Atomic Bombing Analysis

On 6 August 1945, U.S dropped the first bomb on the city of Hiroshima. The death toll reached around 135,000. The second bomb hit Nagasaki on 9 August 1945 (three days later). This time, the bomb killed as many as 74,000 people. (Mason, 2014, Para 1) The bombing was necessary because Japan would not have surrendered otherwise and this would have prolonged the war potentially creating an even worse fate for Japanese people, with an estimation of about five to ten million Japanese fatalities—a number higher than the Soviet’s military size in the Second World War. (Mason, 2014, Para 19) Besides, if the bombings were not approved, the U.S. death toll would have increased too. America had already lost more than 418,000 lives, on military and civilian sides, while invading Japan. Many other thousands of Americans would have lost their lives if the war had continued. This was the view attributed by the president himself while approving the bombings. Therefore, the deployment of the atomic bombs on …show more content…
But, if the bombs did not have the devastating effect, would the Japanese surrender unconditionally otherwise? And if the Japanese would not surrender, wouldn’t it make the U.S. efforts of bombings pointless and worthless? This would prolong the war and there would be more deaths and casualties on both the U.S. and the Japanese sides. So, the little more than two hundred thousand deaths on the Japanese side because of the bombings can be justified in front of more than 418,000 loses of American lives in this war. The large number of Japanese civilian death (resulted by the Atomic bombs) were a small price to pay by America in return for its assertion of dominance on the world stage by leaving the Japanese with no other options but to surrender unconditionally, and hence, resulting in the victory of U.S bringing an end to the World War II. (Mason,