The dropping of the atom bomb served its purpose – to end the war as quickly as possible with the least amount of American deaths as possible. We had the bomb, which saved multiple men’s lives; men who would have eventually had to invade Japan, resulting in the deaths of both Japanese men and American men
At the time, revenge, geopolitics and an expensive project that could not be allowed to simply rust away, meant the atomic bomb had to be hastily deployed “in the field” in order to see its power and aftermath – though little was known about radiation and its effects on humans. The price to keep the USSR in check was steep: the use of a weapon of mass destruction that caused around 200,000 deaths (most of them civilians) and massive suffering through radiation. However, it did not stop the USSR from creating the same weapon within four
Even if Truman had decided to use the bomb, there was no reason to bomb Hiroshima. Hiroshima had limited military value and was mostly civilians, outnumbering the soldiers six to one. Over 200,000 men, women and children died because of the bomb, most of the casualties being women, children and old men. Although President Truman said the use of the atomic bomb was also used to reduce casualties on the Japanese side, if he cared so much about Japanese casualties, he could have just changed the unconditional surrender to make it easier for the Japanese to
The ones who believe this, do not comprehend the many different factors in war and how the route that was chosen was best for both parties that were directly affiliated with the bombings. The cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have been fire bombed if the atomic bombs were not dropped, causing similar damage and death counts to the atomic bombs. According to Kyoko Iriye Selden, "The most influential text is Truman's 1955 Memoirs, which states that the atomic bomb probably saved half a million US lives— anticipated casualties in an Allied invasion of Japan planned for November. Stimson subsequently talked of saving one million US casualties, and Churchill of saving one million American and half that number of British lives"(1). With this amount of casualties projected, a land invasion would have trumped the death toll of D-Day.
The decision prevented millions of American casualties, millions of Japanese casualties, and served as a deterrent to the USSR expansion. The war in the Pacific had been raging for almost four years. The two battles immediately preceding the bomb decision were Iwo Jima and Okinawa; two battles where the Japanese fought to the death and the cost in American casualties was horrific. After those battles it was predicted that the invasion of the Japanese mainland would be even worse (51g. The Decision).
However, Japan cannot truly be classed as a winner because their actual involvement in the war was minimal. As a whole, Korea was greatly damaged by the war. 10% of the population was killed, wounded or missing due to the conflict, and 600,000 homes were destroyed. In
Despite the ridiculous cover-ups provided by people, who support the dropping of the atomic bomb, there are an equal number of reasons why other people believe it should never have happened. The destruction caused by the bomb is one major justification for why it should not have been used. The US did not know the amount of damage the bomb was going to create, or the effects it would have on the people affected by the radiation. The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was an inhumane act of cruelty and murder to over a hundred thousand Japanese, and the twenty-three American prisoners of war that were being held in Hiroshima at the time the bomb was dropped. The US should have held back from dropping the bomb until knowledge of the bombs full power was known.
It was hard for people to believe this guy survived, although he was in a reinforced building its still amazing that he managed to survive. Among the survivors they discovered long term effects like leukemia and infertility (“The A-Bombs Invisible Offspring” 1). One of things that happened from the bomb is that the radiation changed the shape and color of some plants and also tinted some human skin and formed huge lumps of scar tissue called keloids (1). Some of the victims that survived ended up dying from keloids. More than after a year the bomb was dropped 50-65 ships in the area of radiation were contaminated and unable to ever be manned again (1).
The people were divided. Both the American people and others around word were soon to find out the horrors of what lay beneath an ash cloud that hung hundreds of miles above the Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even the scientists could not quite believe and could not imagine the effects that these two bombs would have, even now, more than 65 years later. News of the atomic bombing was greeted enthusiastically in the U.S.; a poll in Fortune magazine in late 1945 showed a significant minority of Americans wishing that more atomic bombs could have been dropped on Japan. The immediate death toll will never be known, but within four months, it was estimated that that the effects of both bombs had claimed around 166,000 people in Hiroshima, and 80,000 in Nagasaki.
“If we do not end the war, war will end us” - said by HG Wells. In the morning of the 6th of August 1945, B-29 bomber Enola Gay was used to release the first atomic bomb ‘Little Boy’ into the city of Hiroshima causing a fatal massacre that made many suffer up to this day. 100 000 innocent civilians lives were taken away by the Americans. 72 years later, since the dropping of the first weapon of its kind, it still remains a devastating time for Japan. Although the bomb ultimately saved more lives than it took, the ongoing feud of whether the bomb was justified or not still continues to this day.