This has been a horrific six years with so many of soldiers fighting a fight that doesn’t need to be fought. There is talk of an invasion of japan since the defeat of Germany but there is another way, the Potsdam Declaration. The Declaration has been signed and agreed upon and all we need to do is to present it properly by showing them it’s the only way, showing them it isn’t weakness, and showing them that this will help them. This war has had its effect on all of us especially Europe and it is time to end it, no more blood needs to be spilled. At this moment, it is critical that we use our political power instead of military force. The Potsdam Declaration has been agreed by the United States, Britain, and China that Japan should get the …show more content…
The last battle we fought with japan was a couple months ago, in April, the battle of Okinawa where japan lost 60% of the soldier who fought on their side and lost 2,800 aircrafts. The US lost 14,000 soldiers and over 750 aircrafts but won the battle 82 days later. We can see that if we invade Japan that it will equivalent to the battle of Okinawa except on a larger and magnified scale and there we be over a million causalities and a complete destruction of japan. There is not much of Japan left because we started bombing them last year in 1942 in all of their major cities. Japan sees us, the US, for who really are right now and knows now that with Germany gone and the Axis powers almost defeated that they have no chance. We know that they know this because of their actions, last year in 1944 they started a new military tactic known as Kamikaze. Which is where they crash their planes into troops killing themselves and everyone around them. This may sound as if it means they …show more content…
In the Potsdam declaration states that the Allies will take over the islands of Japan and allow all military to return home unarmed and unharmed. It also states the Japanese people will be given freedom of speech, religion, and fundamental human rights. The Declaration says they may continue their industries to rebuild what destroyed but not any that could re-enable war. The Japanese people are guaranteed the support and protection of the Allies powers. The treaty most importantly states that the Japanese will ne be enslaves or destroyed but only sought out as war criminals with the exemption of the emperor. These will be the causes of the Declaration when it takes effect and these do prevent Japan falling into Russian control which could lead to communism or mistreatment. For example, Mongolia gain independence but Russia signed an agreement to ‘help’ Mongolia but ended up controlling it for the next 72 years. That could have been Japan’s fate but if they sign the treaty they are guaranteed to have a true government run by their people. Also since japan gets the help of Allies powers then they would almost instantly recover because the allies were made up of U.S., Britain, France, Russia, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, South Africa, and Yugoslavia. Japan should be
The Potsdam Conference occurred from July 17th to August 2nd, 1945. The conference took place between US president Harry Truman, Soviet’s Joseph Stain, and England’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The major goal of the Potsdam meeting was what would happen with Germany postwar. They wanted to be able to ensure the “eventual reconstruction of Germany’s democracy and peace.” At that time, the Soviet Union occupied a lot of the Eastern part of Germany and wanted a “unified, but unarmed Germany.” However, President Truman did not trust Stalin’s motives. In addition, Truman had found out that they had tested their atomic bomb and it was ready to be used in battle. Truman seeing the immense advantage the US had from a military standpoint knew he had leverage.
On August 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped the world’s first atomic bomb over Hiroshima. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. On August 15th, the Japan announced unconditional surrender in World War II. To this day historians still discuss why the U.S. decided to use the atomic bombs. Orthodox historians argue that the decision to drop the bombs was a military one designed purely to defeat the Japanese. Revisionist historians argue that the bombs were not needed to defeat Japan; the bombs were meant to shape the peace by intimidating the Soviets. After analyzing the documents in The Manhattan Project it has become clear that the U.S. used the bombs during WWII not only to defeat the Japanese, but also to intimidate the Soviet Union
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 of injuries and lives this would take.
Why was the Declaration of Independence written? The Declaration of Independence was written in 1776. We all know that day as Independence Day. It was accepted on July 4, 1776. On that day, the United States had freedom. There was a long, hard process to get the Declaration of Independence where it needed to be. It took several people, and several reviews to get it just right.
It is recognized, then, by all that even wars must have limits. The limits that must be applied are essentially in the Geneva Conventions plus other treaties of international humanitarian law. All the countries participation in WWII accepted these terms, however Japan failed to follow through and ignored the laws.
Perhaps one of the most controversial topics that have ever existed is whether the U.S should have dropped the atomic bomb on Japan. To some people this is a matter of morals, while to others it is a matter of what was better politically, while some others say that it was better because it reduced the number of people that died. There is two views on the atomic bomb dropping, one side says it was the right thing to do while the other side says it was the wrong thing to do and it seems as if the American people are the only ones that are saying that it was the right thing to do. In countries like Russia, China, Japan etc. they teach in schools that it was the wrong thing to do, while here kids are taught that the use of the atomic bomb was justified.
If the allied forces had invaded mainland Japan, many lives on both sides would have been lost, probably more than there lost in the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki put together. The tactics that the allies had used up to this point cost hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides. This was when the Japanese only had maybe two or three thousand men on an island; whereas on the mainland millions of people would fight until their death to protect their country. Can you imagine if the Americans invaded mainland Japan, where they had not only soldiers to fight against but also the citizens of Japan? Massive destruction, immense loss of life, and the prolonging of the war until late 1946, would result to invading on foot instead of using the bomb.
However, it was not the case, the Soviets acknowledged the atomic bomb and wanted to create as many as possible so they could yield the control not only in the Pacific, but in the Eastern Europe. In the words of former US senator from South Carolina, James F. Byrnes, claimed “the bomb provided a unique opportunity to check Soviet control of Eastern Europe and Asia in the postwar years, and he very much wanted to delay or avert the entry of the Soviet Union into the war with Japan” (59). In the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, all the Allied countries, except the Soviets, stood together in preparing for the end of the World War 2. President Truman, learning of the success of the Manhattan project, and understanding that he must make a choice whether to drop the atomic bomb or not turned out to be the most difficult decision to make in his life. They came up with a decision to make Japan “unconditional surrender” (59) but they were afraid the Japan would not step down and refused to give up their fight.
Continuing on, the bombing of Japan was also unnecessary due to the unacceptable terms of the Potsdam Declaration. After Germany’s surrender on May 7, 1945, the U.S. created a treaty, called the Potsdam Declaration, with terms of surrender for Japan (Lawton). Among those terms was one which stated, “We call upon the government of Japan to ...
Because of logistics, an invasion of Japan could not being for another three months, so the U.S. could have waited to see if Japan would surrender before dropping the atomic bombs. This evidence helps explain that the U.S. should not have dropped the atomic bomb because the most important factor in debating why the alternatives were not pursued was the effect the bombs would have on the Soviet Union, “the bomb reduced the incentives for compromise and even stiffened demands by the time of the Potsdam meeting in July 1945 because the weapon gave the U.S. enhanced
In 1939, the US begins an embargo of aircraft and aircraft parts against Japan (Doc C). By placing this embargo, it doesn’t give Japan a chance in building up their navy. Later on in 1941, US imposed an embargo on oil shipments to Japan (Doc C). Japan received 80% of their oil imports from America (Doc D). With Japan having no oil on their land (Doc B), this is a country Japan relied on. Now Japan loses a chance of fueling equipment they own. With all these embargos, America left Japan vulnerable, which is the opposite of Japan’s wants. Taking many trading resources away from Japan, can stirrup enough anger to the point of wanting to
The third phase was to have a peace treaty with Japan. In September of 1951, fifty-two nations met in San Francisco to discuss the treaty, and ultimately, forty-eight signed it. The notable holdouts were the USSR, Poland and Czechoslovakia, all of which disagreed to the promise to support the Republic of China and not do business with the People’s Republic of China that was forced on Japan by U.S. politicians.
Although WW II ended over 50 years ago there is still much discussion as to the events which ended the War in the Pacific. The primary event which historians attribute to this end are the use of atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although the bombing of these cities did force the Japanese to surrender, many people today ask “Was the use of the atomic bomb necessary to end the war?” and more importantly “Why was the decision to use the bomb made?” Ronald Takaki examines these questions in his book Hiroshima.
Admittedly, dropping the atomic bomb was a major factor in Japan's decision to accept the terms laid out at the Potsdam agreement otherwise known as unconditional surrender. The fact must be pointed out, however, that Japan had already been virtually defeated. (McInnis, 1945) Though the public did not know this, the allies, in fact, did. Through spies, they had learned that both Japan's foreign minister, Shigenori Togo and Emperor Hirohito both supported an end to the war (Grant, 1998). Even if they believed such reports to be false or inaccurate, the leaders of the United States also knew Japan's situation to be hopeless. Their casualties in defending the doomed island of Okinawa were a staggering 110,000 and the naval blockade which the allies had enforced whittled trade down to almost nothing. Japan was quickly on the path to destruction. (Grant, 1998). Of course, the Allies ignored this for the reason that dropping the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would intimidate Russia. Had they truly been considering saving more lives and bringing a quick end to the war in Japan, they would have simply waited them out without the major loss of life seen at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Almost 70 years ago on August 6, 1945 at 8:15 AM, the United States crushed the city of Hiroshima with a 10,000 pound atomic bomb that changed the view of war for millions of people (Hersey,1). The bomb killed at least seventy-five thousand people instantly and many more as the years have gone on due to radiation poisoning and other factors from the bomb (Jennings). To this day, people still have mixed feelings about what the U.S. did to Japan. Some are for the bomb because it saved American lives, but there are others who are against it because it was immoral and unnecessary.