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impact of war
justifications for dropping the atomic bombs
atomic bomb effects on japan
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Decisions to Drop the Bombs on Japan War in itself is an atrocity, to kill or be killed in the name of whatever government chooses to go to war over. Taking lives in order to save lives is the most outrageous oxymoron ever heard, yet during the end of WWII taking the lives of Japanese people saved America from fighting on home soil. Many factors play a role in the final decision to drop the atomic warheads on America's enemy, yet in the end after all is said and done America was simply defending her land and right for freedom. America was under attack in a war fought on foreign soil. No one wanted the war to be brought on American soil and all American's wanted the war to be over to assure safety of the American people. The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary to bring the war with Japan to an immediate halt. Dropping of the A-bomb took thousands of lives and rendered many others sick while completely destroying in total two entire cities. The force of the first atomic bomb (Hiroshima, code name: "Little Boy") was equivalent to 12.5 kilotons of TNT and the second bomb (Nagasaki, code name "Fat Man") was equivalent to 20 kilotons of TNT (Clancey). It is difficult to fathom the power held within each bomb. Twenty thousand tons of dynamite! To dream of dropping this much power on any living thing is total genocide. Many members of the atomic bomb scientists because of the tremendous power each nuclear reaction would generate had discouraged the u...
“After successfully executing operations in the Southeast and the Southwest Pacific by the spring of 1942, what should Japan have done next?”
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
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.
...s who would do anything to win their war so a powerful weapon was needed to weaken their will. The bomb?s intense impact saved more soldiers? and civilians? lives involved in the war than it destroyed. The damage the atomic bombs produced was miniscule compared to the massacres the Japanese militarists created. The bomb clearly improved American foreign relations, especially with the Soviet Union. The choice to use the atomic bomb was justified because it coerced a Japanese surrender, saved countless lives, served as retribution for the sufferings of many people, and acted as an anti-Soviet deterrent.
Throughout history, there have been countless wars between different groups of people because of race, religion, economic basis, and endless other reasons. More often than not the party that initiated the war was not justified in doing so based on Douglas Lackey’s “just war theory”. One action initiated by the United States that has been furiously debated since the decision was made is the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and later Nagasaki. While some argue that President Harry S. Truman was wrong in making the decision that he did, I will be arguing that he was correct in deciding to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima because there is clear evidence that shows his actions were justified with both statistical proof as well as that the choice coincides with the criteria for “just war theory”.
During the initial blast the A-bomb released about 85% of its energy as intense heat followed by a supersonic shock wave that is felt as a highly destructive high pressure air blast, which can easily demolish tall buildings, not to mention people. After the initial blast radiation covers the area, causing people, animals, and structures to practically disintegrate. Even years afterwards people were still dying and having health problems related to the radiation they were exposed to long before. There were many people that were strongly opposed to the using of nuclear weapons on Japan. But invading the is land instead of bombing would have taken perhaps 1 million us soldiers lives.
Instead it would be more accurate to agree that the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki a war crime, however, the use of it was necessary and justifiable. The atomic bomb has caused many lives in Japan of those who were not directly involved in the war and in had long lastly medical effects due to being exposed to nuclear material. In addition, it was justifiable and necessary that the United States acted due to the face that it was known for the Japanese to take drastic measures. It is important to consider how rash the Japanese were their “kamikaze pilots ' willingness to die for the motherland” (Beshears, 2005). Thus, the allies had legit reasoning to believe that the Japanese would not go down without a fight. Hence, making the use of the nuclear bomb necessary, since the entire world had already seen how cruel the Japanese were with brutal war crimes that happen throughout the war and spread terror. Also it is important to mention the attack on Pearl Harbor which at the time the United States was no involved in the war at the time. The United States needed to make Japan surrender so that nothing like that would happen again to them or the rest of the Allies. The use of the atomic bomb aided the Allies in getting one step closer to ending the war, however, the use of the bomb had a lot of after effects. Hence, “the four-ton uranium bomb wreaked unprecedented havoc
At the close of World War II it was imperative that America make a swift and targeted victory. The victory they needed wouldn’t have been possible without the atomic bomb. The use of the atomic bomb had saved many casualties and stopped an exhausting war. Since then we have learned many useful facts about nuclear power and bombs. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a military necessity and a scientific experiment.
President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the direct cause for the end of World War II in the Pacific. The United States felt it was necessary to drop the atomic bombs on these two cities or it would suffer more casualties. Not only could the lives of many soldiers have been taken, but possibly the lives of many innocent Americans. The United States will always try to avoid the loss of American civilians at all costs, even if that means taking lives of another countries innocent civilians.
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 ...
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.
“My God, what have we done?” were the words that the co-pilot of Enola Gay wrote in his logbook after helping drop two bombs, one in Hiroshima and one in Nagasaki, that killed an estimated two-hundred thousand individuals. The bombings were completely unnecessary. Japan was already defeated because they lacked the necessary materials to continue a world war. The Japanese were prepared to surrender. There was no military necessity to drop the atomic bombs nor is there any factual information stating that the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were dropped to “save the lives of one million American soldiers.” The United States bombed Japan in August of 1945. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were uncalled for and could have been avoided.
To what extent was Harry Truman’s decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki justified?
The devastation brought about by the atomic bomb has caused fear among all the people that have realized the potential destructive power of its invention. The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945 completely obliterated both cities (Lanouette 30). “Little Boy,” the bomb dropped on Hiroshima killed 70,000 people with an additional 66,000 injured (30-39). “Fat Man,” the bomb dropped on Nagasaki also carried its “share of America’s duty” by killing 40,000 people and injuring another 25,000 (30-39). The bombs also killed an estimated 230,000 more people from the after effects of the two explosions (30). The two bombings had opened the world’s eyes to the destructive power that could be unleashed by man.
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?