Essay On The Use Of The Atomic Bomb Dbq

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On August 6, 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima and another on Nagasaki three days later. It is estimated that both atomic bombs killed somewhere between 150,000-250,000 people within 1 month of each detonation. However, before both bombings the US urged the Japanese to surrender in order to avoid such destruction, but it took two bombings before the Japanese surrendered. The purpose of the atomic bomb was to force Japan’s surrender in order to save lives, avoid requesting the aid of the Soviet Union to win the war, and to shorten what could be an unnecessarily longer war. Therefore, the statement that Harry S. Truman’s decision to drop an atomic weapon on Hiroshima, Japan was a diplomatic action calculated …show more content…
Also, a large amount of damage was also done to Japanese cities with the US’s regular High Explosive and incendiary bombs as well as raids of Japanese cities by the US forces. The US also made it difficult for the Japanese to carry on a large-scale war due to the fact that US B-29’s destroyed Japanese industries with mines, which ultimately prevented any incoming cargoes with critical items (Doc E). So although the Japanese still had a large number of people in their force, it as inevitable for the Japanese to eventually surrender due to the previous damage the US had already done to Japan. According to General H. H. Arnold, Commander of the American Army Air Force in the Second World War, the Japanese were doomed whether the US used the atomic bomb or didn’t (Doc E). However, the US did not want a prolonged war, as previously mentioned, so if the Japanese were bound to surrender at some point, why not shorten the war and force the Japanese to surrender sooner than later? In the eyes of the US at that time, it would be unnecessary to prolong the war if the Japanese would surrender either

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