World War 2 Dbq Essay

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World War II has been going on for 10 years and for the war to be over Japan or the Allied Powers would have to surrender. The United States and the Soviet Union were super powers with tension that stayed beneath the surface for the duration of the war. The two were in a race to invent and use the first atomic war head. After ten years of war the conditions of Japan were poor and not likely to withstand much more conflict. Yet on December 7, 1941 the Japanese bombed an American naval base in Hawaii. After the bombing, President Truman declared war on Japan and bombed two cities in Japan in 1945. President Truman wanted to end the war with Japan; however, he wanted to show the power of the US, destroy the Japanese while they were weak, and …show more content…

The strategy of the war was to destroy the Japanese military by any means necessary. The total manpower of the US was more than the Japanese so bombing was not the only option. There was a costlier yet more humane way to do this that was not reliant on the atomic bomb. On the down side millions of lives just on the American side would be lost. Also, the longer the fighting the more likely communism was to spread and then the task would be more to handle than the US felt they could alone. (doc A) The Manhattan Project tested the atomic bomb and it was successful for what America needed. A Russian scientist wrote the United States knew Japan was already unstable and the bombing was not a necessity. (doc F) The raids, air strikes, land mines, and regular bombs from the Unites States had already depleted the resources of Japan. US raids on Japan caused about 241,000 deaths, 313,000 wounded people, and approximately 2,333,000 homes to be destroyed. No supplies could be brought in and few industries still stood to help. (Doc B) Therefore, Japan was on the verge of surrender and the bombing was not the most …show more content…

America and the Soviet Union were in a race and whoever created an atomic weapon and used it first was believed to be better than the other. He wanted to publicize his power and destroy the Japanese in the process. The strategy of the war was to destroy the Japanese military by any means necessary, but the total manpower of the US was greater than the Japanese so bombing was not the only option. Truman wanted handle the Russia situation in a way that displayed the US as a dominant entity. This means the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were ploys of diplomatic intimidation rather than ending the war. Tweets between Kim Jong Un and President Trump are like the race to create the first atomic weapon. President Trump wants to intimidate the Un until he gives up like in a brinkmanship. President Trump and Kim Jong Un seem to be entering their countries into another cold war. Like Truman and Stalin in the end of WWII, underlying tension between the two have built up but has not