Should the United States used the atomic bomb on Japan to end WWII? No, the United States were not justified enough and therefore, should not have dropped the atomic bomb on Japan in WWII. The United States made the wrong choice to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. The first reason that the United States should not have dropped the bomb is because the U.S. violated the Geneva Protocol. The Geneva Protocol banned the use of chemical weapons in war. According to Siebert, “The use of atomic bombs violated these principles: excessive force was used to defeat the enemy; the direct targets were civilians and non-military installations; and the damage caused by radiation poisoning at the blast site and in the surrounding environment was neither limited nor contained”, which proves the United States was wrong in dropping the atomic bomb. That is the first reason why the United States should not have dropped the bomb on Japan. The second reason for why the United States should not have dropped the atomic bomb on Japan was because they thought it would end the war, or at least make it end faster. This is shown when John Siebert said, “The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the previous carpet …show more content…
This is shown when Rob Ceustermans said, “A combination of thoroughly bombing blockading cities that were economically dependent on foreign sources for food and raw materials, and the threat of Soviet entry in the war, would have been enough”. Even with all this evidence some people believe that the United States was justified in dropping the atomic bomb on Japan. The main point people who think it was justified is that the bomb saved a million American lives. This belief is incorrect, while it did save lots of American lives it did not save a million lives, and for how many it saved it ended up killing that many Japanese
In discussion of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, one controversial issue has the dropping of the atomic bombs being justified. On the other hand others believe that there were other ways of getting Japan to surrender and it was not justified, the only way we could get Japan to surrender was to invade them. Our strategy was to island hop until we got to Japan. Many more lives were at steak when doing that. Not only would just Americans would die, but a lot of the Japanese would have died as well, and the death toll would have much greater. 199,000 deaths came after the dropping of the atomic bombs. However, many American lives were saved, what the Japanese did to Pearl Harbor, and the treatment of our American soldiers while
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. The entire Japanese military and civilian population would fight to the death. American casualties -- just for that initial invasion to get a foothold on the island of Japan would have taken up to an estimated two months and would have resulted in up to 75,000 to 100,000 casualties. And that was just the beginning. Once the island of Kyushu was captured by U.S. troops, the remainder of Japan would follow. You can just imagine the cost in injuries and lives this would take. Also It is not beyond the possibility that a million or more Americans could have been killed had we landed. The Japanese had correctly guessed where we intended to land, and were ready and waiting for us. The casualties would have been high. Another reason the atomic bomb was justified is the bomb was dropped with a desire to save lives. It is a matter of math. How many Americans lost their lives fighting how many Japanese at Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa. The mathematical formula showed the closer we got to Japan the more we lost.
Although, many others say that the dropping of the Atomic bombs saved their life, but the debate over the decision to drop the atomic bomb will never be resolved. The war against Japan bestowed the Allies with entirely new problems as they encountered an enemy with utterly unfamiliar tactics. The war itself was filled with many battles, deaths, and decisions. Although the state of Japan in 1945 was a defeated nation, they refused to surrender, which was a key as to why Truman dropped the Atomic bombs. There are many important events and reasons as to why President Truman decided to drop the Atomic bombs on Japan.
Should We Have Dropped the Atomic Bomb? The atomic bomb killed many innocent people, but it was necessary to end World War II. After World War II began in 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt announced the neutrality of the United States. Many people in the United States think that their country should stay out of the war. The people wanted the Allied Forces to have the victory.
The first reason on why Truman made the right decision was because the atomic bomb ultimately helped to prevent the deaths of American troops. There would have been over 100,000 losses during the first stage of the attack against Japan, leading to over one million casualties of just Americans during the defeat of Japan(Tucker 1). Although there is no way to confirm the amount of predicted deaths, any amount of American deaths would have been avoided with the use of the atomic bomb. Comparing a million predicted deaths of Americans to the 140,000 (±10,000) that were actually killed in the Hiroshima bomb(Faragher 4), the decision implementing the bomb was executed in the correct way.
The use of the atomic bomb against Japan was completely justified in both cause and impact. An intense weapon was necessary to force a quick Japanese surrender. The bomb saved thousands upon thousands of American and Japanese lives that would have been lost if the war continued or an invasion occurred. The bomb was the only way to end the suffering of the millions who were being held captive by the Japanese oppressor. The weapon of mass destruction also sent a powerful message to the shaky Soviet allies. The choice to use the atomic bomb was justified because it compelled a Japanese surrender, saved countless lives, served as retribution for the sufferings of many people, and acted as an anti-Soviet deterrent.
The Atomic Bomb Should Not Have Been DroppedAs President Obama signs new nuclear policy, we are reminded of the longand sordid history of nuclear policy in the United States. We have come a long waysince we decided to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II.It is amazing that we continue debating this initial deployment of nuclear weaponrytoday. The US should not have decided to drop these atomic bombs. This decisionwas morally incorrect and unnecessary. Thousands of people died who did not needto die, and many more became sick from radiation poisoning. The bombs wiped twoentire cities off the map. How can anyone even argue for this in the first place?One argument that was used to support dropping the bomb was that theJapanese forfeited their rights when they aggressively attacked Pearl Harbor andcommitted war crimes against prisoners and the Chinese. However, this argument does not work for a few reasons. First, there are two types of justice in war. There isthe justice for going to war (
In my personal opinion, after gather as much information as possible, I think that the use of the atomic bomb is impracticable and a waste of time, money, and lives. If I were President of the United States I could have made the decision to not use the Atomic bomb on Japan. Using this weapon would only open the door to more destruction. After dropping this bomb, I don’t think it would have ended the war. It probably would have ended World War II, but I think that it would have created more wars to come. People, most likely Japan, would have wanted revenge and find a way to counterattack. They would try to create a more dangerous destruction weapon that would allow them to retaliate and destroy. I, as President, would have wanted to prevent that. And in the best interest of my country I would have made the decision to keep this nuclear weapon out of war.
These reasons have a plethora of evidence supporting them, as well as evidence disproving the opposing side. The atomic bomb’s impact on the ethics surrounding war and humanity left a significant mark which is still seen today. There was no real reason to have dropped that weapon, and the fact that the United States did is disgraceful to humanity. U.S. General and later President Dwight D. Eisenhower said it best when he stated, “Japan was at that very moment seeking some ways to surrender with a minimum loss of ‘face’... it wasn’t necessary to hit them with that awful thing” (Alperovitz, 1990, p.
On December 7, 1941 Japan launched a surprise attack on a U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii with the possibility of forcing the U.S. to join World War II. About 2,400 Americans were dead, 21 ships had been sunk, and 188 aircrafts were destroyed. On August 6 and 9 of 1945, the U.S. retaliated and dropped two atomic bombs called Fat Man and Little Boy on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The U.S. was not justified in dropping the atomic bombs on Japan because of the locations that were bombed, the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, and the lack of previous bomb testing.
In my opinion, the decision to use the atomic bomb was harsh and rash, but necessary to end the war and protect American lives and interests. Sometimes harsh decisions need to be made in order to serve the greater good. It was somewhat unjust to the Japanese civilians but in the end saved many military lives that would have been wasted if the war dragged on for who knows how many more years. This is why, in the end, I feel it was the best way to put the storm of World War 2 to rest.
Truman was justified to drop 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 had 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. While Truman had his reasons for using the bomb, there were people who agreed with him were the orthodox historians while the people who disagreed called revisionists.
The first reason why the US’s choice of using Atomic Bombs was justified is that it saved many soldiers’ life. If the war had continued, many more lives on both the United States and Japan’s side would have been lost. If the United States had invaded Japanese land, the number of casualties would soar. Also, the Japanese said that they would fight to their death in this war, also making the United States more nervous. The Japanese thought that suicide
The dropping of the atomic bomb may be one of the most controversial topics in American history. Could there have been another way to end the war without obliterating two Japanese cities? Several historians have taken a side and stated their interpretation of the situation. There are numerous factors that can sway the argument either way depending upon how influential you determine those factors to be. Some main historians that debated this topic are Robert Maddox, Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, and Gar Alperovitz. Each of these historians provides us with different insight, and a different answer to the question, was it necessary to drop the atomic bomb to end World War II?
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.