Hiroshima Bombing Dbq

Hiroshima was such an ideal target for American bombing. According to the book, this was because the city was considered an important place for establishing a military command center. Another reason was that it was a place where communication would be coordinated from. It was the perfect city for militaries to station their operations in.

The United States was well educated on the horrifying effects of the nuclear bomb created. But despite the knowledge of the atomic bomb, America carried on its plans to target Japan (Document 1). World War II did end after the Nagasaki bombing, but many argue if it was necessary to bomb these Japanese cities or were they ready to surrender?

The United States decision to release the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a way to intimidate the Soviet Union. The United States did this by revealing to the Soviet Union what they were capable of doing during war. According to Document 3, Dwight D. Eisenhower did not want the Soviet Union to enter the war. Eisenhower believed that the United States did not need aid from the Soviet Union during war. Also, according to Document

The Japanese secretly attacked Pearl Harbor without the United States knowing; therefore, the United States secretly launched an atomic bomb on Japan. As Harry Truman states on a radio address, “We have used it against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor” (Document H). In response to Japan’s attack towards us, Harry Truman ended the war with a destructive bomb.

Shocking the world with the mass destruction, the US threatened the Japanese to surrender with the fear of another bomb being dropped. In three days time, a second atomic bomb was released, wreaking the city of Nagasaki. This act of complete destruction put fear in many nations eyes. However, the US intended for the second bombing to prove to the Soviets that they had this new weapon, and were not afraid to use it. A month prior to these events, President Truman had blackmailed Stalin, hinting at the fact that the US had developed a new weapon that would result in large amounts of destruction.

Explain in what ways the bombing raid on Hiroshima on August 6th 1945 was significant and different (cause) from previous bombing raids on the city? Explain why did the people of the city come out of their shelters to watch the bomb descend (effect)?

Dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified under the information they had at the time. When criticizing the actions of the Truman administration one needs to consider the effect of knowledge in hindsight. Truman was working under the knowledge that dropping the nuclear bombs would bring a short and fast victory to the Pacific front of the Second World War. As the war had already ended in Europe by this time, leaders were looking to end the campaign in the Pacific as quickly as possible. From a cost benefit perspective dropping the bombs on Japan meant that very few American lives were lost, and the cost of building the bombs compared to the cost of a minimum six month continuation of fighting.Additionally, there was no testing

    There were many causes for the United States dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. One of these causes was because we wanted to increase the chances of Japan surrendering so that

The United States made the right decision to bomb the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. President Truman, felt that is was evident that the other alternatives where the Allied forces thought of invading Japan could have led to a lot of casualties on their part (Roark 685). Another reason can be because it is the same Japan that agitated America to join the Second World War, which it had initially avoided, by bombing the Pearl Harbor (Riggs 3). Apparently, this grudge was carried forward.

This was the time when the United States and the Japanese had an extreme rivalry between each other. After the Japanese attacked a US territory, killing 2,403 people, the US promptly declared war on Japan, entering themselves into a second world war after being significantly provoked. Germany and Italy declared war on the US after the US declared war on Japan. Later on, after defeating Germany, the USSR agreed to help the US defeat Japan ninety days after the Nazi surrender, so the US had a six month period before the USSR could come and help them defeat Japan. The US did not want to give up any territory to the USSR like they did with Europe, so the US had to attempt to end the war themselves prior to the ninety days. To end the war between the US and Japan prior to the agreed date by the USSR, J. Robert Oppenheimer invented something that would later murder 105,000 people and injure 94,000 more.

The Bombs were not as bad as people think it was. President Harry S. Truman had already warned that any attempt to invade japan would cause unusual acts that would bring the war to a brief end. Roughly about 90,000-146,000 people were killed in Hiroshima & 39,000-80,000 in Nagasaki,which most of the death occurred on the very first day of the bombings. The Army Officer made it seem like that was the only choice was the bomb but it really wasn’t.

Hiroshima is an outstanding recreation of the complete annihilation and devastation of during the aftermath and the year following the United States’ dropping of the atomic bomb. As the war in the east carried on, many thought this desolated war might last a lifetime, all the while hoping for an end and praying it not mean their own end. To end the war, Americans had to pick a target that would leave the Japanese government with nowhere to retreat, allowing for a crippling effect that would essentially cause their collapse and surrender. In his writings, John Hersey proclaims that Hiroshima was a “… inviting target - mainly because it had been one of the most important military command and communications centres in Japan …” (HERSEY, P. 107). In the minds of American strategists, this must have seemed a flawless method to force the Japanese military into a corner, not allowing withdrawal without laying down of arms. There was surely no doubt that dropping this bomb of god-like destructive power would, at a minimum, tear into the souls of Japanese, causing catastrophic devastation.

While Truman himself stated in an August 1945 radio address and further emphasized in his 1955 memoirs that the atomic bombs were dropped in order to “shorten the agony of war, [and] save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans” (Doc H), historians and government officials are split on the issue of the true motivations behind dropping the a-bombs. However, given his sour relationship with Stalin, it is clear that Truman intended the bomb to be used more than merely as an atomic weapon. When the Truman Administration made the decision to drop the atomic bombs, it was both military and diplomatic. The decision was militaristic in that it tried to end the war with Japan in the most efficient

There were many causes for the United States dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. One of these causes was because we wanted to increase the chances of Japan surrendering so that our

Many voices within the US Military warned President Harry Truman with caution of the use of the atomic bomb against Japan. President Truman, however was convinced that the bomb was the only option to stop the constant fighting with