Most people know that the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan during World War Two. But what most people don’t know is why the United States decided to drop weapons of mass destruction on their enemies. America decided to develop and use atomic bombs during World War Two to save both American and Japanese lives, end the war, and to have a defense against Germany.

One of the main reasons the United States decided to drop the atomic bombs was to save lives. While it may seem contradictory, by dropping the atomic bomb, the number of lives lost was minimized. If the bombs had not been dropped, anywhere from 500,000 to 2,000,000 more people would have been killed on both the American and Japanese sides (Doc C-1). A fact that often