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How Did The Us Use The Atomic Bomb Dbq

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According to the “Atomic Bomb” slideshow, slide 26, around 200,000 people were brutally killed as a result of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This started when America disagreed with Japan’s cruel actions during the Rape of Nanking, which led them to impose a ban on trade with Japan. This triggered Japan to bomb Pearl Harbor by surprise on December 7th, 1941. America wanted revenge, which caused them to begin island-hopping, bombing Japan with non-atomic bombs, and cutting off Japan’s access to outside resources and supplies; however, Japan continued to fight back. Both sides had been at war against one another with high mortality rates for around 4 years with no end in sight. In order to get Japan to surrender quickly and end the war, …show more content…

As stated by Document B, “The Potsdam Ultimatum did not give any clear and specific warning about the kind of destructive weapon the US would use on Japan if they refused to surrender.” This shows that America is guilty of not giving Japan a proper warning to cause them to retreat without killing and injuring many people through the use of the bombs. In addition, Document B also states, “Had the Potsdam Ultimatum included our promise that the Emperor could remain on his throne, it is pretty clear that Japan would have surrendered at the time of the ultimatum.” This illustrates that because of how significant Japan’s Emperor was to their people if America had originally allowed Japan to keep Hirohito as part of a conditional surrender in the Potsdam Ultimatum they would have given in. By including a detailed warning and conditional surrender to Japan in the Potsdam Ultimatum, the use of the bombs would not have been essential. Finally, the use of these nuclear bombs can not be justified because of the trauma and destruction they cause. In Document F, a 13-year old Hiroshima survivor writes, “I found one of my classmates lying

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