The bombing of Hiroshima, and later, Nagasaki were not justifiable military acts but war crimes. One of the major arguments about the bombing of Hiroshima had been whether the Japanese would have surrendered without the atomic bomb or not. President Truman said the atomic bomb was necessary to make Japan surrender quickly and prevent both more American and Japanese casualties. Others believed that there was no need for the use of the atomic bomb. The United States Strategic Bombing Survey issued in July 1946 declared “Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts and supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the Survey's opinion that certainly prior to 31 December 1945 and in all probability prior
Moreover, other countries claimed the right of nuclear weapons to defend their citizens. Consequently, the tragic bombings became the example of an arm’s race instead of peace. Furthermore, since Japan was already on the brink of collapse the bombing was unnecessary, and peace talks would have taken place within a decent time frame (even after the cancelled Hawaii summit). The millions of deaths calculated by Operation Downfall [the codename for the Allied plan for the invasion of Japan near the end of the Second World War, which was abandoned when Japan surrendered following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki] actually show that only desperation and honour stood between Japan and unconditional
The calculation was terrorist. The indiscriminancy was terrorist." This argument supports his larger purpose by indicating the action was calculated and planned such as a terrorist attack in order to get the Japanese government to surrender and abide to U.S demands. 3) What does Berger mean by the term expediency? Berger uses the term expediency to mean a political advantage that was taken because "the concept of evil has been abandoned" which in other wards means the notion of doing wrong was no longer a concern allowing for the bombing on Hiroshima to occur so that the U.S. can obtain the upper
Since the propaganda became a no brainer to many Americans, Citizens immediately began to apply in the army. This event lead to a drastic turn in the war, as the Allied powers were losing the war. The U.S. began to win battles, the Allied powers began to gain the upper hand on Axis powers. After years of war, the U.S. finally avenged Japan by dropping the first atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Japan. Then dropping the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, leading to Japan's
Without the bombs, the goal of getting the Japanese to surrender may have never been accomplished. This was our ultimate goal as we were still heated after the Japanese actions on Pearl Harbor. Another widely overlooked advantage of dropping the bombs was that it aided the survival of POW’s. Throughout Japan there were camps that held American soldiers under the control of the Japanese. By using these two strategically aimed bombs, we were able to avoid killing our own troops in these camps and by forcing the Japanese to surrender, we got our troops back
The Japanese were seen as bloodthirsty savages willing to die rather than give up. Their defense of Okinawa and the thousands of kamikaze pilots only confirmed this fear in the eyes of the Americans. Truman felt the bomb would save more lives in the long run, due to avoiding another six or more months of carnage that the war was known for. Truman later said he estimated fighting losses numbered in the several hundred thousands, while bomb losses numbered in the tens of thousands since he intended to spare as many women and children as humanly possible. Using the bomb pretty much guaranteed that the U.S. would occupy Japan without the Soviets as well as sending a clear message to the Soviets to go slow and careful in Europe and it’s territories.
Fussel versus Walzer I believe that dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was inhumane and that the happenings of that war could have been solved in a different manner. Before reading both Fussel and Walzer’s opposing opinions on the droppings of the atomic bombs on Japan, I can confidently say that I agreed with Fussel to a certain extent. Many people’s gut reaction to something as huge as this would be “Better him/her than me”. What was so wrong with killing 100,000 to potentially save hundreds of thousands of American lives? That is what a lot of people asked themselves and still ask themselves until this day.
Moral analysis of the Atom bomb Paul Fussell, in his piece “thank god for the atom bomb”[i], uses strong imagery and horrific recounts of the war to support his argument that the A bomb saved American lives, thus being morale. He discredits reasoning condemning the use of the A bomb by attacking the historians’ who wrote it on the bases of their war involvement. His information, compared with Paul Hall's shows lack of depth of research. “What it must have been like to some old-timer buck sergeant or staff sergeant who had been through Guadalcanal or Bougainville or the Philippines, to stand on some beach and watch this huge war machine beginning to stir and move all around him and know that he very likely had survived this far only to fall dead on the dirt of Japan's home islands, hardly bears thinking about”[ii] is one of the many recounts used to make the reader sympathize with American troops. And with "The true, climactic, and successful effort of the Japanese peace advocates .
• Even though they were going to use the bomb the government kept recruiting people into the army. • Many people argued that if the government were going to use this amazing weapon why not just stop investing so much money into the military. E. Conclusion • The United States cannot be fully responsible for the bombing for Hiroshima but they do play a major role of the bombing. • Japan was warned that they would be bombed if they did not comply to American terms but because of this Japan refused to accept the terms and in return an atomic bomb was dropped over Hiroshima • President Truman had many other options that bombing Japan in order for them to surrender but since America is such a nationalistic country they wanted to prove to Russia their enemy before and after WWII that they were the stronger country. • Even though the bomb was dropped and Japan refused to surrender.
The atomic bomb is a weapon with great explosive power that results form the sudden release of energy upon the splitting, or fission of the nuclei (World War 2 Database). This new destructive force wrecked havoc on two Japanese cities and caused the end of World War II. It also saved thousands of American lives because a ground