It is a given that the atomic bombs
It is a given that the atomic bombs
In the aftermath of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor the United States retaliated on August 6, 1945, at 8:15 a.m. the crew of the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima. The bomb detonated 2,000 feet above the center of Hiroshima, destroying 60% of the city and killing an estimated 70,000 to 100,000 people immediately. Due to amount of civilian deaths this led to, we often ask ourselves if the bombings over these Japanese cities were necessary. To debate wether the bombing was necessary we should pay attention to Japans decision to continue to not surrender after the first bombing. If a country is that proud and resilient for them to still refuse to surrender after one nuclear bombing killing between 70,000 to 100,000…
In Document K Secretary of War Henry Stinson says clearly, “The decision to use the atomic bomb was a decision that brought death to over a hundred thousand Japanese… But this deliberate, premeditated destruction was our least abhorrent alternative”. America had been bombing civilian and industrial cities for almost a year which alone caused many more deaths than the bombs. Also, the operation to invade the Japanese mainland would have ended in a bloodbath of millions of civilian deaths including those in Hiroshima and Nagasaki because the Americans had already planned to bomb those industrial cities months before. It was fair for the Japanese to fear occupation but anyone could tell that the germans and the americans were some of the nicest…
The practice of targeting civilian areas with massively destructive aerial bombing had already been done before. And to some, the atomic bombs were just a refinement of the art of area…
On August 6, 1945 the United States dropped bombs killing thousands of people on Japan, which effectively ended the Second World War. The bombings against Japan were necessary because they had warnings and a chance to surrender, things could have ended up worse, and most of all it protected the lives of the US. Japan didn’t have a direct warning that the US was going to bomb them, but there was a statement encouraging Japan to surrender while the bomb was still being talked about. Japan didn’t surrender. For months we dropped more than 63 million leaflets across Japan, warning them of bombings.…
On the other hand once the bomb was dropped one of the unjustifiable arguments against the bomb was the…
President Truman risked both congressional rebuke, as well as a loss of face and reputation if the bombs were not used. (Source B, Extract 2). On the other hand, the use of the atomic bomb (the existence of which the other Allied leaders were unaware of until the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, less than a month before they were used) is considered by many to have been the final straw that began the Cold War, since President Truman wanted to show the atomic bomb’s power to Stalin in a manner of the so-called atomic diplomacy (Source…
WWII: The Not So Good War America’s public view of the second world war has deemed it as the “Good War” because of it’s plausible cause and the Allies’ victory. However, it’s easy to twist a tragedy into a conquest for justice, with the help of selective memory. In a letter to Congress, President Roosevelt declared “It is so clear cut that it is difficult to oppose in any major particular without automatically admitting a willingness to accept compromise with nazism….no society of the world organized under the announced principles could survive without these freedoms which are a part of the whole freedom for which we survive.” To put an end fascism and spread freedoms of all assortments sounds like a good and glorious goal.…
The use of the Atomic Bomb was both necessary and justified as it immediately ended World War II, solidified the United States as a superpower, and contained the germinating powers of Japan and Russia. The use of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki immediately ended World War II and stopped the continuation of catastrophic and widespread violence in Japan. The Japanese had an audacious outlook on their offense throughout the duration of the war. It was suggested by Admiral William E. Leahy that, “The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender”(Source 2).…
Hideki Tojo was a tremendously stubborn Japanese leader that refused to accept our terms, in surrendering, to create peace in the global community. Instead the Japanese would not surrender, so the US proposed an idea that if the Japanese do not surrender the US will bomb them. Tojo learned his lesson when he was bombed by the US. He was a man looking to take over the world and not let anything get in his way. This selfish behavior led to major problems in his country's future like a huge economic downfall and losing World War 2.…
In this respect, Hiroshima and Nagasaki may have been the first shots of the Cold War as well as the final shots of World War II.” The United States were the first to drop an atomic weapon on another…
The Decision to Drop the Bomb During the summer of 1945, things were looking pretty grim for Imperial Japan, as they were the last axis power left and had been under constant firebombing for the United States, President Truman chose to drop two atomic bombs, one on Hiroshima on August 6th and one on Nagasaki on August 9th. Since before either of the two bombs had been dropped, it has been debated whether or not it was the right decision. Truman stated that the bombs were dropped to save American lives, but many argue over the government’s other motives at the time. Many bring up valid points over why the bomb should not have been dropped and that the government public justification for dropping the bomb was based off of false information, but ultimately the motivation behind dropping the bomb, hidden by the government or not, outweighs the reasons for not dropping the bomb.…
Dahi makes is that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not save half a million American lives as former president Harry Truman claimed. While it is true that the bombings had devastating effects both initially and thereafter, the U.S. would have surely invaded the Japanese islands later in 1945-1946 (Stimson 385). Considering famous battles like those at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, it is easy to guess that the same death and destruction for US and Japanese soldiers would occur for several months, or even years; in fact, it was projected that major fighting would not cease until late in 1946 (Stimson 385). The looming warfare could have resulted in over one million casualties of just American troops (Stimson, 385). These projected numbers were, and still are, alarming to imagine.…
At last, the U.S thought of the atomic bomb of being a way to revenge the Japanese for their bombings on Pearl…
The United States is the only country that used a nuclear weapon in a war. Both atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. The Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima and the Fat Man dropped on Nagasaki. It all started with President Roosevelt in 1939, when Roosevelt authorized the Manhattan Project, a secret project to expand research on nuclear fission to make nuclear weapons. Truman then became president when Roosevelt died in 1945.…
Fission was used in the original atomic bombs, and fusion is most commonly used today. This is due to the fact that the amount of energy that can be released from fission is limited, whereas fusion can theoretically release an unlimited amount of energy. Fusion is the same type of reaction that occurs on stars, thus obviously very powerful. Fusion occurs when two atoms are “fused” together and release a stray neutron. Thermonuclear bombs are much more powerful, and produce significantly greater amount of gamma…