Its August sixth, 1945. Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay, drops the bomb named ¨Little Boy¨ on Hiroshima. The citizens of Japan had never expected something as extensive as a bomb. The japanese were nowhere near aware of what was going to happen that day, and they had no idea of how much pain and suffering it would inflict. Three days later Charles Sweeney flew in the Enola Gay to Nagasaki, where the bomb ¨Fat Man¨ was dropped. Again, the Japanese had no knowledge of the bombs, causing even more devastating casualties. People have argued over the years if the atomic bombing was justified or not, and multiple points can be made on both arguments, yet I take it that the bombing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not justified. Keep in …show more content…
Although Harry S. Truman said that the bombs saved the Japanese from thousands of casualties, it caused even more, and especially worse suffering. In Hiroshima, the death toll was between 80,000 to 120,000 people. The Nagasaki bomb killed 35,000 to 74,000. Even after the bombing there were more people dying from radiation, scarcity of food, and overall horrible living conditions. John Hall on Daily Mail showed pictures of the aftermath of the bombings, and corpses lying in rubble, other people barely surviving. One picture shows a large Japanese arch standing amongst bed frames, wagons, and pieces of wood from burnt trees with the caption, ¨Hardly any buildings were left in Hiroshima after the massive atomic bomb blast.¨ That is one of the less horrifying pictures, as others depict people suffering, with skin melting off of their bodies. A true story from Keiko Murakami was told by Drew Frame in the article, ¨The Effects Of the Bomb Dropped On Hiroshima and Nagasaki¨. Drew Frame described what had happened to Keiko in Hiroshima saying, ¨They got out of the rubble to find her mother,´with my baby sister in her arms...her right eyeball was out and drooped around her breast like a lump of blood.´….They found other people but ´Their faces were so damaged by the heat of the blast …show more content…
It also had long lasting effects that still impact Japanese lives. In the newspaper by Jack Doherty headlined ¨Atomic Bomb Fury Hits Japan¨ after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the president said, ¨It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction.¨ Yet, look where it has gone and how much damage it had cost Japan. I encourage you to not listen to these statements as if they were true, and right the wrongs the atomic bombs have done to Japan by unjustifying the act and telling others to do so as
This demonstrates how it was mentally scarring for their people to experience. Students were at loss since they were too young to understand what to do in a case like this. The bombing of Nagasaki caused 39,000 deaths and left 25,000 injured. The historical narrative, Hiroshima as Victimization argues that
According to the article, hundreds of thousands of people, who didn’t have a say or right, were killed and vaporized by the bomb when it exploded. Those who haven’t been killed had to suffer from radiation sickness, starvation, illnesses, and mutilations. Many innocent lives were taken, in consequences of the Japanese soldiers initiating the war with the U.S.. On the other hand, the U.S. bombing was justified in the bombing of Japan due to the Japanese taking many American lives during the Pearl Harbor war. The attack of the U.S. to the Japanese was served as a retaliation because of the atrocities the Japanese had caused.
Although it was inhumane and horrific, we were justified in dropping the atomic bombs because American soldiers were being tortured, American bodies were disrespected after death, and the bombs ended the war preventing more American casualties. The first reason that America was justified in dropping the atomic bombs is that American soldiers that were captured in Japan were being tortured. When Japanese soldiers captured American soldiers, they needed some way of trying to get them to give up valuable information because the U.S soldiers wouldn’t just tell them for no reason. So they began torturing them in hopes they’d crack. Document 2 showed the numerous
“The dead from that one night’s bombing numbered 80,000 to 100,000- more than later died at Nagasaki and more than half the number who died in Hiroshima (The Atlantic Monthly July 2002: 22.).”It also turned everything to rubble as 7 to 15 square miles of Hiroshima was burnt. But the U.S had only tested the atomic bomb once and they were unknowing of the long term effects. In which they saw it as killing two birds with one stone. Which was ending the PTO war with the Japanese surrender and also putting the newly made atomic bomb to use. Though the U.S might have stopped the war, the bomb caused many casualties and destroyed a part of the Japanese cities.
To begin, these bombings were unjustified based on the moral principles the United States broke. In Document D, readers are told one survivor’s experience the day of the Hiroshima attack and the hysteria the bomb caused. The survivor confirms the dangerous smoke, dust, and debris in the air and the suffering residents went through. These bombs caused pregnant women to birth babies with birth defects, radiation exposure, and an increase in cancer rates in the nation (Counting the Dead). In Document G, the Commander of the U.S. Army Air Force at the time discusses other effects the bombs caused, like hundreds of thousands of deaths, a greater number of wounded
First of all, in the case of the Americans the bomb was compared to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Truman says in a press release, “We have used it against those who attacked without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have abandoned the pretense of obeying international laws of warfare” (Doc I). Second, the bombing of Pearl Harbor was an uncalled for action that was against the “laws of international warfare” and was rectified by the atomic bomb. The soldiers in Europe were extremely relieved that they would not have to invade, which would be a fatal battle where our soldiers would be shot at constantly and have bombs flying around them while they were rushing the beaches of Japan (Doc H). This bomb avoided the invasion of Japan which would have ended in an estimated 1.7 to 4 million casualties for the Allied powers (OI ladailypost.com).
Hundreds of thousands died, almost half of the population of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The effects were devastating for the slowly dying, and family and friends of the dead. In document “Effects of Atomic Attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki” it shows a burned corpse and miserable doctors. But all would agree that the American government announced the Potsdam Declaration and warned Japan that “prompt and utter destruction” would follow the refusal of surrender. The US also dropped leaflets around the city telling citizens that “So, in accordance with America's humanitarian policies, the American Air Force, which does not wish to injure innocent people, now gives you warning to evacuate the cities named and save your lives.”
Japanese Bombing The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was necessary in order for Japan to surrender, save American lives, and keep the Soviet Union from expanding its influence in Asia. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. held a conference in which they made it official that they were at war with Japan and ready to strike back as soon as possible. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki made the Japanese realize that they couldn’t afford another fatal bombing and cause innocent people to die again so shortly after the bombing, they surrendered to the United States. Soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the United States knew that they had to come up with a plan to invade Japan and force them to surrender.
August 6th and 9th, 1945 were the dates that marked on Japanese’s hearts, and Americans as well. Those were the dates that Japan had an obliteration with in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japanese soldiers and innocent people of different races were killed grossing over 121,000 deaths. Some people would say it was an excellent idea and some people would it was THE worst idea. There was a discussion, a debate rather on whether or not to resort the use of the atomic bombs.
These casualties all resulted from the explosion of the atomic bomb but there were a few different causes for the deaths. Of the total number of deaths, 25% died due to flash burns that resulted from a person’s exposed skin absorbing the radiant heat emitted by the explosion. Another 20% died due to radiation poisoning, as the gamma rays liberated during the fission process in the atomic bomb had many effects on the human body, among them a decrease in the white blood cell count and deterioration of the bone marrow, resulting in illnesses and severely weakening the body’s immune system. The remaining 55% died mainly due to secondary effects of the explosion, such as falling debris and the massive fire after the
There are many reasons why it could be argued that the dropping of the atomic bomb was justified. One reason is that Japan was warned, they were given plenty of opportunities to surrender such as the Potsdam declaration. The Declaration was issued to Japan by President Truman and the Allies of America after America had tested the Atom bomb on July 26th. The declaration was a proposition of surrender to Japan that linked directly to the dropping of the atomic bomb.
Up to 40,000 feet buildings collapsed, and homes were destroyed up to ½ of a mile of both towns. The total number of houses that were there before the atomic explosion was 50,000, and the total houses and buildings that were destroyed were 19,587, but 30,413 were undamaged. The souls of people who died because of the bomb in Nagasaki 135,000 and the total number of people who died in Hiroshima was 64,000. People died into dust with the nuclear chemicals that were impossible to survive if you were too close to the bomb. People who survived still have nuclear acid in their bodies that can give them numerous amounts of cancer when they grow up if they survived still in their young age.
Why would killing so many people ever be justified? First off the Japanese were nearly done before the bombing , so the bomb wasn’t necessary. “The JApanese were already defeated and ready to surrender...” (Document 6). This quote shows that the bomb was not necessary and was just the United States showing off a new weapon they had.
This image shows how big of a threat and danger Japan is- it also shows how important it is to bring Japan down. The atomic bombs are justified because of Japan’s aggressions towards U.S. 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.
According to U.S. estimated, 60,000 to 70,000 people were killed by the bomb, 140,000 were injured many more were made homeless as a result of the bomb and some of them were missing. A very dangerous radiation reached over 100,000 kilometers. In the blast, thousands of people died instantly. The city is completely destroyed, there are 90,000 buildings and 60,000 of them were completely destroyed by the explosion. In all, approximately 33% or ⅓ of Hiroshima is completely destroyed.