Was The Atomic Bombing Of Japan Necessary?

Was the Atomic Bombing of Japan Necessary?

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States during World War II are highly controversial and disputed amongst historians. Some argue that the bombs were necessary to protect millions of lives if the war continued but others argue that the bombs were unnecessary and could have been avoided. In the article “Was the Atomic Bombing of Japan Necessary?” author Robert Freeman argues that the atomic bombs were not required to end the war because Japan was already on the verge of surrendering. The blockades around Japan were working effectively and Japan had already begun peace negotiations prior to the bombing. The U.S. only dropped the bombs because they feared that the Russians would

They were dropped because America was afraid of Russia and what they could do with military prescence in east Asia. Countless lives were lost all because of the fear of communism on the complete opposite side of the globe. The U.S. was petrified of the Soviets spreading their communism by taking over the countries along their path to Japan. After the Potsdam Conference, Stalin indicated to the Allies that his forces would arrive in Japan around August 8th. The first atomic bomb was conveniently dropped two days prior to when Russia would arrive (Freeman). A quick surrender by Japan was needed in order for Russia to stop pushing forward through Asia (“THE AMERICAN YAWP”). However, if they had just waited then Japan would have surrendered before an Allied invasion and before Russia was settled in their new communist land. The U.S. didn’t want to show a dependency on Russia either and they wanted to seem strong enough to not need their help, but in reality, the Soviet Union was pivotal in victory in Europe and in the Pacific. By dropping the atomic bombs on a population that Americans believed at the time was racially inferior and a defenseless target, they could demonstrate to the Soviet Union and the rest of the world that the U.S. was simply better than everyone else. Also, the United States had a large chunk of money invested into their science project. A little over two billion dollars

The monstrosities caused many deaths, which could have all been avoided entirely. In the first bombing at Hiroshima, the explosion killed over 80,000 people and later killed several more thousand due to radiation exposure. During the second bombing at Nagasaki, over 40,000 innocent Japanese were killed (“Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki”). And if the blast didn’t kill enough people, the radiaton exposure caused chronic illnesses, leukemia, and many other types of cancers. The energy stored in the bomb exploded, releasing massive amouts of heat from anywhere between 3,000 and 9,000 ℃, which incinerated anyone or anything caught in the blast. The heat even left shadows of people and objects burned into the wall behind them. The blast of the first bomb was equal to over 12,000 tons of TNT and it decimated 5 square miles where it exploded 2,000 feet in the air. The bomb destroyed any hospital that was nearby, leaving many injured people unable to recieve any sort of medical care. General Hirohito, Japan’s emperor during a large chunk of the 20th century, described the bomb as “a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is, indeed, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives” (Hirohito). The bomb had done immense amounts of damage to an unexpecting innocent population that even former president Harry Truman said, “I certainly regret the necessity of wiping out whole