One of the pros for dropping the atom bombs is that the Japanese would have not surrendered. The Japanese believed in the old samurai way called bushido. Bushido meant loyalty, honor, and self sacrifice to the Japanese, so surrendering was not an option for them. That was one of the pros for dropping of the atom bombs. This another pro for dropping the atom bombs.
Even after the surrender of Nazi Germany on May 8th, the war against Japan continued. The United States threatened to destroy Japan in the Potsdam declaration, but this threat was ignored by the Japanese. This prompted the use of the atom bomb. The first atom bomb was dropped on Heroshima on August 6. Three days later, another atom bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.
However, there are some philosophies and schools of thought which, when applied to the issue, are more likely to lead one to gain a more thorough understanding of why the action was unethical and should not have been committed. Among these are utilitarianism, Immanuel Kant’s Duty Theory, the definition of terrorism, the Just War Theory, and absolute pacifism. One of the most common philosophical justifications for dropping the atomic bombs on Japan is utilitarianism, arguing that using the nuclear weapons saved more lives in the long run and ultimately reduced the suffering of the greatest number of people. Those that follow this utilitarian rationale support their opinion by using the notion that if the United States had not dropped the bombs, they would have had to invade Japan, which would have resulted in many more American casualties. However, before dropping the bombs, General MacArthur had estimated that about 31,000 American casualties would occur by invading Japan, and calculated that even fewer American lives would be lost by continuing with conventional bombing on Japan and establishing a naval blockade, eventually forcing Japan’s surrender within six months (CSIS.org).
The bombing of Hiroshima was necessary to end the war as it would save many lives as suggests in source A “should adopt a position that rather than throw to this bomb we should have sacrificed a million American and a quarter of a million British live”. The use of the weapon was not justified because it would have saved American lives the statement in
The historians who support Truman, sometimes called the traditionalists, agree that Japan had been defeated but argue that Japan was not ready to surrender and was, in fact, preparing for one last great battle that would have cost millions of lives. Popular opinion tends to side with the revisionists, but I will argue that Truman made the right decision, not only for the United States but also for Japan; in fact, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved Japan. Revisionists argue that the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima after Japan’s armed forces and over sixty of its major cities had been already been destroyed. Moreover, historians such as Howard Zinn argue that Truman knew that the Japanese were trying to surrender but that he ignored them because he wanted to use the Bomb (23). Gar Alperovitz, another revisionist, says that Truman’s main purpose in dropping the bombs was to demonstrate its power in order to intimidate the Russians (127).
And was the reason behind the decision to drop the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki purely to ‘save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans’? “We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans.” One of the biggest arguments in the debate on the necessity of dropping the atomic bombs is the argument that it saved American lives, which would have otherwise been lost in the proposed alternative: a land invasion of Japan. It was necessary to ‘completely destroy Japan’s power to make war’, and the best way to do this, to save American lives, was to drop the bombs. “Operation
In World War II, the Americans dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, one in Hiroshima and the other in Nagasaki. The bombs caused insurmountable damage and together killed over 100,000 Japanese citizens. Although at times the decision has been questioned; it was necessary for President Harry Truman to drop the atomic bombs on Japan in order to end the war. On July 26, 1945, at the Postdam Conference in Germany, the three main allied powers (Britain, America and Russia) met and issued Japan an ultimatum. Japan was left with two choices; surrender unconditionally or “face prompt and utter destruction” (Wheeler 58).
The once efficient city of Hiroshima was devastated by the violent detonation of the Atom bomb that soon engulfed and destroyed much of it. The nation of Japan was strong and powerful during the crisis of the World War. The United States had come to fear the economic power of the city of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the conflict with Japan. At this time during the war(1945), the Manhattan Project was ready for the first payload of the most powerful bomb in the history of mankind. The city of Hiroshima was the primary target.
World War II was a disastrous, worldwide conflict that affected all the corners of the earth. Even after VE day in Europe, the war continued for more than 3 months, until VJ day in mid-August of 1945. This war in Japan ended a short time after the atomic bombing of two cities in Japan. However, the decision to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima was 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 US at the time of the bombing of Hiroshima was led by Harry S. Truman, who had been pushed into the position of leadership by the death of Roosevelt.
The Moral Debate: Dropping the Atomic Bomb On the morning of August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay, flew over the city of Hiroshima, Japan and dropped the first atomic bomb ever known to this world. The second bomb was dropped shortly afterwards in Nagasaki, Japan. For the United States government the project was a complete success. But for Japan, there were some devastating effects, such as the death of many people, atomic radiation, and the destruction of two cities. But the Atomic Bomb did end World War II, but it still instigated serious controversies concerning its power and destructive potential.