The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

“As Yale Professor Gaddis Smith has noted, it has been demonstrated that the decision to bomb Japan was centrally connected to Truman's confrontational approach to the Soviet Union” (Donohue 2012). The atomic bomb served as a potent warning to the Soviet Union. In this respect, Hiroshima and Nagasaki may have been the first shots of the Cold War as well as the final shots of World War II. Regardless, the United States remains the only nation in the world to have exercised a nuclear weapon on another nation. The bombs did, however, bring a close to the most destructive war in

“On August 6, 1945, the world was changed forever with the denotation of an atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima, followed three days later with the use of another bomb over Nagasaki”1. The United States use of atomic weapons on Japan in 1945 was an event that triggered the fear of many individuals because it was during the period of war. The use of atomic weapons by the United States however, was justified because they had to end the war quicker, they intended to do minimal damage, and they had no other alternative.

Was it necessary for Truman to drop the Atomic Bombs on Japan in World War II? On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped by a US aircraft on Hiroshima. This atomic bomb was dropped to force Japan into surrender, this bomb alone destroyed Hiroshima and over 90,000 people were instantly killed in the explosion and an additional 100,000 people perished from burns and radiation sickness. On August 9, 1945 only three days later, the second atomic bomb was dropped over Nagasaki resulting in an additional 80,000 casualties of the Japanese population. The people of Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945 soon after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many people opposed to the use of the atomic bombs because people argued that Truman 's decision to use atomic bombs was a barbaric act of cruelty. People also argued that the US government had other ulterior motives to drop the atomic bomb that were necessary for America 's ideals. Necessary motives like presenting The Soviet Union a strong message for the Soviets to watch their step around America. A conventional way of warfare for Japan 's surrender would have costed many more American lives. Truman and others believed that the atomic bomb was necessary to save American lives but also Japanese lives. These actions from President Truman marked the end of the most destructive war in history. The two sources that will used and evaluated in this paper are is The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb by Dennis D. Wainstock (1996)

Secondly, the dropping of the Atomic bomb wasn’t justified is that the Americans were close to beating Japan as they were almost willing to surrender. Japan saw that there was little hope for them winning and realised that surrendering would save lives. The American generals made a statement of what the terms of surrender were to be. However, the Japanese rejected these

        August 6, 1945 defines a pivotal moment in world history. At 8:15am, the United States

The event that brought forth the Idea to attack japan and destroy the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was Pearl Harbor. Japan had a history of executing surprise attacks before declaring war; one main example is when japan invaded Port Arthur in the Russo- Japanese war which would prove to be very successful . Many books were written prior to 1941 predicting an invasion of the Hawaiian Islands to gain access to the United States mainland including ‘The conflict of nations’, and ‘The valor of ignorance’ . The United States saw the military base on Hawaii as a point of power in the pacific and a last defense of their home land. Japan saw Hawaii as at point of expansion and an easy way for the United States to launch an attack on them. Attacking Pearl Harbor was not the original plan for japan. Japan wanted to bring the United States to them, but Japanese commander- in –Chief Isoroku Yamomoto pushed for an attack on the United States .pearl harbor was the home to the United States naval fleet and many fuel reserves. One of the main objects of japan was to destroy aircraft carriers and sink battle ships to put the United States fleet out of action and to discourage the people of the United States to not join the World War. The Japanese army spent over a year planning the attack and training pilots. The Japanese even created special torpedoes to operate in pear harbors shallow waters .

During World War II Americans dropped atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing nearly 200,000 people. This resulted in Japans surrender in World War II. J. Samuel Walker analyzes this historical event in his book Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs. Over the past 70 years’ extensive research has been conducted and there is an understanding that Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bombs is inconclusive. It is impossible to determine that the use of the bomb was the quickest way to end the war. An analysis of President Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb reveals one challenge: was the decision to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki a show of good judgment.

The research question of this essay is “To what extent was the atomic bombing of Japan at the end of the Second World War Justified? In 1945, the United States authorized the dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The first bomb, dropped on August 6th 1945, had a total casualty rate of 135,000, including non-combatant civilians, and as this, the atomic bombing of Japan at the end of the Second World War has indeed been a hugely discussed topic within academic and social circles until today. There have been historians, academics, and other influential individuals throughout the world who have argued on both sides of the spectrum regarding the effects of the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and whether they were necessary and justified towards the ending of the conflict. According to the Center For Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), by 1944, it had become clear to both the United States and the Empire of Japan that Japan was indeed losing the war, and as this, there are many arguments and counterarguments regarding the effectiveness of the atomic bombing of Japan, as well as suggestions regarding alternatives due to the enormous human toll the bomb caused.

Intense moral justification was needed in order to make the decision to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki however, President Truman was ultimately the man who made the final decision to launch ‘Little Boy’ and destroy Hiroshima, Nagasaki and their civilians, thus forcing an end to the war. Although there were many alternatives presented to President Truman, it is unknown as to whether they would have actually succeeded in ending the war or producing less casualties. Truman made the decision to drop these bombs in the heat of war but his justification of having a military target appeared extremely unrealistic, as both cities were full of innocent civilians. The morality of the bombs have been debated over the years, however the publication of the actual damage to civilian life caused a strong voice opposed to the usage in the 60 years following the action.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki altered the course of world events by starting the Cold War, ushering advancements in technology, and by influencing cultures worldwide. Occurring on August 6 and August 9 in 1945, the bombing of the cities set of a series of events that would forever change history. The United States and the Soviet Union emerged from the war as superpowers with seemingly limitless power. Their ideologies, however, contrasted greatly, and the once allied nations would turn against each other, setting the entire world into a period of uncertainty. The atomic bomb, alone, would influence countless decisions, technologies, and policies in the following years and strike fear and awe into many around the world.

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 horrific atom bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan on August 6th and 9th of 1945 brought about several reactions in the United States. Starting with the controversial events leading up to the atomic with the Potsdam Proclamation, many Americans began to wonder whether the total destruction of these two cities were necessary. However, immediate American responses and reactions to the bombs were contrary to what they became later on. Americans slowly stopped being ignorant of what had happened in Japan and began to question the actions of their government; although, this questioning of such events was popular at first, they slowly accelerated to stronger beliefs today. Finally, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 has had major effects on America from the day of the bombing to present day United States

On August 8th 1945 the first atomic weapon, a fission bomb, was dropped on the city of Hiroshima in an attempt to force the Japanese to surrender in World War II (Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 2009). This event exposed the danger of nuclear energy. This massive explosion demolished 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people. This was only the beginning though, tens of thousands of innocent people died due to the aftermath of radiation exposure for another generation (Rosenberg, n.d). This day marks one of the most controversial in history. While some argue that Truman’s decision to drop the bomb was in America’s best interest, others question the ethics of dropping the most destructive weapon in the history of war on a city filled with innocent civilians (Pavlik 1995).

The atomic bombing of Japan was an unjustified decision that many considered was inhumane. Through the use of atomic bombs, many innocents were harmed in one way or another. Berger described the atomic bombing of Hiroshima as "a terrorist act" and that it was "evil". While Berger 's argument was extreme, the U.S. still remains unjustified because they did not know exactly how much damage the bomb would actually cause. Bombing Japan, the U.S. harmed thousands of civilians and displayed the effectiveness of the atomic bomb despite having other options to end the war.

Would you kill a thousand to save millions? Well the drastic actions taken by the United States did save millions. There were two actions that had to occur to save the millions and end the war, the dropping of the two atomic bombs being the first of their kind were to be the most powerful bomb ever invented using atomic and nuclear forces so create it and packed over 20,000 tons of TNT and was about ten feet long. The bomber that transported and dropped them was called the 'Enola Gay’. The two Japanese cities’ that were struck by such creations were Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In this essay I will be discussing on how the actions taken by the United States of America were completely justified in dropping the two bombs as is established a future power image, saved millions, ended the war and ended the axis of evil.