On August 6,1945 Hiroshima and Nagasaki were attacked by atomic bombs that were dropped by the U.S Military. Over 200,000 people were killed. The United States used the bomb to end the war with Japan, which began in 1941 when Japan launched an unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor. Many people believe that dropping the atomic bombs was the right thing to do because if they did not use it, there would be four more years of fighting and hundreds of thousands more US soldiers would have died because the Japanese refused to surrender. However, even though the Japanese had proved to be a tough opponent and their use of Kamikaze pilots showed that they were willing to die, the use of the atomic bomb was not necessary because the Japanese government knew they had lost the war and they were looking for an opportunity to surrender and Japanese people would commit suicide instead of surrendering but it doesn’t mean they …show more content…
The first reason they should have not uses atomic bombs is because the Japanese did not have enough time to look for an opportunity to surrender. According to Ralph A. Bard, that was the United States undersecretary of the Navy during World war II in June 27 1945, the Japanese were looking for a reason to surrender, so before the bomb is actually used, “Japan should have some preliminary warning...the Japanese government may be searching for some opportunity which...use a medium of surrender”( Document 2). In this quote, he says that the Japanese should have more time or warning before dropping the bomb because he feels that this would give them the perfect opportunity they are looking for to surrender and end the war. He also says that the United States is a “great humanitarian nation” with a “fair play attitude.” What he means from that is they are known as people who helps others and let people get a chance. The last reason that they should have not used the atomic bombs was that there were people who would not all commit suicide but rather
However, this is a weak defence when taking Japan’s imminent defeat and peace efforts, as well as the likelihood of Japan’s surrender before the land invasion, into consideration. Furthermore, the usage of the bombs only accelerated the surrender of an already defeated enemy and resulted in high civilian casualty rates. This, along with the ulterior motives in the bomb’s usage, undermines any kind of justification even further. The usage of the atomic bombs was both highly immoral and militarily unnecessary, and had no function in bringing the war to an
There are many people that wanted other alternatives because they viewed the releasing of atomic bombs as morally wrong and were inhuman. Some people even came up with other alternatives such as invading Japan’s mainland, but in reality most Americans wanted to avoid this at all cost, only because they thought that more Americans would loose their lives if we invaded Japan. There were also arguments that a demonstration of the effects of the atomic bomb could have been held for Japanese officials on some uninhabited islands. If this idea would have worked then we could have spared Hiroshima and Nagasaki from large amounts of devastation as well as show the power of the atomic bomb on a full scale. This is only assuming that the Japanese would have agreed to the demonstration in the first
The atomic bomb was absolutely necessary. It was the end of WW2, Americans deserved revenge, and thousands of lives were saved. The atomic bomb was a brutal weapon that could wipe out entire populations and ignite devastation. The Japanese did not need a revolutionary weapon to cause destruction
There are many reasons why the U.S. should not drop an atomic bomb on Japan, but a major one is it will have bad long term consequences. A telegram to the President of the U.S. from an American religious group states “The use of atomic bombs sets an extremely dangerous precedent for the future of mankind.” (Doc. K) This shows that if there was another war, it would end in an atomic bomb. If this happened, then there would be a lot more sadness and destruction, it would kill millions of innocent civilians that had nothing to do with the war.
The direct cause of the ending of World War II was the decision, made by President Truman, to drop the atomic bombs in the cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The nuclear weapon killed a numerous amount of faultless people, estimated to be 70,000 residents in Hiroshima alone. Throughout the course of making the atomic bomb, there were even mixed feelings coming from the sides of the scientists as well as the military. The idea of the atomic bomb came about when the United States wanted a method where the result will outcome in less innocent American casualties. This notion has now become a very controversial issue where there are arguments on both sides.
Japan and America were fighting during World War II. America was pushing into Japan. The Americans could either drop the Atomic Bomb or continue the war on land. While some may say the United States was not justified in dropping the Atomic Bomb because Japan was trying to surrender, the United States was justified because it saved more lives in the long run, shortened the war, and It showed that America was a country not to be messed with. Dropping the Atomic Bombs, the United States helped save lives.
On a historic August day at the tail end of World War 2 a 20,000-ton force was dropped on two Japanese cities known as the atomic bomb and resulting in 160,000 causalities, substantial destruction, and an agreement to an unconditional surrender that ended the war. If the facts are properly presented it is very clear that there was no alternative to dropping the atomic bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima that could have come close to achieving the success it did for our country and the allied nations. Our leaders are intelligent and they knew the key to strong and successful future for our country was to be proactive and not think of only ending the war but demonstrating to the world that we are the force to be reckoned with and will not back down in the face of our adversaries. Our own valiant president Truman had a multitude of genius reasons for dropping that atomic bomb and I for one am going to support the brave decisions of our leaders and explain
In the twentieth century, the United States dropped two atomic bombs, which were the most powerful weapons at that time, on Japan. It happened on August 6 and August 9, 1945. The atomic bombs killed 226,000 Japanese and ended the war. However, America should not have dropped the atomic bombs for two reasons. First, it was not necessary to drop the bomb to win the war militarily or to get the Japanese to surrender.
On August 6th and 9th in 1945, without any warning the world was abruptly forced into the atomic age. This happened when the first atomic bomb obliterated the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Churchill, 2013). Many Americans at the time believed that these bombings were warranted. They were convinced that the atomic bombings were the central reason Japan surrendered and bombing Japan was the most efficient and economical way to end World War II.
Different perspectives on the US decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II are how immoral it was to do. In Document 4 from 1945, it states, “This is a crime against God and humanity which strikes at the very basis of moral existence,” The author explains how heinous the idea of dropping the bomb was. Any one with morals would be against such thing because of the destruction one bomb can make and how it can annihilate anything in its path. It was pure cruelty to drop a bomb that powerful on any one, it wasn’t war or murder it would be consider nihilism because of destruction that occurred. Another perspective was of a GI soldier, in Document 5 and how the bomb was a relief to soldiers and their family.
August 6th of 1945 was the day that President Harry S.Truman decided to end the war for good when he ordered the dropping of the first atomic bomb, named “Little Boy”, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Two days later, President Truman ordered a second dropping of an atomic bomb named “Fat Man” on the city of Nagasaki because Japan did not surrender after the bombing of Hiroshima. The casualties of these atomic bombs were severe with over an estimated 100,000 people dead (“The Atomic Bomb”). The dropping of the bomb should have never happened because it was highly unnecessary, due to the fact that Japan were practically defeated already. According to William D. Leahy, the Chief of Staff to President Franklin Roosevelt and President Harry Truman and a very close aide to both presidents believed that the surrendering of Japan could be arranged without the use of an atomic bomb and invasions on their mainland.
One of the few reasons that the dropping of the Atomic bombs was justified was the fact that Japan would not surrender. There was a large amount of evidence pointing to this: The allies had been dropping conventional and incendiary bombs on Japanese cities, but the Japanese refused to surrender. This gave the US the impression that ordinary bombs were not enough to convince Japan to surrender, and a more powerful bomb was needed. In addition, Japanese forces included Kamikaze pilots, which were-in essence-suicide bombers, willing to die for their emperor and their country. The Japanese military was also training
“We learned to our astonishment that we would not be obliged in a few months to rush up the beaches near Tokyo assault-firing while being machine-gunned, mortared, and shelled, and for all the practiced phlegm of our tough facades, we broke down and cried with relief and joy. We were going to live” (Kagan). These are the words of Paul Fussell, a literary historian who was serving as a soldier during World War II. He was one of hundreds of thousands of young men expecting to take part in the American invasion of Kyushu, Japan. Their lives were spared by President Harry Truman’s decision to deploy the most powerful weapon the world had every seen, and has ever seen since then.
The Dropping of the Atomic Bomb On the morning of Monday, August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan (“Harry S. Truman’s”). While it is presumably what caused the allies to defeat Japan, a lot of people are still torn, to this day, on whether or not the bombing was right politically, ethically, and militarily. A majority of the war was spent focused on the military; scientists attempted to make weapons as deadly as possible.
The idea of saving cutting casualties and quickly ending a bloody war in one display of raw power was tantalizing and irresistible. There is no question as to why Truman dropped the atomic bombs. It clearly had little initial ramifications compared to the copious amounts of advantages it offered for the Americans. Had Japan been given the chance to drop two atomic bombs, based on their behaviour throughout the war, they would have dropped them on American cities. However, just because the Japanese would have done the same to the Americans does not make it correct, but ultimately it justifies it.