The Pros And Cons Of The Atomic Bombs

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It was 8:14 am. Suddenly, with a swift whoosh and a thundering boom, a large, gray cloud filled the air. Buildings crumpled down, the ground shivered, and people screamed, others wounded or dying. An atomic bomb had just dropped on Hiroshima. In 1945, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan were bombed by the United States, with two atomic bombs named “Little Boy” and “Fat Man”, believing it would quicken the Japanese surrender. Prior to this, the United States had created a naval blockade against Japan. Many other attacks and invasions, including conventional and firebombing of Tokyo, had occurred, and the Soviet Union was preparing to declare war against Japan. The atomic bombs were unnecessary to the Japanese surrender because the nation would have …show more content…

To begin, an atomic bomb is needlessly strong and dangerous, as it drops as much energy as around 40,000 conventional bombs and produces radiation that can kill people, harm them permanently, and contaminate the land (Nuclear and Conventional Weapons). Clearly, the conventional bombs were much safer for the future of Japan compared to the atomic bombs. This made using the latter explosives, first, unethical due to the long-lasting damage it would cause to Japan, and unnecessary since it was proven, by previous attacks, that the Japanese were unwilling to surrender from casualties or deaths. Alternatively, it can be stated that using the nuclear weapons was beneficial because this could make the surrender much sooner than if the United States kept dropping weaker ones. This is true, but if the government was not surrendering to the destruction of cities and casualties of its people with the conventional bombs, it was unlikely to do so with the atomic bombs. The ease of dropping a few nuclear bombs did not outweigh the severe consequences that would follow it. Additionally, following the bombings, many people were forced to live on the streets in horrible conditions, with little food, shelter, water, and medical care (Appendix A). This demonstrates how severe the effects of the bombs were in Japan, and many civilians of Japan were injured, killed, or became permanently ill. It was unnecessary to use such a powerful force and destroy two cities and its inhabitants of another land, even if it was a period of war and the Allies needed Japan to surrender. Even after the horrors of the atomic bombs, the Japanese did not surrender instantly; they took another month to do so, and it cannot be made certain that the bombs were the direct causes. In conclusion, the enormous force of the

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