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Justification of atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Atomic bomb in japan
Justification of atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
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The U.S. viewed bombings as a necessity because Truman gave the Japanese a chance to surrender when he issued the Potsdam Declaration. In his message, Truman warned the Japanese that if they would not unconditionally surrender that they would be struck with “prompt and utter destruction.” Similarly, by bombing the Japanese it would spare up to 1 million American lives along with 250,000 British casualties because U.S and allied soldiers didn’t have to attempt to invade the heavily guarded Japanese territories. Another reason the United States needed to bomb Japan was dominance. The secretary of state thought it would put the U.S. in a dominant position in the postwar and have power over the Germans.
In the United States, it is often taught that the use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the deciding factor for the Japanese to surrender during World War II. However, upon closer inspection that may not be the reason why. For example, by the time both cities were destroyed Japan had already lost dozens of cities to American fire bombs and conventional raids. As a result, the only difference between the cities that were previously burned and Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the type of weapon used. Therefore,the Japanese government was aware and accustomed to loosing cities and large number of civilian lives.
There is ample evidence to support the position that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary in the surrender of Japan. It is seen that President Harry S. Truman had three reasons to proceed with the bombing. First, he assumed that the bomb would bring an end to the war. Second, Truman believed that the bomb would keep the USSR out of Asia. Lastly, he thought that dropping the bombs would be a way to test America’s new technology and observe the effects footnote 1.
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
Therefore knowing how the Japanese soldiers think about surrendering, the millions of lives saved by ending the war quickly and shortly, and the countless warnings given to the Japanese, I think dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was warranted and
There was a constant debt in Japan on whether or not to accept the Potsdam Declaration. One of the major things that the Japanese wanted was for the United States to recognize Japan’s honor and existence. If the United States continued to force unconditional surrender on the Japanese then, according to the Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo, the Japanese would fight the war until the “bitter end” (Wainstock, 81). Ambassador Naotake Sato was willing to give into unconditional surrender as long as the United States preserved the imperial house (Wainstock, 82).
Many would use Japan's direct involvement in the attack on Pearl Harbor to justify the dropping of the atomic bomb, Americans wanted either justice or revenge on Japan. Before Pearl Harbor people didn’t have to fear of being killed if they weren’t involved in the war. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor it wasn’t just on US soil, but it was also unprovoked and unwarned and led to deaths of over 2,400 military personnel. The attack on Pearl Harbor directly caused America to join WW2 since the attack wasn’t warned there was no possible way of warning citizens on the island to evacuate or to seek shelter. Three years after the attack on Pearl Harbor the 2 bombs were dropped not only out of retaliation for what they had done the years’ prior.
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.
Daniella Gat GlobalA 1 U.S actions during the Cold War were not justified. It has probably happened many times in life when you take actions and someone gets mad or doesn 't agree. Then you must come up with any reason possible to make it justified, but sometimes not everything can be justified. For example, a person murdering a random person they have never met before and do not know, can’t be justified. The actions that the U.S took during the Cold War are similar to this, as they weren’t always justified.
As World War II was coming to an end, the U.S. was searching for a way to finish the war with Japan. The U.S. went about doing this by first dropping 2,000 tons of flammable bombs on Tokyo, Japan on March 9th, 1945. As a result of these fire bombings, between 80,000 to 130,000 innocent Japanese civilians were killed, which was the worst single firestorm in history. After this overwhelming event occurred, Japan didn’t chose to surrender unconditionally; however, the U.S. was well aware that Japan was already largely defeated due to the fire bombings. The U.S. was ready to potentially invade Japan, but an invasion of Japan couldn’t begin for another three months, so the U.S. had an opportunity to wait and see if Japan would surrender before
On August 14 Emperor Hirohito announced to the Japanese people that they would surrender” (“Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb” 14). The United States dropping the atomic bomb on Japan was the reason for its surrender. They knew that they could not risk the chance of another bomb being dropped. It was imminent that they would lose the war. People against the atomic bomb say that the act of international bombing that the U.S. did was illegal.
Since the Japanese were willing to inflict the most harm possible, the war may have lasted several more years. By 1945, those involved in the war were shattered. Therefore, the use of the atomic bombs was justified because it put an end to an already horrific
Was America Justified in dropping the atom bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945? On August 6th, 1945 at 8:16 AM, a great yet horrific event in history occurred. This event is known as the dropping of the atom bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan, the event that would begin and end the pain and suffering of millions. The atom bomb was dropped by an American B-29 Superfortress bomber named Enola Gay and
On July 26, 1945, Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender (Potsdam Declaration) was presented by the President of the United States, the President of the National Government of the Republic of China, and the Prime Minister of Great Britain. This Potsdam Declaration was issued to give Japan a chance to terminate the war by making them accept it. Then, the leader of the Soviet Union later signed the Potsdam Proclamation and decided to join the war. Although Japanese leaders had already knew that they would not achieve a victory in this war, they did not confirm the declaration until atomic bombs were dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States and ended up accepting the unconditional surrender on August 15th of the same
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.