The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki devastated the people of these cities. This, however, ended the conflict between the U.S. and Japan, but was it a good idea for the U.S.? Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed, and over one-hundred fifty thousand people were killed in the atomic bombings of Japan. The bombings by the United States were necessary because Japan was a powerful adversary that the United States needed to overcome in order to defeat Germany. They had started World War Two and put the Jewish people and gypsies and people they deemed not good enough for society in concentration camps.
U.S. President Harry S. Truman, discouraged by the Japanese response to the Potsdam Conference’s demand for unconditional surrender, made the decision to use the atom bomb to end the war in order to prevent what he predicted would be a much greater loss of life were the United States to invade the Japanese mainland. (Michael R.) There were more than 90,000 stable buildings in Hiroshima before the bomb was
On August 15, Japan surrendered unconditionally. President Truman decision to drop these atomic bombs on these cities changed the course of history and modern warfare. After this pivotal moment begun an arms race to develop the most nuclear bombs between many nations. The decision to drop the atomic bombs over Japanese cities had to involve a lot of pros and cons. This paper will discuss the reason why the bombs were dropped, how historians look back on that decision, how the culture of the time affected that decision, and what, in my opinion, was the deciding factor.
The bomb was designed to attack japan both psychologically and destructively. the whole point was to stop the war. the reason why we dropped a larger amount was to create a larger psychological impact, forcing Japan to surrender. 5. Were you not aware of the possible damage and collateral damage of the bomb?
Nuclear deterrence refers to the concept of avoiding nuclear arms for diplomatic methods to solve an issue. The principle of deterrence is ‘first user’ which means a state is allowed to attack only in self-defence. States will attack for their protection but will retaliate if needed. As put forward by Thomas Hobbes “men are driven by competition, diffidence and glory.” Men seek for their own preservation, any threats will lead them to rebellion so as to be secured and save themselves. Nuclear weapon creates fear among each individual and state.
This further emphasizes that since the Japanese were not simply going to give up, Truman came to the conclusion that in order to save millions of lives, he had to take thousands. President Truman decided to drop the atomic bomb on Japan to warn the world about the new found power of the United States, force an unconditional surrender of the Japanese, and save millions of lives. With the controversy over whether or not Truman should have dropped the bomb, some consider the decision irrational and unnecessary. However what these sceptics don 't realize is that the use of the atomic bomb not only helped end the war, but facilitated the dominance of the United States that the Japanese finally gave in to. In the section titled, NOTES OF THE INTERIM
Shortly, people all around the world started questioning the new rules of carrying out 4th generation warfare. The government officials showed their concerns regarding the use of nuclear nukes and technology and even tried to convince Harry S. Truman that the outcomes of a nuclear attack would be catastrophic. Though both United States of America and Japan wanted to achieve global peace, yet the goal could not be achieved. While there have been various paradoxes concerning this matter, Harry S. Truman’s initiative to bomb the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not reasonable in my opinion, because to ensure the
Although the experiences that Yoshitaka and the other civilians experienced in Hiroshima were unpleasant and awful, the atomic bomb had its positive side, which was that it was the only way in which Japan was able to surrender. Japan showed a great fight and they would not surrender for their country. The United States also decided to drop the bomb because they did not want any more Americans to lose their lives in another combat. Lastly, the most important reason U.S. actions were positive is because of the defeat of the Nazi’s in Europe. The Nazi’s were treating Jews terribly.
Although many people were killed because of the Manhattan Project, the bombs were requisite in ending the war before war got out of hand. By the end of World War II, the countries with the most casualty in World War II were USSR and China (World War 2 Death Count) instead of Japan, even though the bomb supposedly killed many Japanese. If President Truman did not respond to Japan’s attack by taking any actions like dropping the bombs, even more innocent lives would have been taken away by further
On August 6, 1945 the world changed as U.S President Truman made the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. A difficult decision to make but, Truman made the right one in effort to preserve his own interest of American lives and resources and to swiftly end a war against the aggressive Japanese; while Japan was near to yielding, the assurance the atomic bomb brought of their Empire’s surrender was too vital against such a vicious opponent. Truman dropped the bomb to spare the lives of his own American soldiers; it is not that Truman had disregard for Japanese lives, but that the Japanese had no regard for American lives fueling his decision. This can be seen in his speech after dropping the bomb, “We have used it against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war, against those who have abandoned the pretense of obeying international laws of warfare” (Truman 1). At this point, the Japanese had revoked their right to any form of mercy.