The Pros And Cons Of The Atomic Bomb

Directly after the first atomic bomb test, Robert Oppenhiemer quotes from Hindu scripture, “Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds”, the dropping of the atomic bomb was a devastating ending of the Second World War. To this day, there is still controversy surrounding the topic on whether the United States should have used a nuclear weapon, but studies are showing that the atomic bomb’s benefits far outweighed its damage. Japan had fallen behind in the 1800’s technologically, but new conquests in China helped increase nationalism, leading to a more aggressive Imperial Japan. After the surprise attacks on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941 by the Japanese, the United States was thrust into the world’s largest conflict ever. Throughout the

The opportunity to drop the bomb came in the summer of 1945, when the US had taken all of the surrounding islands to the Japanese mainland. Two bombs were dropped on two separate cities: Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. The blasts instantly killed an estimated 120,000 people, with another 95,000 dying from the radiation spread by the bombs. While the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan took many thousands of innocent civilians lives, the United States still made the right decision, as the dropping of the bomb gave the United States a leg up in the inevitable Cold War against the USSR. and the amount of lives saved by quickly ending the war exceeded the amount taken by the

Comments left by readers of the US History Magazine, American Heritage, basically say that the Japanese Islands were also very difficult to attack, as Japan still had millions of troops still stationed there, leaving no choice but to attack from the air. The Japanese army left no point of vulnerability for the US to take advantage of, and any land invasion would surely be stopped, as Japan had around 12 divisions defending the island. The first atomic bomb did not force surrender from Japan, but the second, combined with Russia planning to invade, forced Japan’s hand. The decision to drop the bomb was made quickly, as any land lost to Russia in Japan or China would never be returned to the countries. These comments from others give useful reasons on why the US Military dropped the atomic bombs: to end the war quickly before Russia gained a strategic advantage on the Islands of Japan before the long anticipated Cold War. Following this, the amount of lives that would have been lost if the Soviets had invaded the Japanese Islands would have far exceeded the death toll from the bombings, as Russian tactics were not focused on saving lives, but to take positions at all costs. The