Bomb Japan Research Paper

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Imagine your hometown and hundreds of miles around it being destroyed while hundreds of thousands of your friends, family, and neighbors lost their lives; that’s what the citizens of Japan experienced during World War II. In the August of 1945, the United States military made the decision to drop the world’s first atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This attack killed roughly 220,000 Japanese citizens by a mix of death on impact, burns, and radiation poisoning. It’s been debated for several years whether the decision to bomb Japan was necessary for coming out of World War II successful; to this day there has not been one definite answer Arguably, there are some reasons why the U.S. felt entitled to bomb Japan. Thinking of themselves, this ruthless act would end the war quicker and ultimately save millions of American lives. If they hadn’t bombed Japan, they would be fighting for another year at least, where “such operations might be expected to cost over a million casualties to American forces alone” (Harper’s Magazine). Along with saving American lives was the attempt to intimidate the Soviet Union into being afraid of the U.S. The bombing began two days before the Soviet offensive was planned to start, which wasn’t coincidental. In fact, it was clear that the timing of the bombing “would be assumed by the Soviet Government to have the significance which (they had) assumed that it, in fact, did have…” (Fear, War, and the Bomb). America took drastic measures in assuring its protection but failed to consider the wellbeing of everyone else. Not launching the bombs would have saved America tons of resources and Japan thousands lives. The lives of innocent Japanese citizens were slayed due to a careless a... ... middle of paper ... ...tion than having American lives slayed. Furthermore, we were trying to intimidate the Soviet Union to respect us when they weren’t our enemies in the first place. Speaking of respect, the one way that didn’t help us gain any of it was slaughtering a people that was already weak. Though we thought it would establish the basis of a peaceful-postwar world, it only made us lose not only our morals but our purpose. If the bombing of Japan by the U.S. was to be an example for one thing it would be this: dropping atomic bombs on civilian cities is never justified, no matter reason. What was occurring between the militaries should have stayed within them and not to the innocent bystanders that couldn’t do anything but watch. There’s only one question left unanswered: if the invasion was unnecessary to the success of the U.S., then whose lives did the bombing really save?

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