Reasons For The Dropping Of The Atomic Bomb Dbq

During the 1930s, fascism was spreading across Europe leading to authoritarian governments such as Nazi Germany and the Japanese Empire. The war with Japan was still going on at the time of Germany’s surrender. The United States made the bold decision on August 6th and 9th, 1945 to drop an atomic on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in an attempt to end the war. The dropping of the bomb led to approximately 200,000 deaths in Japan, but shortly after the Japanese announced their surrender. The dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima during August 1945, although inhumane, was necessary to end World War II because of the increased Japanese aggression during the war, their refusal to make peace with the Allies, and using

The Declaration gave Japan the opportunity to surrender voluntarily under certain conditions or be completely destroyed by the Allies military power (Doc B). The Japanese did not fully understand the full scope of the threat, so they merely disregarded it. This ultimatum was rejected by Japan and was one of reasons why the United States’ decided to drop the bomb. President Harry Truman was determined to destroy all their supplies and ability to make war (Doc C). Hence, Hiroshima was chosen because of its military importance and Nagasaki was chosen because it was a major ship building city and had a large military port. Destroying these two cities would eliminate a majority of supplies that Japan needed to finish fighting the war. Using Pearl Harbor and Japan’s insubordination to the rules of war, Truman justified the use of the atomic bomb in a speech to the American people (Doc F). An example of Japan’s inhumane nature was the Bataan Death March in the Philippines. The Japanese forced the filipinos to march over 80 miles in treacherous conditions; if any filipino fell or stopped walking they were shot. This was significant because the Philippines were previously under the United States control and was lost to the