being President for two weeks and he had already had a significant decision to make. The bomb was first tested in Alamogordo, Mexico and was successful. In July of 1945 Harry Truman had the decision to drop the bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 . There are two sides to using of this bomb, the traditional and revisionist. The traditional view was that the bomb should have been dropped to save American lives. The revisionist view is that the bomb was dropped to stop Stalin and stop the spread of communism. There is also a moral view on whether or not the bomb should have been dropped at all. It is in the opinion of the writer that the bomb should have been dropped because Truman was trying to save American and Japanese lives and stop the war.
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In document 3, Yoshitak Horie says that for every 1 Japanese soldier 10 American soldiers will be killed. Japanese soldiers were taught to never give up and when present on the battlefield to devote their body and soul for victory or honorable death. This statement shows that Japan will not surrender gracefully. To prove they dedicated themselves to their country, there was over 5,000 kamikazes (suicide planes) that destroyed ships and men (Document #4). In the battle of Okinawa facts shows that the Japanese did not surrender often and fought to the last man. Of the 110,000 soldiers only 10,000 were captured or wounded. There was also another deadly battle on Iwo Jima, an island that was five and a half miles by two and a half miles. In that battle 26,000 Americans were killed and wounded too Japan’s 19,000 killed and wounded. This gave a scare to American soldiers because what would it be like taking on Japan a much larger country. There were projections of what would happen if a war did take place on Japan and it was projected that in the first phase (Operation Olympic) 2 million Japanese people would die to 550,000 Americans killed and wounded. The Americans had an initial 650,000 troops for Operation Olympic, 9,000 aircraft, 9 battleships and 80 destroyers. While the Japanese had 2.3 million troops, 28 million local defense reserves and over 8,000 …show more content…
On July 25, 1945 Winston Churchill, Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin met at Potsdam. Here Truman and Churchill realized that Stalin wanted a lot Germany and Eastern Europe. Communist Russia also wanted Poland. As Stalin moved west to destroy Hitler he made those countries communist. This worried the west (USA & UK) because Russia was slowly growing in population and power (Document #9). In document 10 it shows the spread of Russia in Europe after World War two. They gained Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and many more. The soviet union was growing and spreading communism rapidly. In February 1945 Stalin agrees at the Yalta conference to help the Americans and British defeat the Japanese 3 months after the E.T.O. is over. The three months would start on May 8th and it would take three months because Stalin is 10,000 miles away in Germany. Stalin was set to attack on August 8th in Manchuria (Document #11). The first atomic bomb was dropped on August 6th, two days before Stalin was set to attack in Manchuria. The Americans were hoping that the dropping of the bomb would terrify the Japanese and force them to surrender because Americans did not want Stalin in Asia spreading communism. This plan failed though because the Japanese did not surrender or Stalin was scared off, but, it was worth it to try and
In document 3, Yoshitak Horie says that for every 1 Japanese soldier 10 American soldiers will be killed. Japanese soldiers were taught to never give up and when present on the battlefield to devote their body and soul for victory or honorable death. This statement shows that Japan will not surrender gracefully. To prove they dedicated themselves to their country, there was over 5,000 kamikazes (suicide planes) that destroyed ships and men (Document #4). In the battle of Okinawa facts shows that the Japanese did not surrender often and fought to the last man. Of the 110,000 soldiers only 10,000 were captured or wounded. There was also another deadly battle on Iwo Jima, an island that was five and a half miles by two and a half miles. In that battle 26,000 Americans were killed and wounded too Japan’s 19,000 killed and wounded. This gave a scare to American soldiers because what would it be like taking on Japan a much larger country. There were projections of what would happen if a war did take place on Japan and it was projected that in the first phase (Operation Olympic) 2 million Japanese people would die to 550,000 Americans killed and wounded. The Americans had an initial 650,000 troops for Operation Olympic, 9,000 aircraft, 9 battleships and 80 destroyers. While the Japanese had 2.3 million troops, 28 million local defense reserves and over 8,000 …show more content…
On July 25, 1945 Winston Churchill, Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin met at Potsdam. Here Truman and Churchill realized that Stalin wanted a lot Germany and Eastern Europe. Communist Russia also wanted Poland. As Stalin moved west to destroy Hitler he made those countries communist. This worried the west (USA & UK) because Russia was slowly growing in population and power (Document #9). In document 10 it shows the spread of Russia in Europe after World War two. They gained Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and many more. The soviet union was growing and spreading communism rapidly. In February 1945 Stalin agrees at the Yalta conference to help the Americans and British defeat the Japanese 3 months after the E.T.O. is over. The three months would start on May 8th and it would take three months because Stalin is 10,000 miles away in Germany. Stalin was set to attack on August 8th in Manchuria (Document #11). The first atomic bomb was dropped on August 6th, two days before Stalin was set to attack in Manchuria. The Americans were hoping that the dropping of the bomb would terrify the Japanese and force them to surrender because Americans did not want Stalin in Asia spreading communism. This plan failed though because the Japanese did not surrender or Stalin was scared off, but, it was worth it to try and