History Essay – Hermanus van Staden (9.5) – 18 August 2016 The Dropping of Atomic Bombs My viewpoint On the 6th of August 1945, during the Second World War, an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first well-positioned atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out ninety percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people. Tens of thousands of more people would later die due to radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 bomber dropped another A-bomb on the city of Nagasaki, Japan. Approximately 40,000 people were killed. On the 15th of August, just six days after the Nagasaki bombing, Japan’s Emperor, Hirohito, announced his country’s unconditional surrender in World War II. He addressed the nation …show more content…
Some people will argue “yes”, while others will argue “no”. In my opinion it was justifiable for the US to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Why do I say so? America had simply no other choice but to act against Japan in August 1945. The atomic bomb was dropped on Japan for no any other reason than for the fact that America was still fighting the war. When looking back then, Truman’s train of thought was to bring the war to a rapid end. A historian, David McCullough, said: “People living ‘”back then” didn’t know they were living “back then”, and to judge the decisions of people in 1945 by the standards of 2015 is not only a-historical, but it is pointless.” (Source: McCullough, 2015). He further said: “Truman and his advisers made the only decision they could have made and considering in the context of World War II, it wasn’t really much of a difficult decision at all”. (Source: McCullough, …show more content…
In other words that it had more to do with the Soviet Union than with the war in the Pacific itself? Did Truman only drop the bomb in order to impress the Soviets and establish US dominance in the coming Cold War? A lot of people would argue, yes by saying that Japan was beaten already. The fact is that Japan was not prepared to surrender. Japan where rather prepared to fight to the death. The invasion of the Japanese home islands was not similar to that of the invasion of Germany. In the case of Germany, the Nazi armies were squeezed in the middle between the advancing US and British forces, on one side, and the mass of enraged Soviet troops on the other side. To invade Japan would have been at a huge cost. It was estimated that about a half-million, both, Allied and Japanese lives would have been lost, and this being during the last months of the war. Young, American soldiers, who just finished infantry school, were immediately shipped to California to await the orders to carry a rifle during the invasion of Japan. Fortunately, and as harsh as it may sound, the use of the nuclear bomb was the main reason why the lives of so many American soldiers were saved. If Truman did decide to hold back and not drop the bomb – the war would have ended with even more massive bloodshed. What would the nations’ reaction be if Truman, at some point, did reveal the existence of the bomb, but did not
According to document A, President Truman believed that it was his duty to protect and save American lives And that's exactly what he did. If we did not go through with the atomic bomb, then we would have had to get Japan to surrender another way, yeah we could have put up an economic blockade and continuously bombed them like Admiral William Leahy wanted to do in in document A. Or we could have invaded and lost many more lives in the process, the war would have dragged on costing more American lives and more money for the United States.
In August of 1944 the war in Europe was over and the face off between the United States and Japan had finally arrived. The United States had to choose between sending hundreds of thousands of US soldiers, to invade Japan killing and being killed by the hundreds of thousands, OR dropping a newly developed weapon called the atomic bomb on two cities in Japan which would result in tens of thousands of civilian lives with little cost to US servicemen. The only hope of ending the war quickly and honorably was to drop the bombs. Calls for surrender were ignored and the Japanese hierarchy, Okinawa and Iwo Jima had shown clearly what an invasion of Japan would be like. The decision was made, the bombs were dropped, the war was ended and both military and civilian lives were saved by both countries.
The United States of America’s use of the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has spurred much debate concerning the necessity, effectiveness, and morality of the decision since August 1945. After assessing a range of arguments about the importance of the atomic bomb in the termination of the Second World War, it can be concluded that the use of the atomic bomb served as the predominant factor in the end of the Second World War, as its use lowered the morale, industrial resources, and military strength of Japan. The Allied decision to use the atomic bomb not only caused irreparable physical damage on two major Japanese cities, but its use also minimized the Japanese will to continue fighting. These two factors along
In August of 1945, both of the only two nuclear bombs ever used in warfare were dropped on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. These two bombs shaped much of the world today.
There was a debate on the use of atomic bombs or waiting for the Soviets to step in the Pacific. Thus the Allied finally commanded the “unconditional surrender” to the leadership in Japan, which turned out to be what the Allied expected. The Japanese emperor rejected the request, but there was a point where the Japanese could conditional surrender as possible.
The first atomic bomb was not tested at all. It was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945 killing over 80,000 people and almost completely leveling the entire city. It destroyed more than 4 square miles, or 60% of the city. The flash of the blast was so intense it discolored the pavement and left imprints on the ground cast by the shadows of building and people.
Atomic Bomb The use of the atomic bombs on Japan was necessary for the revenge of the Americans. These bombs took years to make due to a problematic equation. The impact of the bombs killed hundreds of thousands of people and the radiation is still killing people today. People today still wonder why the bombs were dropped. If these bombs weren’t dropped on the Japanese the history of the world would have been changed forever. The Atomic bomb took 6 years to develop (1939-1945) for scientists to work on a equation to make the U-235 into a bomb. The most complicated process in this was trying to produce enough uranium to sustain a chain reaction. The bombs used on the cities cost about $2 billion to develop, this also making the U.S. wanting to use them against Japan. “Hiroshima was a major military target and we have spent 2 billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history- and won.” (3) The bomb dropped on Hiroshima weighted 4.5 tons and the bomb used on Nagasaki weighted 10 kilotons. On July 16, 1945, the first ever atomic bomb was tested in the Jamez Mountains in Northern New Mexico, code named “Gadget.” The single weapon ultimately dropped on Hiroshima, nicknamed “Little Boy,” produced the amount of approximately twenty- thousand tons of TNT, which is roughly seven times greater than all of the bombs dropped by all the allies on all of Germany in 1942. The first Japanese City bomb was Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. An American B-29 bomber, named Enola Gay, flown by the pilot Paul W. Tibbets, dropped the “Little Boy” uranium atomic bomb. Three days later a second bomb named ”Fat Boy,” made of plutonium was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. After being released, it took approximately one minute for Little Boy to reach the point of explosion, which was about 2,000 feet. The impact of the bombs on the cities and people was massive. Black rain containing large amounts of nuclear fallout fell as much as 30km from the original blast site. A mushroom cloud rose to twenty thousand feet in the air, and sixty percent of the city was destroyed. The shock wave and its reverse effect reached speeds close to those of the speed of sound. The wind generated by the bombs destroyed most of the houses and buildings within a 1.
There were many arguments and factors as to if Truman decided correctly and if the United States should have dropped the bombs. There were many disputes supporting the bombing. Some being the Japanese were warned early enough, it shortened the war, and it saved many Americans lives. There are also voluminous quarrels against the United States bombing the Japanese. Some of these are the bombing killed innocent Japanese civilians who did not deserve it, the Japanese was about to surrender before we bombed them, and the United States only blasted the Japanese because of racism toward them. Though there are many valid reasons for and against the bombing, there is still much controversy today whether president Truman made the right decision.
The dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan were ethical decisions made by President Harry Truman and the United States government. By the time of the atom bomb was ready, the U.S. had been engaged in military conflict for over four years and lost over 400,000 soldiers. Truman claimed, "We would have the opportunity to bring the world into a pattern in which the peace of the world and our civilization can be saved" (Winkler 18). The bomb was aimed at ending the war immediately and avoiding prolonged battle in the Pacific Theater and the inevitable invasion of Japan. President Truman hoped that by showing the Japanese the devastating weapon the U.S. possessed, that the war could be brought ...
The bombing of Hiroshima was in no way justifiable. I understand that Hiroshima was an important industrial city, creating weapons for the military but why would there be a need for a bomb when there was a request for negotiation to end the war?
Truman didn’t want that and the nuclear bomb provided less casualties for both sides. And we can even prove it with the statement that Maurice Isserman made where he says the following “This time bombing did all that the Air Force generals said it would. Japan surrendered without a single American infantryman having to die.” (World War ll: America at war, pag. 165). This statement shows that the U.S. used the atomic bombs because they didn’t want to lose any more men, and obviously, not only Truman was in favor of that decision. It also supports it because by not losing any men, it basically meant that it was the easiest way possible, for the U.S., to make Japan surrender. We can also see that Isserman it’s not the only one with that idea, just as it’s mentioned in the New grolier encyclopedia “The atomic bomb offered an alternative to putting American lives to risk.” (New grolier encyclopedia of World War ll: Victory in Japan, pag. 123). Here we can see that the atomic bomb was used by the U.S. because it offered another option that it made life easier for everyone, mostly everyone, then why not take the chance and saved the lives of a lot of people. And it didn’t only meant that but it also meant that in the long term everyone would be grateful with that decision, and they would not be criticizing the government for the use of the bombs being a bad
The first atomic bomb was located in the city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. Soon, a “mushroom cloud” would appear over the city, caused by the detonation of “Fat Man”, which was the second atomic weapon used against Japan. An estimated 39,000 - 80,000 died; half of these deaths occurred on the first day. As if this bombing was not befitting, a second atomic bomb, Enola Gay, was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. This would cease to 66,000 deaths out of a population of 255,000. Victims subsequently died due to severe burns and radiation sickness. Thousand of innocent lives were lost, but also many lives were obviated.
Truman was justified in dropping the Atomic bombs because of the situation at hand, but it is arguable because he had several alternatives. Right after America declared war on Japan, Germany also declared war on the United States. Thereby, causing a dilemma for the United States nation as a whole. If the US didn't finish the war with Japan quickly, they would have trouble backing up the allied powers. However, Truman could have found another way to defeat Japan with a less violent tactic.
The bomb was dropped to impress the Soviets, and persuade them to relax their grip on eastern Europe. But it was the opposite, Truman caused the Cold War the moment he dropped the atomic bomb. But how exactly did the bomb help start the Cold War? Historian believed that there are two different possibilities. The first possibility was that the atomic bomb changed Stalin attitude. Historians have suggested a number of ways in which the atomic bomb might have alienated Stalin. Soviet sources DO suggest, however, that straight after Truman told him about the ‘new weapon’, Stalin gave orders for Soviet scientists to develop their own nuclear weapon – so news of the atomic bomb DID provoke a nuclear arms race. There is no doubt that Stalin saw the dropping of the Bomb as directed more at Russia than Japan: ‘They are killing the Japanese and intimidating us’ he told Molotov. Stalin’s reaction, argues historian David Holloway, was to play 'hard ball', and he instructed his diplomats to take a tougher position against the west. Then in February 1946, he gave the famous ‘Bolshoi speech’ accusing America of using its atomic advantage for imperialism. In this way, it is claimed, the atomic bomb directly caused the entrenched positions of the Cold War. The second possibility was that the atomic bomb changed Truman’s attitude. There are historians who think that the atomic bomb caused the Cold War, not because it provoked Stalin to seek confrontation, but because it encouraged Truman seek confrontation. When Truman knew that he had the bomb, his attitude at the Conference became more aggressive. He switched from pro-Soviet advisors (such as Davies) to anti-communist advisors such as Stimson and Byrnes. He dropped the Bomb on Hiroshima to get the Japanese to surrender quickly, before Stalin had a chance to enter the war in the Pacific. He developed an
On August 6, 1945 the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. This was an extremely controversial military strategy in the United States. Was the United States justified in the dropping of the atomic bomb? The U.S. feared the rise of communism and gave aid to any country against it. The U.S. also fought countries threatening the spread communism. One of these countries was Japan. We began a harsh and brutal war against Japan and against communism. This war was killing many soldiers and Japan was not backing down. President Truman decided to use the atomic bomb when things were getting worse. The decision to use the atomic bomb was a difficult one and many people wonder if it was the right choice.