countless strides to suppress Japan and stop their malevolent attacks on US soil, including the Ellwood Oil Field in 1942 and the Bombing of Fort Stevens and the Lookout Air Raids in 1942. To stop the Japanese from causing

However, Japan disavowed these treaties of war. By attacking Pearl Harbor, indulging in biological warfare, and executing chemical murdering and torturing of prisoners, civilians, and slave laborers, Japan broke the laws of war on many levels. Throughout the war, Japan continued to operate above the law. The Nanking Massacre was an incident in December of 1937, during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The massacre consisted of mass murder by Japanese troops against the residents of Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, which lasted for six weeks. Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants were killed left and right (Document O). Eventually, the lead perpetrators were prosecuted and received the proper punishments. Japan led numerous attacks of extreme brutality on countries near and far. America was tuning into the disgust of the Japanese through propaganda. Posters indicated the horror in Southeast Asia, depicting Japanese soldiers beating and murdering Americans (Document B). Casualty statistics were also printed on the posters, adding to America’s animosity towards Japan. The United States had a tool to stop all of this, not only to protect American lives, but also to prevent the death of millions

The Manhattan Project was a task directed by physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Scientists constructed and tested their new tool to help guide America into victory against the Japanese. Their apparatus was a relatively simple gun-type fission weapon made using uranium-235. On impact, the device would trigger a massive explosion, obliterating any tools or supplies that the Japanese had. The United States was strategic on every level. They constructed Boeing B-29 “Superfortress” bombers, to transport and release their colossal mechanisms (Document F). America had no second chance. If the plan were to fail, Japan would revolt with more power than America could imagine; and, by using these air force “super-bombers”, America was one step closer to ending the crusade against Japan. When the first bomb dropped on Hiroshima, The Enola Gay (a Boeing bomber) observed the smoke, as it engulfed the city within seconds, consuming Japanese supplies, building, and unfortunately people (Document G). Colonel Paul Tibbets Jr. (the pilot of the Enola Gay) exclaimed that his actions and the actions of the United States at this point in the war “saved more lives than we took” (Document L). Though the consequences were immense, and many lives were lost, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary in securing international peace, and an end to a war between Japan and