The Decision When Harry Truman learned of the success of the creation of nuclear weapons, he was faced with the most difficult decision in history. The capacity to end the war with Japan was in his hands, but it would involve unleashing the most terrible weapon ever known. Truman ultimately had to decide if the gains from ending the war would outweigh the destruction from ordering the bombs and leading the world into the nuclear age. After very careful deliberation Truman made the right decision on ordering the use of the atomic bomb. The decision prevented millions of American casualties, millions of Japanese casualties, and served as a deterrent to the USSR expansion.
In response to the bombing of Japan, the Soviet Union and Communist China developed their own nuclear weapons. This marked the beginning of the Cold War, the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United Sates was due to the fact that both countries wanted to become the sole superpower of the world, and they also disagreed on what the world should look like postwar. The Cold War lasted for several years and had many period of heightened tension such as the Korean War, Vietnam War, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. World War II impacted America in many ways the GI Bill helped stimulate the economy which led to development and expansion into the west. Due to the financial securities family sizes increased and gave us the baby boom era.
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.
This may not seem important now, but at the time both countries were conducting top-secret nuclear research and while they did not want to publicly reveal their progress, they did want to project the message to the world that—whatever progress they had made—it was better and farther along than the progress of their enemies. NASA’s space program became the United State’s poster-child of our technological achievement and, as such, it also became a tool of international intimidation and of national defense. When the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded over Cape Canaveral in 1986, it was like a giant sign flashing overhead that the US was not as capable and powerful as previous thought. President Ronald Reagan acted quickly in speaking to the country about the tragedy, but his aim was not simply to reassure the public that everything was okay. In his Challenger speech, President Reagan persuaded the American public to continue to support the space program through his appeal to traditional American values of exploration and discovery, national pride, and national unity.
I do agree of dropping the bomb because it did save a lot of lives. Franklin Roosevelt was trying to find a way to end the war very fast. Then Truman had to end Roosevelt’s idea of winning the war fast. Truman wasn’t looking for a way to not use the atomic bomb. The United States wanted to end the war fast because we wanted the lowest amount of casualties.
Therefore, the US created unconditional terms of surrender, knowingly going against the Japanese ethic of honour and against the institute of the emperor, whom most Americans probably wanted dead. Consequently, the use of the atomic bomb became a way to avenge America's fallen soldiers while also keeping the USSR in check in Europe. The Japanese civilian casualties did not matter in this strategy. Also, it did not prevent the Cold War, as the USSR was just a few years behind on a-bomb research. 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.
After the debatable “success” of the atomic bomb there was talk of using it again Every country now wanted to know who had one, where it was kept, and when/if they would be using it Causes Differences between the US and the Soviet Union were intensified by suspicions after the war. Power was largely shared between the Soviet Union and the United States. As one wanted to dominate the other conflicts were inevitable. Cold and warm Open warfare is referred
This can be claimed to be proof that war holds back development which in some cases this is almost completely true. On the other hand it can be said that it speeds up development for example a lot of surgical techniques were invented to deal with war casualties and nuclear power is also a result of war thanks to the German atomic physicists. Philosophers believe that necessity is the mother of invention and wars create lots of necessities some of which are useful in more peaceful times whilst others can cause absolute misery in war
The arms race began in 1945 when the US dropped their atomic bomb on Japan. Not only did this demonstrate the power of the USA but was the catalyst for an age of rapid weapon development, the arms race. This ended with the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1963, an event that bought the superpowers dangerously close nuclear war. A number of factors other than the accumulating advancements in weaponry lead to the Cuban missile crisis, the personalities of the leaders and the national interests of each country all effected how the arms race developed, leading to the inevitable situation where the USA and USSR were left hovering over the trigger. The main aspect that lead to the Cuban missile crisis was the arms development between 1945-1963.
This isn’t case with as this arms race progressed it became clear about the catastrophic dangers nuclear warfare would bring if the weapons were ever deployed. Seeing the fact that during this period the world was brought to the very brink of annihilation in 1962 but in spite of that the world survived that fearful time and has made significant progress in peace from this period of time to the modern day. So it can be said that bizarrely the nuclear arms race didn’t make the world a more dangerous place as one would assume but rather pushed the world to more peaceful times. On the other hand people’s reaction towards the view at the time i may hold some truth as destructive potential of nuclear war never ceased during this period. The horrific power shown by these weapons when used on Nagasaki and Hiroshima didn’t cause others to be fearful of the USA’s weaponry and to stop production of new weaponry but rather ironically increased it.