The bomb at Hiroshima was in no way used to intimidate the Soviet Union or any ally but was only used as a means to an end. The Japanese had shown before that they were willing to fight to the death, we could not take the chance that they continued the war instead of surrendering. It was important to save as many American, Asian, and European lives as possible which would be hard to do while engaged in a war with Japan. Dropping the atomic bomb was only used as a military decision meant to assure japans
However, while Europe was now liberated from Nazi control, Japan had remained unhindered. The new President, Harry S Truman, became aware of the atomic bomb’s existence, and initially considered several alternatives to convince Japan to quit the war; intensify the already heavy bombing of Japanese cities, wait for the Soviet Union (an ally in defeating Germany) to join the war against Japan, allow Japan's emperor, Hirohito, to remain on his throne, or invade Japan's mainland. (pg. 206) However, none of the first three of those options were certain to compel Japan to surrender or end the war in the near term, and each would have posed very serious military, political, and diplomatic risks. Truman’s military advisors also predicted an alarming casualty rate of between 500,000 to 1,000,000 American soldiers if they were to directly invade the Japanese mainland.
BoAtomic Bomb “The atomic bomb was no ‘great decision.’ It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness.” As President Truman said himself, the dropping of two atomic bombs in Japan wasn’t an amazing decision, but it was the only one to stop all fighting. Dropping these atomic bombs were the only choice Truman had to officially end the war, get the Japanese to surrender, and to save American lives. We did what we thought was the only right thing to do at the time. The ending of World War II was the prime goal to be achieved with dropping these bombs on Japan. The Japanese still help munitions factories and military command centers in Hiroshima when we were creating the new powerful atomic bomb.
With only a six month supply of oil in reserve Japan was forced to make a quick decision that would have an enormous impact on world events. Japan did not react the way FDR and the allied powers had planned. They felt forced into a corner and the only way out was to fight. Out of fear Japan invaded areas in China and Indochina to secure raw materials and resources to keep the expansion of its empire and military advancements. After this Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets in the US and restricted any access to oil or any kind of petroleum products.
This was not the sort of surrender that U.S. forces wanted. The country was also torn between whether they wanted to surrender at all, conditional or not. The emperor supported the idea of surrender put forth by the Potsdam Declaration, wishing for an end to the war, but the Japanese Minister of War and other military heads were determined to find another alternative that was more of a negotiated settlement rather than actual surrender (Gosling). After the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, the emperor actually stepped forth and ordered Japan to surrender. If the bombs had not been dropped, this no doubt would not have happened.
The United States' decision to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima was more of a diplomatic measure calculated to intimidate the Soviet Union in the post-Second-World-War era rather than a strictly military measure designed to force Japan's unconditional surrender. The United States Government's decision was influenced somewhat by popular sentiment of the war. Japan had an army of an estimated 5 million people. In his memoirs, Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson wrote: "I was informed that such operations might be expected to cost over a million casualties, to American forces alone." A strategy was already devised to defeat Japan "without reliance upon the atomic bomb, which had not yet been tested in New Mexico."
Which shows the Japanese Government cared very little about their civilians. The Japanese Government wanted to keep the war going in order for them to sustain imperial victory hoping that it would achieve an conditional surrender rather than an unconditional surrender. Because of their selfishness, many civilians had to suffer. On the 26th of July, Truman and the rest of the allied leaders issued the Potsdam Declaration outlining terms of surrender for Japan. The Potsdam Declaration was presented as an Ultimatum that stated that if Japan did not want to surrender, the Allies would attack Japan resulting in “the inevitable and complete destruction of Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland.” On the 28th of July, the U.S. received papers saying that the declaration had been rejected by the Japanese Government.
Since the Soviets would have completed the war and forced surrender, Truman should have waited before dropping the bomb. Officials of the United States agreed and urged for soviet intervention in the war against Japan. Many wanted a date as early as possible for Russia's entry into the war against Japan because it would help save lives had an invasion proved necessary (Maddox, 36). If an invasion were necessary Russia would have made a huge impact as many officials
The act of saving lives in the pretext of killing more does not fit into any logic Truman could have done without the atomic bombing , as Japan had already become weak and it was understood of the fact that America had gained control over the airspace and water space of Japan . The country was already on its knees and it was negotiating its surrender to keep its imperial rule . The defense chief and advisors were against the atomic bombing of Japan as they had an idea of Japan already being weak by then . Also after Pearl Harbor , America made no concession of bombing Japanese cities , which had caused lots of destruction . The point that arises is , when it was known that Japan had already succumbed and an official announcement was on the cards anyhow , then why destruction of such nature was unleashed .
“Did the United States have to drop the Atomic Bomb? Some have argued that Japan was so close to surrender that the use of atomic bombs was not necessary. Others have stated that the Japanese were controlled by an irrational and misguided military and the use of these devastating weapons was justified.” According to the research I have conducted, in my personal opinion I think the atomic bomb had to be dropped. There are a number of reasons why I agree with this decision that was made by former President Truman. First and foremost, it was said, “A continuation of the war would bring death to tens, perhaps even hundreds, of thousands of persons.