The Events That Contributed To The Bombing Of Hiroshima

The trade embargo by US had caused an uproar in Japan, and this led into the question, “To what extent was the trade embargo by the USA responsible for Japanese military actions in 1941?” Some historians claimed that the trade embargo had forced Japan to use their military to attack Pearl Harbor, but why? The embargo appointed Japan to felt threatened to performed their ideology, situated Japan in an untenable position since they’re intensely relied on US imports, and produced a panicking atmosphere for their country’s survival. Japan viewed the embargo as a threat to achieved their ideology. Japan in the 19th century had strived for nationalism and embarked on modernization, which caused them to acquired an aggressive expansion plan, starting

Prior to WWII, Japan expanded into other countries like China and Manchuria to gain resources because Japan didn’t want to rely on the United States for resources and nearly eighty percent of their oil (Doc D). The invasion of Manchuria made the United States suspicious of Japan’s intent, but when China was invaded, the United States confirmed their skepticism and stopped trading military equipment with Japan. Two years later, in 1941, Japanese-American oil trades embargoed and banking assets froze. The trade cut off prevented the Japanese’s goal of becoming a world power because they couldn’t fuel their military or their industries. Therefore, the action infuriated the leaders of Japan and such anger was expressed during an Imperial Conference when Hideki Tojo stated to his fellow board members that the United States can’t do as she wants and let other countries suffer (Doc E). This conference helped organize the bombing and influenced the spread of Japanese hate toward America. Just as Europe and the United States did when fabricating the Treaty of Versailles, Japan took action in the interest of their country first and bombed Pearl Harbor in the same year as trade flow stopped. The bombing represented revenge against the trade cutoff and for preventing the completion of their

On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. It was indeed a great shock to the United States, many documents show that the bombing on Pearl Harbor was an attempt to stop the United States from entering into World War II. This attack was the turning in point World War II, and United States making the decision to help the Allies. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because of its narcissistic political mentality and angered by United States placing the embargo act on oil.

To begin with, the underlying cause of Japan attacking Pearl Harbor has to deal with the United States stopping Japan’s efforts to create a new world order. In 1938, Japan announced their plan for a new

Over the span of a few decades, the Japanese and Americans were as is, heading towards war due to a varying amount of disputing between the two. In the 1930’s, Japan invaded China. This caused an uproar between the two countries at the time. This was one of the first few sparks to the flame. In order to create the perfect Yamato race, the Japanese felt that there was more validity if there were no one to stop them, (Document A). Destroying the Pacific fleet was the goal so they could expand and imperialize the world around them. America, being one of their main oil producers, made them the perfect target. Leading up to the attack, America placed an embargo on Japan, (Document C). Japan wanted to destroy the Pacific Fleet to gain oil and continue imperialization to obtain the perfect Yamato

Japan was on a mission of rapid, powerful conquest. However, in Document

In the year 1939, tensions between eastern countries led to the start of the second world war. Eastern countries were beginning to invade one another due to results of the Treaty of Versailles such as poverty and loss of diplomatic power. Japan began growing rapidly and causing many military and diplomatic problems. In 1941, Japan organized an attack on the United States naval base of Pearl Harbor. The US was outraged. Bringing and end to the horrid war was the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan in 1945. Although some historians argue that the decision made by the United States to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was a military measure to force Japan’s surrender and end the war, it was actually a

(Abstract A) Japan did not want to pointlessly go to war, they simply wanted to make history or join history. It Hirobumi ’s statement proved to be true as the victory of the war sent Japan down a spiral of imperialism which they had set themselves up for. Japan was in need of a way to join the way of imperialism and to establish

Prior to the war, Japanese military action in China caused concern among the United States and their allies. In an attempt to curb this action, the allies sought to limit the passage of steel and petroleum to Japan. The reception of this action as an act of war by the Japanese led to their attempted expansion into the Pacific. The intent of this action was to supersede US power in the Pacific and secure these resources. In an attempt to pre-emptively defeat the United States, the Japanese decided to seize the initiative. This occurred through a surprise attack against the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. While on the surface the attack was successful, damaging or destroying 8 battleships and nearly 350

The aftermath of war with Russia led Japan into lacking essential raw materials, land, and a full supply of food. (Ben Pi et al. SS 20IB) “Japan was an emerging industrial power in the early 20th century, but lacked sufficient domestic supplies of iron and coal to sustain its desired development. Japan, a nation of islands, believed that it was approaching its maximum density and had continued to cast hungry glances at the Asian mainland as a potential target of expansion.” (United States American

The Japan launched a surprised attack on Pearl Harbor. Until this point the United States has let Japan do it as please even when others asked for help. Now that the Japanese involved United States in their vicious attacks it was time for the Unites States to go to war. Japan did not stop at Pearl Harbor they also attacked Hong Kong, Philippines, and American holdings throughout Pacific (The American Yawp). Even though Japan had already withdrew from the League of Nations their diplomatic relations with the United States completely collapsed after Pearl Harbor (The American Yawp). United States had exhausted other options of resolving conflicts with the Japanese, it was time for action. They have tried to create treaties and cut off supply. "Leaders were torn as to whether to address modernization and lack of natural resources through unilateral expansion—the conquest of resource-rich areas such as Manchuria to export raw materials to domestic Japanese industrial bases such as Hiroshima and Nagasaki..." These were the cities used to empower the Japanese until they could conquer China. “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.”) Two more bombs—“Fat Man” and “Little Boy”—were built and detonated over two Japanese cities in August. Hiroshima was hit on August 6th. Over 100,000 civilians were killed. Nagasaki followed on August 9th. Perhaps 80,000 civilians were killed." (The American

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.

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.

They justified action, no matter how irrational, on the grounds that they were motivated by the desire to do good for the nation (Storry 404). First instance of expansion for the Japanese empire, led by samurai who relied on their military strength to control and lead their feudal domains (Starrs 404). As noted by Sansom, a resource war occurred internally between the Army and Navy over supplies. Supplies such as the oil and metals necessary to maintain the functions of the army and navy, were all dependent upon a steady resource chain, which came from the sea.

The disagreement whether it was necessary for the United States to drop the bomb on either Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been going on for about half a century. Many have argued that Harry S. Truman did the right thing while others disagree that it was a horrible decision. There is technically not a right or wrong answer because no one knew what could have happened if the United States did not drop the bombs on either cities. There can only be disagreements over the decisions a leader could make in order to protect its people from being killed.