The Pros And Cons Of The Atomic Bomb

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Sunday December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii with surprise bombings from waves of airplanes. The United States would later declare war with Japan then join World War II after Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. The surprise attack in Hawaii would result in two of the worst bombings in history, in years to come. August 6, 1945, the world’s first nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan by the U.S. According to History.com in their article Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the first bomb “Little Boy” was comprised of over 9,000 pounds of Uranium-235, and it took a modified B-29 bomber nick named “Enola Gay” to carry the bomb. The explosion from this bomb destroyed thousands of buildings along with homes completely …show more content…

Unlike the predecessor “Little Boy”, the bomb “Fat Man” was made of weapon grade plutonium-239, and the explosion caused by the bomb would be ten times more efficient than Little Boy’s. Fat Man would kill roughly 80,000 people. They too would die from the explosion and radiation poisoning. August 15, 1945, The Emperor of Japan, Hirohito used the radio to surrender to the United Sates and their allies. September 2, 1945, the end of the war was finalized with the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender. The signing took place on the USS Missouri in the bay of Tokyo. Countries signing the document were: United States, Soviet Union, China, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, Netherlands, and Japan. The use of nuclear weapons could have been completely avoided in World War II. Japan just had to sign the Potsdam Declaration issued by President Harry Truman. The declaration issued by President Truman called for Japan’s unconditional surrender and terms of peace. Unfortunately the leader of Japan rejected the declaration even after being warned by President Truman about the successful testing of the atomic bomb. If Japan would not have bombed Pearl Harbor without warning the United States actions at the end of the war could have been completely different, but since Japans actions were such of a surprise the United States took great