Germany's Role In World War One

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s Europe was becoming a tinder box for a possible great war. Every country was extremely determined on spreading their empires. Additionally they began to form alliances, France with England and Germany with Austria-Hungry. Then on June 28th 1914 a Bosnian-Serb nationalist assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife practically igniting Europe and the world into a massive war. This assassination was viewed as an act of war and Russia came in to assist their ally Serbia. Germany naturally had to declare war on Russia to help Austria-Hungry. France and England then joined in to assist Russia.

In order to get Japan to surrender quickly and end the war,

Although the Japanese believed it was dishonarable to surrender and probably thought they made the best decision, I am sure they didnt think about the lives they were putting in danger. The civilians that died were not to blame, and shouldnt have had to endure the devastions of the war but sadly they did live on a military port.

Imagine unexpectedly becoming the President of the United States overnight during a huge World War. Then was faced to make a life changing decision on whether or not to use a secret bomb that could end it all, and only on your twelfth day on the job. This was the decision Harry Truman, our 33rd President had to make. Many people have different opinions on whether or not dropping that bomb on Japan was the right thing to do. Either way any decision that Truman made would have resulted with some pros, but in the end him deciding to drop the bomb was the right one to make to end the war easily.

After six years of war, Germany finally surrendered. This did not mean that Japan would too. Both countries ultimately entered the war for different reasons. Germany did not because other countries declared war on it because of their imperialism in Europe. Japan entered the war because they saw a opportunity to acquire land in the Pacific and jumped on it, even if it meant war. So when Germany surrendered, it did not really affect Japan 's plan. They still wanted land and continued to fight for it.

Even after the surrender of Germany, Japan continued to put up a fight. According to Decision B, “ The Japanese viewed surrender as dishonorable. They fought with fantastic resistance and believed it was more honorable to commit suicide than to surrender to enemy forces.” Because of this, Japanese pilots crashed planes into American naval vessels to destroy ships. This proves that the Japanese had no intention of surrendering any time soon.

Furthermore, less deadly methods could have worked. An economic blockade would have convinced Japan to surrender (Doc G). This shows that Japan would have surrendered with something other than

One thing the American military and government wanted to get across the Japanese was that there would be no total “annihilation” of the Japanese people. Also they wanted to make the Japanese aware that they could keep their emperor just as long as he did not have much power. After the war the emperor was turned into what the Queen of England is today. Mainly just an image and morale booster. This was hard to get across the Japanese people because they saw their emperor as a god among men. Many would fight to the death for him. Near the wars end there were a few coups staged against the emperor and the Japanese government, but none of them succeeded. (Beschloss, “Did We Need to Drop It?”).

“On August 6, the American bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, a Japanese industrial center, completely destroying the city and killing an estimated 70,000 people. Three days later, the U. S. dropped a second bomb, destroying the city of Nagasaki and killing another 39,000 Japanese citizens. Finally, on August 14, Japan surrendered.” (American Experience). The Japanese surrendered because they were a defeated nation. Japan's cities and industry had been destroyed. They could not sail any ships, could not fly any planes and had lost many territories to the United States and allies.

If the bomb had not been launched, the war would have certainly drawn on longer, and there were no other options to end the war, which would certainly bring more death and destruction. There was no assurance at that time to what would have heightened the war or ended it, so it was an important decision to make. Truman certainly didn’t know what the aftermath would bring so he made the best choice possible by taking a chance for his nation. The atomic bomb is likely the only choice that would have prevented many more deaths, as well as the only to make Japan

The Japanese saw this as an incredible insult to their ruler, and therefore refused surrender (Lawton). The only reason why America could follow through with the term of “The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction” (“Potsdam Declaration”) was because it had made the terms of the Potsdam Declaration completely disgraceful and unacceptable for Japan. Clive A. Lawton argues “Many Japanese politicians would only agree to surrender if Emperor Hirohito remained on the throne”. Had the U.S. revised its treaty terms in order to keep Hirohito in power and leave at least some of the Japanese military intact, Japan would have likely surrendered quicker and the bombs would not be needed.

When the Japanese choose not to surrender President Truman makes the decision to use the atomic bomb rather than risk the 1,000,000 projected lives lost in a man to man combat war. Hiroshima was a chosen as

Towards the end of WWII the Japanese were still holding out even though their loss was imminent. The Japanese were willing to surrender under the terms that their emperor,

When the Austro-Hungarian heir was assonated, the nation declared war on Serbia. Serbia was allies with Russia, who in turn declared war on Austria-Hungary. Austria-Hungary was allies with Germany who declared war on Russia. France who was allies with Russia declared war on Germany. Finally Great Britain decides to declare war, and now, most of the major nations in the western hemisphere are at war, creating the First World War.

The Soviet declaration of war on Japan exerted even more pressure on Japan, triggering even the emperor to urge the government to just accept the Potsdam Declaration and surrender. Its involvement meant that Japan might be fighting a two-front war as the Soviets had already settled in Japanese-held Manchuria, and had orders to attack Japan 's northern and southern isles. This influenced Japan 's unconditional surrender as no strategy remained and it may not hope for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to mediate for an appropriate peace. On August 15, Japan surrendered unconditionally based on all the Potsdam terms.