Atomic Bomb Dbq Essay

During World War II, two atomic bombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was done in an attempt to have the Japanese surrender to the allied powers. After and during the war, many people were debating the dropping of the bombs. While both sides had their opinions, not dropping the bomb had the most to back it up. For instance, people discussed the dangerous military and political implications with such a weapon, the number of casualties, and how destructive it was. The bombs caused so much damage that the cities bombed over 70 years ago are still recovering from the mass destruction today. For example, statistics show that 192,020 people died in Hiroshima, either instantly or over time because of

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