WAS HIROSHIMA Too FAR!!!!!!!!!!!?

Question

before the U.S joined WW2 the Japanese attacked pear harbour killing 2,400 U.S Navy , Air force and Civilians. Do you think this justifies the U.S coordinating 2 attacks that led to the deaths of 220,000 japanese and thousands due to nuclear fall out

Answer 1

No, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were well within range.

So also were Tokyo, Kobe, Nagoya, and Osaka -- the targets of firebombing campaigns.

The destruction of Tokyo was much worse than Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Over 16 square miles utterly destroyed.

This was war on a scale beyond any the world could have previously imagined. World War Two spread across the continents of the world, save North America and Antarctica. Over fifty-six million people died worldwide.

Your inane talk of bombing Hiroshima as a revenge for Pearl Harbor speaks volumes of your ignorance and dishonors the memories of all those fifty-six million men, women and children, soldier and civilian, who died in the greatest, most terrible war of all time, and the countless millions more who left the best parts of their lives on the battlefields of Europe and Asia.

You sure as Hell don't know sh*t about history.

Read a simple table of world casualties. I think you can do that. Then stop and think. Just try to think. Fifty-six million dead, more than twice as many wounded. Read some reports from European battles. Read about the Holocaust. Try to really wrap your head around how more than eleven million innocent souls were murdered by the Nazi butchers. Read about the Baatan Death March. Read about The Blitz -- the 57 days and nights of German bombs raining down on London. Read about the Allied firebombing of Dresden which killed more people than all those who perished in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. Read after action reports of US Army forces who fought so hard in the bitter cold of The Ardenne to hold back the German bulge. Then, when it begins to sink in, when you begin to get a handle on what you so ignorantly disregarded, then maybe you'll want to come back and apologize to the Greatest Generation, who gave so much and without whose sacrifices you and I would very likely not be holding this discourse.

WW2 Casualties, Axis and Ally, Military and Civilian:
http://www.warchronicle.com/numbers/WWII/deaths.htm

Baatan Death March:
http://history.acusd.edu/gen/st/~ehimchak/death_march.html

Holocaust Death Toll:
http://www.holocaust-history.org/questions/numbers.shtml

The Blitz:
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/blitz.htm

Dresden Firebombing:
http://www.rense.com/general19/flame.htm

After Action Reports, 134th Infantry, 3rd Army, Ardennes, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxemburg: (Note, these are in PDF):
http://www.coulthart.com/134/aa-report-index.htm

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST-- to see it through the eyes of a soldier, I highly recommend the following.

Reflections of a Combat Infantryman -- A Soldier's Story of C. Co. 134th Inf. 35th Div. by James Graff:
http://kansasguardmuseum.org/134inf.html

You can gain a world of insight through Graff's accounts, and when you read it you'll also be almost literally hearing the tale of my father's combat service, following the exact route of transit as Graff and fighting the same battles and battling the same cold and privations.

Do yourself a favor, do us all a favor. Take the time to learn what you're talking about. You owe it to yourselves, you owe it to your families, friends and countrymen, and most of all you owe it to those who went before you and gave so much so you can be here now preparing the way for those who will come after you. Thank you.

Answer 2

Not to beat a dead horse, but...

The bombs were needed to bring the war the a quick end. Even after the bombings, there was an element with the Japanese army that wanted to continue fighting and attempted coup against the emporer to prevent the surrender. Had it come to conventional invasion, just look at the taking of Saipan, a very small island (pop was about 35,000 at the time). 16500 Americans killed or wounded, 25000 Japanese military killed. Not to mention the mass suicides of civilian men, women and childern in order to avoid capture. And before you still think it would have been too much you should read up on Harbin or the Rape of Nanking. A lot more than 220,000 thousand died as a result of that. You can still find images of Japanese soldiers parading the streets of Nanking with dead babies impailed on their bayonetts. So, no, it wasn't too much.

Answer 3

Well, Hiroshima wasn't just about Pearl Harbor--it was about the 4 years of war that followed Pearl Harbor. Still, I think it was wrong for the US to use that weapon to bomb two civilian sites--Hiroshima and Nagasaki. One would have been more than enough.
I say, they should have demonstrated the power of the bomb on a deserted island first. Then, if the Japanese still refused to surrender, we'd have had little choice but to bomb Hiroshima.
There will be those who will quote how many American lives were saved by dropping the bomb. I don't doubt that--but surely there had to be another way to do this, other than unleashing such a horrendous weapon on innocent civilians.
Remember: the United States is the only country, ever, to drop nuclear weapons on another country.

Answer 4

"The Japanese program to develop nuclear weapons was conducted during World War II. Like the German nuclear weapons program, it suffered from an array of problems, and was ultimately unable to progress beyond the laboratory stage before the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese surrender in August 1945"
so yes, it was necessary.. cos, IF it the yanks hadn't dropped a bomb, (well, 2 actually) the japs would have done so eventually.. they had plans to do it, and anyone who thinks the japs wouldn't nuke anyone is a loony tunes.. they were cruel savage and inhuman... just ask china. **** em, they got what they started. WAR.

Answer 5

If we would have invaded Japan there would have been far more casualties than were caused by the bomb. I know people that fought in Europe and are convinced their lives were saved because they would have died going into combat again. So Hiroshima was not too far. It did end the war with fewer casualties than an invasion would have caused.

Answer 6

read more and be more learned before you get all emotional and question

that was the ONLY way to get japan to surrender. due to the military mindsets at that point in time of ww2 japan, japan was such that all military men and civilians were fanatic and would fight to the death before surreder. their mindset was such that it was better to lose their lives as compared to bearing the extreme humiliation of surrender.

that was why it was absolutedly necc for the US to drop those 2 atomic bombs. though lives were lost, such is the price that war causes countries to bear. if it were not for those 2 bombs, more lives would have been needlessly lost by BOTH america and japan alike.

Answer 7

i learned about it in history, so my logic might not make sense, but i'll try anyway:
the US wanted to end the war. Without the bombs, the war would've continued, leading to many more deaths on both sides. The US decided to drop the bombs to cause the Japanese to surrender.
Also, this was the 1st time an atomic bomb was used, so the staggering #s of deaths weren't predicted. maybe if it was known it might've not been done

Answer 8

Boo hoo!! They DO NOT EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE what they did to us, our men in Bataan, Pearl Harbor...etc; everyone gets the picture. They don't teach their children what they did to AMERICANS! It is not in any of their history books. Actually, the # of Military killed in Pearl Harbor have been ESTIMATED. There is no approximate. How do I know this? I spent over 4 1/2 years learning all I can about WW2...what there is to learn that is...and what is no taught in our History books either.

Answer 9

No, the mindset of the Japanese was different then the Germans, they would have had to be fought until the last solider surrendered, leaving far more dead, injured, and cities and towns devastated. It was harsh, but to continue using conventional methods would have been worse.

Answer 10

of course it was too far and cruel.
do u know most of historical people say that japan was actually defeated by that time and believe that america did it as it is a rare occasion to show test a new weapon and show soviets the true power of america?
did u know the 2 bombs used were of different kinds that prove it was nothing more than a test of power in the perfect place and perfect coditions?