Was it worth it? August 6, 1945 defines a pivotal moment in world history. At 8:15am, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture. Hiroshima is known throughout the world as the first (and only) city decimated by a nuclear weapon in wartime. The bombing of Hiroshima has been one of the most horrific events ever to have taken place in in the world. The damage it caused, along with the implications that followed, explain why it is so well known, even today. The effects of Hiroshima continue to shape the way we think about wars and bombings. It was also one of the most important turning points in World War II because it caused the Japanese to surrender. The bomb was conceived by a group of scientists in what became known as the Manhattan Project. The Atomic Bomb. The new U.S. weapon had been developed by the top-secret Manhattan Project. This effort was led by a group of scientists who had been working together to create an atomic bomb since 1942. Many European scientists took part in this project. In 1933, physicist Albert Einstein moved from Germany to the United States. A large group of Europeans followed Einsteins example and fled to the United States as well. Enrico Fermi was an Italian physicist who fled to the United States in 1938. He convinced the world-famous Einstein to warn the government of the United States about research being done by German scientists. In August 1939 Einstein wrote to President Roosevelt. He warned that “a single bomb of this type, carried by boat and exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port, together with some of the surrounding territory.” He was describing an atomic b... ... middle of paper ... ...0,000 Japanese were killed. The U.S. thought that because the bombs were created, we had every right to use them. Since the U.S. was engaged in war with Japan, the timing was perfect to test the bomb and understand its efficacy. Lastly, and arguably caused by an emotional response, was to seek revenge for the Pearl Harbor attack. Revenge is a part of human nature. Some argue that the bombing of Hiroshima was the only way the U.S. would get proper revenge for what the Japanese had done years earlier at Pearl Harbor. Japan had destroyed the U.S.’s main naval base and main ships. Without them, the U.S. was vulnerable. As the Pacific War continued on, the U.S. knew it was at risk and didn’t want to let anything happen to it again. Under this line of reasoning, the bombing was a direct response to Pearl Harbor and not many Americans disagreed with it.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was one of the most atrocious attacks to have ever happened on American soil, starting with disagreement on the Potsdam declaration. Japan’s greed for more land and industrial materials led the Japanese to make a plan to keep the United States out of the war, which consisted the use of kamikaze pilots and bombs to destroy our aircraft carriers and boats in an attempt to control the Pacific. While leaving the drowning, and dead bodies of thousands of American seamen and battleships at the bottom of the sea, seemed to be a good idea to the Japanese; America joined World War II and introduced the first nuclear weapons as reprisal for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Had the Japanese agreed to an unconditional surrender and end to militarism during the agreement on the Potsdam declaration, the introduction to nuclear weapons and the death count wouldn’t have been so high and devastating on both the American and Japanese sides.
The United States was justified in dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki for many reasons. First of all, just to start out, the bombings had nothing to do with Japan, it was about the Cold War and the real reason America used these weapons was to show Russia that the US possessed them. Second, 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. It was predicted that the invasion of the Japanese mainland at the Island of Kyushu -- scheduled for November of 1945 -- would be even worse.
Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, and Edward Teller, Hungarian-born physicists were frightened by the possibility that Germany might produce an atomic bomb. They insisted that Albert Einstein inform President Roosevelt about the possibility of the Germans making an atomic bomb. In late 1939 President Roosevelt ordered an American effort to make an atomic bomb before the Germans.
In 1941, The United States began an atomic bomb program called the “Manhattan Project.” The main objective of the “Manhattan Project” was to research and build an atomic bomb before Germany could create and use one against the allied forces during World War II. German scientists had started a similar research program four years before the United States began so the scientists of the “Manhattan Project” felt a sense of urgency throughout their work (Wood “Men … Project”).
The Manhattan Project was a research project, that created the United States first nuclear weapon, and led to its creation of the nuclear department during world War II. The M.A.U.D. group was created in 1940. Also, M.A.U.D was the secret name given to the group and it came from a phrase in a message from Niel Bohr (Cohen). This group produced a report that said that producing a fission bomb was possible to make. James Chadwick, a new member of the British M.A.U.D group, later wrote that at that time he realized that a nuclear bomb was able to be built in his lifetime. After being taken by the Germans convinced others that they still had the lead in developing a fission weapon.
In 1939, the scientific world had discovered that Germany was building an atomic bomb. Albert Einstein had fled german prosecution earlier in his life. Upon hearing of Germany’s knowledge of splitting an uranium atom, he felt he must inform President Roosevelt about this. Roosevelt didn’t see the need in the atomic bomb but agreed to it anying. The code name for the atomic bomb was The Manhattan Project. Columbia University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Chicago started the research for the atomic bomb. Enrico Fermi led a group of physicists to create the first controlled nuclear chain reaction underneath Stagg Field. Stagg Field was the University of Chicago’s football field. Here is where the first controlled
...the Japanese people. Harry Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb changed the way Americans thought about war because of the traumatic after effects.
Hiroshima was a significant military city during the war. It confined two army headquarters and was Japan’s communication center (World War 2 Atomic Bomb 1). Hiroshima was also a huge industrial city and had not been bombed before so it would let Japan see the wrath of the United States (Koeller 1). The planning and actual event of the bombing went great. On August 6, 1945 at 8:15 in the morning the bomb was dropped.
“My God, what have we done?” were the words that the co-pilot of Enola Gay wrote in his logbook after helping drop two bombs, one in Hiroshima and one in Nagasaki, that killed an estimated two-hundred thousand individuals. The bombings were completely unnecessary. Japan was already defeated because they lacked the necessary materials to continue a world war. The Japanese were prepared to surrender. There was no military necessity to drop the atomic bombs nor is there any factual information stating that the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were dropped to “save the lives of one million American soldiers.” The United States bombed Japan in August of 1945. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were uncalled for and could have been avoided.
As World War 2, came to a close, The United States unleashed a secret atomic weapon upon the enemy nation of Japan that was quickly recognized as the most powerful wartime weapon in human history. They completely destroyed the entire Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and essentially vaporized countless innocent Japanese lives. Some historians believe that it was a foolish, brutal decision to use the atomic bomb on a weakened Japan, and that the civilians of the country did not deserve that kind of mass-annihilation. On the opposite side, other historians assert that dropping the bomb saved countless American and Japanese lives by ending the war faster than a regular invasion would have. What is undisputed is that this sad event dramatically changed the course of human history.
The U.S. decided to develop the atomic bomb based on the fear they had for the safety of the nation. In August 1939 nuclear physicists sent manuscripts to Albert Einstein in fear the Germany might use the new knowledge of fission on the uranium nucleus as way to construct weapons. In response, on August 2, 1939, Einstein sent a letter to President Roosevelt concerning the pressing matter to use uranium to create such weapons before Germany (Doc A-1). To support the development of the atomic bomb, President Roosevelt approved the production of the bomb following the receipt that the bomb is feasible on January 19, 1942. From this day to December of 1942, many laboratories and ...
On August 1939, a German-American physicist named Albert Einstein sent a letter to U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt that described this discovery and warned of its potential development by other nations. This letter was written by Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner and Edward Teller. Leo Szilard was a Hungarian American physicist. Eugene Wigner was a Hungarian American theoretical physicist and mathematician. Edward Telle...
...ther atomic bomb, leaving Japan helpless. Japan surrendered in several places from September 7th to September 16th.
World War II, which took place from 1939 until 1945, is the most destructive war in terms of destruction and lives lost in all history. At the end of World War II, America made the decision to drop two atomic bombs on Japan to end the war quickly, and this has been a very controversial issue ever since. After the fact, many questioned the decision made by American military leaders, wondering if they had well enough considered the Nuclear Era they would bring about by dropping the atomic bombs. In discussions of dropping the atomic bombs to end World War II, one controversial issue has been whether the United States was morally justified, and there are two basic schools of thoughts in this debate. On the one hand, some argue that dropping the bombs on cities, therefore targeting civilians, makes the bombs morally wrong. On the other hand, some contend that dropping the bombs to end the war quickly saved hundreds of thousands of American lives and therefore was morally justified. My own view is that dropping the bombs was the best decision for America to make with the information that they had at that time and the enormous number of lives that were saved.
The atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima have a lasting effect on America by allowing everyone to see ...