Summary: The Utilization Of The Atomic Bomb

No other technological innovation has disrupted the natural world more than the atomic bomb. The atomic bomb is the greatest explosion of energy to ever have been created by man. The explosion of an atomic bomb is created through multiple nuclear chain reactions with either uranium or plutonium. The two instances in which the atomic bomb has ever been used in an act of violence was during the attacks on Japan during World War II. The war in the Pacific theater was from December 1941 through August 1945, between Japanese soldiers and American forces. The war was brutal for both sides, and as the end of the war in the Pacific approached, the atomic bomb was dropped by the Americans on the Japanese. The United States’ utilization of the atomic

As the war continued to wage on in both the Pacific and the European theater, the Manhattan project was formed in 1942 under the direction of American physicist Robert Oppenheimer. This project was created in order to create a nuclear bomb that can be used to protect the United States. Before the bomb was able to be used, many American lives were being lost, shown by the 27,000 casualties at the Battle of Iwo Jima in February 1945 and 26,000 casualties at the Battle of Okinawa in March 1945. United States President Harry S. Truman was informed of the Manhattan project April 1945 in order to prevent future high casualty rates. Before the decision was made to drop the atomic bomb on the Japanese, General Marshall told [Truman] that “it might cost half a million American lives to force the enemy’s surrender on his home grounds”. However, other statistics show that the more realistic American loss of life in a Japanese invasion would be about 193,000 casualties. This value is drastically lower than the estimated 500,000 General Marshall told President Truman; however, this is still a huge possible loss of life. Both pieces of information imply that if an attack were to be initiated by the United States on Japan, American casualties would be very high. This information as well as the high casualties being lost in present battles, and other factors (such as amount of resources, and time commitment) were taken into consideration when deciding to drop the atomic bomb. Harry S. Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb on the Japanese in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki is justifiable because of the American lives Truman saved. Although Truman never mentions where or how General Marshall received this information and the information is received is drastically different than the more