Was The Atomic Bomb Justified Dbq Essay

On August 6, 1945, in response to World War II and Japan’s vicious attacks on the U.S., the United States launched the atomic bomb “Little Boy” on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. 80,000 people died, and sixty percent of the city was destroyed. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, in which killed 70,000 people instantaneously and many more in the following weeks. These atomic bombs resulted in pure destruction and chaos for Japan and its people. Although the atomic bombs destroyed part of Japan and took many lives with them, the dropping of the atomic bombs were justified because the U.S. aimed for the complete and utter destruction of Japan and Japan remained a major threat that needed to be eliminated.
As stated previously, the United States’ objective was to obliterate Japan with their military power in order to make them surrender from the war, “Only the complete destruction of her military power could open way to lasting peace” (Document #3). At this point in the war, Japan was already in a devastated state due to the wrath of incendiary bomb raids and shortages in food. To push them over the edge into “waving the white flag”, the atomic bombs were necessary so that the Japanese could not be able to continue their fight and finally put an end to the entire war. Therefore, resulting in a win for the …show more content…
due to its large military, “The total strength of the Japanese Army was estimated at 5,000,000 men… the major fighting would not end until the latter part of 1946, at the earliest” (Document #3). The size of Japan’s military and the estimated prolonging of the war provided the U.S. with an uncertainty that they would not have liked to accept. To eradicate this uncertainty and provide a rapid end to the war, the U.S. took the opportunity at hand and launched both atomic bombs. In the end, this decision proved triumphant as they evaded a lengthy battle with Japan and ended the long, treacherous