Atomic Bomb Dbq Essay

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

Using the Atomic bombs caused Japan to comply with an unconditional surrender, as well as prevented a bloody invasion. According to Henry Stimson, the Secretary of State serving at the time the bombs were dropped, had America invaded Japan, the fire raids that would have been a major part of the US strategy

I believe that that dropping the atomic bomb was justifiable and the United States made a good decision dropping it. The United States and Japan had been going at it for almost five years, it had to come to an end. Japan did not only resist, they also unleashed kamikaze attacks at Okinawa; They also ignored the calls for them to surrender Japan should of seen it coming... If you think about it if the atomic bombs weren’t used there would've actually been more lives lost. Dropping the atomic bombs actually saved lives even though a lot of people have a different opinion on the matter.

The United States’ use of atomic bombs on Japan is justifiable because it saved thousands of American lives; the Japanese were given fair warning, and their aggressions towards the U.S. The deadly bombing on Japan saved the lives of many in America, prevented them from attacking the U.S like the one on Pearl Harbor, and it brought a sense of peace to the U.S. It is significant to the understanding of WWII because the events of the atomic bombs were the end of

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. Second, America dropped the bomb not to win the war and save American lives, but to show its power to the Soviet Union.

Japan was weakening, “The food situation gradually becoming worse and worse…” Stated in source H. America had many industrial resources to use against Japan and so Japan had essentially been defeated. Japan pushed only for the sake of their countries honour as the shame of unconditional surrender goes against their code of honour. Furthermore a warning was given to Japan with America promising to drop the atomic bomb, however there was no evidence and so it could have easily been deemed a bluff. An American nuclear scientist stated, “A demonstration of the bomb best be made… Japan could then be asked to surrender.” This source seems somewhat reliable as it is from one of the American scientists and they would know the strength of the bomb. With a demonstration it would for one, give the Japanese proof of the bomb and two, show them how destructive the bomb is. Furthermore, an attack on civilians is not regarded, despite the extent they are involved in the war effort. The military is a force that knows that they are putting their life on the line for their country, willingly making a commitment and understanding death is a possibility. However civilians are entirely different, as their involvement in war is scarce. They cannot be considered necessary to a war effort. Thinking with a humane mindset it is more ethical to continue to fight a long and hard struggle, rather than slaughter many innocent

President Truman and his associates believed that if they dropped the bomb they would receive surrender from Japan. Thus, saving millions of American lives, and ending the war. Nevertheless, by saving American lives they would sacrifice thousands of Japanese civilians. They had other idea to have Japan to surrender, but were willing to take the one that would have the most consequences. They were thinking too much about the US instead of creating actually peace within the nations. President Truman was treating people even worst by putting them through the torture of the bomb and the resulting effects of the bomb. Time became a major factor into the decision, and dropping the bomb was a result of that fear.

According to an excerpt from Three Narratives of our Humanity, “It is hard to imagine that the Japanese would have surrendered without the atomic bomb”. The bomb was a necessary step in the war to defeat the ever growing Japanese military. Dropping a bomb seemed like the most efficient way to kill a large amount of the Japanese without having to but insert thousands of American soldiers into enemy territory. According to a World War II veteran, “The people who preferred invasion to A-bombing seemed to have no intention of proceeding to the Japanese fronts

In the year of 1945, the U.S. had dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, causing a lot of damage. The U.S. was justified when dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima because the Japanese was already ready to surrender and the japanese was already defeated, so there was no point. The bomb killed so many lives that shouldn't have been taken. Thousands of innocent people died or got wounded very badly, which was very unnecessary. Some people even became really sick as well, which was completely unnecessary. Not only did the bomb kill thousands of people, houses and buildings got burned down, causing so many to be poor and homeless.

had another solution. In fact, they were given the solution to them by the scientists working on the bomb. The solution was to demonstrate the atomic bomb so the Japanese would be able to see the effects and surrender accordingly. In document 4, it states,”...belief that the worldwide political and social consequences of the power of the weapon being developed…(require the United States to have that power to be) made known by a demonstration to the peoples of the world…Therefore we recommend that before this weapon be used without restriction…its powers should be…demonstrated, and the Japanese nation should be given the opportunity to consider the consequences of further refusal to surrender.” This shows that it had a devastating weapon that could eventually be used against the U.S. and that the Japanese should be given a chance to surrender before having two cities blasted into smithereens. Dropping the bomb had many pros and cons. For instance, the United States estimated the number of casualties if they were to invade Japan. The invasion of Japan would be yet another way the US could get the Japanese to surrender. The graph showed a number of U.S. Allied casualties and a number of Japanese casualties. In document 5, it states that according to William Shockley, who was a physicist and inventor, there would be up to 800,000 Allied deaths and up to 10,000,000 Japanese deaths. With this information, the United States then decided to drop the bomb. But yet, they had the solution right there in front of

When America had dropped the atomic bomb, Japan was in a very weakened state. The navy and air force were destroyed, the land had been surrounded by other armies, and the supplies had been cut off (David M., 421). By these observations, it can be concluded that Japan was in a position much weaker than the had been at the start of the war and recognition of defeat could be seen. This defeat, however, was not declared by Japan and they continued to decline to surrender. Their decline to surrender ultimately led the need of the atomic bombs. Although this atomic bomb appeared to be needed, it was seen to be an immoral instrument of destruction by many. The Nippon Times had stated, “This is not war; this is not even murder, this is pure nihilism. This is a crime against God and humanity which strikes at the very basis of moral existence” (David M., 419). In addition, there was no advantage of hurling the bomb without announcing the possession of it to Japan. Through this announcement, Japan may have been more aware of the true power America had and may have resulted in them surrendering (David M., 421). Nonetheless, this power was threatened by the United States in the Potsdam Declaration, which was pushed aside by Japanese officials, ergo defeating the argument against dropping the

A quote from Document 2 from Admiral William E. Leahy is “I was not taught to make war in that fashion, and wars cannot be won by destroying women and children”. The destruction of families and innocent women ad children was a huge moral issue. They had no part in fighting the war, but they still were attacked and killed nevertheless. A second moral implication was that the atomic bomb put and end to the Japanese war, by annihilating the enemy. An example from Document 3 is “ It stopped fire raids, and the strangling blockades; it ended the ghastly specter of a clash of great land armies”. It proved how horrible war is and that is always present with war. Many Japanese where killed and Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed, but over all a huge war was ended. More lives were saved from death and time was given for the countries to recuperate. The decision to drop the Hiroshima atomic bomb was justified, Japan wasn’t surrendering and the war was dragging on for too long. Dropping the second bomb on Nagasaki wasn’t justified at all; the space between both bombs wasn’t enough time for a response from Japan. The first bomb did enough destruction without adding on to it; the US should’ve waited for a response then decided what to do next. Just because there are two dangerous weapons doesn’t mean they should’ve been used all at once. The thrill of that destruction lead the US to

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

An argument to not drop the atomic bomb proposed by the military, could be that it could make the war worse. Dropping those bombs could of possibly cause Japan’s allies to come to their rescue and seek revenge on the United States. Dropping the bomb could have and very well did carry out tension between the United States military and other nation’s

had other alternatives to retaliate with Japan in less destructive ways. The Americans made it seem as if the only two options were the bombing of Japan or invasion to make Japan surrender, which was a bad idea in their eyes since it would have created more American casualties . Another method that could have been used was to wait for what the Soviets were planning to do. At this point, the idea of the Soviet-Union joining the war to go against Japan had spread around. Therefore, if the Americans had waited to see if Japan was going to surrender due to the fact of having to fight against two groups of people, the Soviets, and Americans, it would have been a way of reduced casualties. Although, if this plan hadn't worked another method could have been easily brought up. Since the Americans had done tests on the atomic bomb, they could have been able to demonstrate it to the Japanese so that they could be convinced to surrender before they actually use it. The actual demonstration wouldn't have failed even if the technology was new since they had done tests beforehand. Consequently, the Japanese would have begun to fear the Americans for what types of weapons they could use on them to produce the thought of surrendering to them. Substitutions of the atomic bomb should have been present at the time, to make ways for less destruction the real atomic bomb had caused and one that would not kill thousands of