Japanese Atomic Bombing Dbq

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Section 1: Identification and Evaluation of sources This investigation will explore the question: To what extent has foreign influence by the United States after the atomic bombings affected Japan socially and economically? The time period this investigation will focus on is post WWII to 1977 allowing long-term analysis to be performed and seen.
The source which will be analyzed is the document “Japanese economic takeoff after 1945” compiled from books by John Dower, Bai Gao, Andrew Gordon, and Kenneth Pyle which gives detailed information of the economic increase after the Japanese atomic bombings in 1945. The origin of this source is valuable because multiple authors including Japanese historians were used when this was written …show more content…

The effects of an atomic bomb are terribly devastating and long lasting and such include but are not limited to “Fireball: air absorbs heat, swells to a fireball with a 50-ft. radius and a temperature of 300,000 degrees C, Shock Wave and Air Blast which consumes 50% of total energy and, Radiation with two different kinds: initial radiation and induced radiation (leftover).” (Shoten 218) The casualties were the most uncertain effect of the bombs for they instantly destroy everything no one had ever used one of these before so there were no expectations. In Hiroshima the population it had of 250,000 was guessed that 45,000 died on the first day and a further 19,000 during the subsequent four months. But in Nagasaki with the population of 174,000 22,000 died on the first day and another 17,000 within the four months. Uncounted deaths of military and foreign workers may have added largely to these numbers. About 15 square kilometers (around 55%) of the two cities were destroyed. Socially it is miracle that the people who survived and who weren't radiated recovered as quick as they did especially when the cities that they were going to rebuild in were completely leveled and had no easy way of fixing anything. The U.S came to heavily influence the Japanese’s rebuilding process during the occupation after the war (1945-1952) in which many reforms were enacted on the whole of Japan’s holdings including social and economy. In September, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur took charge of the SCAP (Supreme Command of Allied Powers) and began rebuilding Japan. Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and China advised as part of an “Allied Council,” but MacArthur had the final say on all decisions. “The occupation of Japan can be divided into three phases: the initial effort to punish and reform Japan, the work to

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