Was there any way to end WWII without using the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Question

What would have happened if the US had invaded -- or if the Soviets had invaded the North part of Japan?

Answer 1

Any land invasion would have come at a very large cost in lives, for both sides. The Allies had numbers on their sides though so they would have eventually overwhelmed Japan, but it might have cost almost as many lives in the end.

Answer 2

Yes there are many theories and data to suggest that the war could had even ended before the dropping of these WMD's. If the USA army had of demended the end of japanese fighting instead of requesting them they would have done so, because in the japanese war office they took this as a sign of that the USA army was weak, and after a long argument with the leaders they still thought on.

Although the dropping of the bombs did stop many of them believe it was an act of revenge for pearl harbour the only diffetent is pearl harbour was a harbour/army base that was full of army ships and people working for the army while Hiroshima and Nagasaki, although a miltery target were also homes to family who where not connected. Some people also say that the USA dropped them so study there effects as well, as it was not yet understood what his would do, as the boms were of diffetent materials.

Also some say that they were dropped so they could beat the russians to Japan as they did not like the advance of commonisum at the time. Although the dropping of thoose bombs did bring about the end of the WWII I have question the use of them, was the dropping of the second bomb really needed after the first, could the dropping of the first one be in a place that would show them the nature of the weapon with out such loss of life, ie in the centre of Toyko habour, with the centre of the blast this would had destoyied the habour completely but maybe had saved more lifes.

Answer 3

Yes, but an invasion of Japan would kill more than were killed in the bombings. But you know, 500,000 soldiers were estimated to die from the Allied side, if Japan was invaded. And I bet the same amount of Japanese citizens would have died. Possibly even more. The Japanese wouldn't surrender without the bomb or if they were totally defeated by an invasion.

And we hit anything other than a civilian target, the Japanese wouldn't have cared, because they would know that we weren't serious. Also, we dropped the bomb to assert our supremacy over the rest of the world. Especially the Soviet Union, if we had not dropped the bomb then, many more bombs probably would have been dropped. Be that a invasion of Japan, or thoughout a Cold War. But if the US invaded there is no telling what the world would be like after a Japanese surrender.

Answer 4

Actually, Soviet had been trying to occupy northern China since around 1900. Other western nations and Japan too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_China#Qing_Dynasty

Around July- Aug.1945, Soviet was already in China, and they were also deploying troops near Hokkaido, northern part of Japan.
They know when the world war ends. And it is said they were tryring to seize the northern part of Japan. They asked US a plan to divide Japan in 2, like today's N.Korean and South Korea.

But US didn't want and agree the idea.

As for atmc bombs, US could have dropped the one bomb on the desert island first, to show the new power. Actually there are hundreds of desert islands near Hiroshima or Nagasaki.
However, it is said US wanted to have dibs on Japan to drive Soviet away.
Finally it is said they did to block the advance of Soviet.

Japan was lucky in another way. Military authorities were seizing the power in the government then. But they were all captured or some suicided.
Japanese people, specially civilians, tend to think the next step soon, what is good for the nation, what they should change, etc.
They could strat to rebuilt Japan and start business with GHQs.

Answer 5

Yes, they could have had the invasion, it would have cost about a million American lives (that was the Defense Dept. estimate) and millions of Japanese, plus the Russian army was prepared to invade from the north so Japan would have been cut in two like Germany for 50 years.

I also think they could have blockaded Japan and starved it in to submission. My solution would have been to drop an A bomb on an unpopulated zone that lots of people could see with the warning that more would follow without surrender. Blow the top off Mt. Fuji for example, or blow one up just outside Yokohama Harbor.

It was a tragic thing. Thats the way war is.

Answer 6

America could have ended the war without the bomb by continuing the firebombing campaign by Gen.CurtisLeMay. Japan was almost a burnt out shell and the people were starving thanks to the US blockade and the submarine force.

An invasion by the Soviet Union might have caused a eariler surrender, but modern thinking has the Nation of Nippon slowly being pounded away by the bombers and surface ships.

An invasion would have cost both sides vast numbers of killed and wounded that the US wanted to avoid.

We should have continued the bombing until we had enough atom bombs to carpet bomb all of Japan.

Answer 7

Good Question. It would have been a land war tooth and nail all the way. There were 500,000++ lives saved because of the bomb, all American lives. The poor Japanese did not fair so well. Even with two of their cities flattened there was debate as to whether they should surrender or fight it out. The Emperor had to settle the matter himself! He concluded that for his people that they should surrender. If the Emperor had not made that choice it would have been another couple of years of fighting. It would have been the USA doing the work. The Russians were spent and taking care of their new boarders, the Brits and the French were beaten up pretty bad too. They had been fighting longer then we had, plus it was in their back yard. So if i were Truman, I would have made the same choice, and then prayed I didn't go to hell.

Tom

Answer 8

Terribly sad to say but --"absolutely not "-- there was no other way to end the war with Japan without increasing the terrible death toll an A bomb would cause.

The Japanese always fought to the last man and did not surrender and that was in countries they invaded -- how much more for their homeland. The U.S. was not picking figures out of the air when they said 100,000s of US soldiers would be killed or injured and perhaps 1,000,000 Japanese would die if the US invaded. In the battle of Okinawa -- Japanese territory but not mainland Japan --, there was a 39% casualty rate for the Americans. 7400 soldiers were killed and 32,000 were wounded of the 100,000 American soldiers that fought on Okinawa. That is an incredibly high casualty rate , sure to be much higher if the mainland invasion took place. And of course the Japanese casualty rate would have been enormous.

Answer 9

In the spring of 1945 the US Navy transferred about 40 ships to the Soviet Pacific fleet in the hopes that the Soviets would use them against Japan. So I think the Soviet Union would have participated in an invasion of Japan. I think the Japanese would have been defeated by the end of 1948 after bloody fighting and the death of about %30 of the Japanese population and about 500000 causalities on the allied side. Hokkaido would have been ceded to the Soviet Union as their reward.

Answer 10

I think there was another way.... Japan already had enough damage at that time. 2bombs...not military base... i think it wasn't necessary.
but the other way, i also think Japan would be so much different now if U.S didn't use the bombs. not only Japan...whole world... it could happen horrible another war all over the world. Japan could start war again, or another countries... WW3, WW4... never end....
but the atomic bomb had so much power and left big scar to everyone. we finally learned from the terrific end and lost so many lives.
that way, i think using bomb was might needed.... for we have now. i just appreciate the peace i have now. i hope everyone, all over the world will have peace soon.

Answer 11

The general consensus that my various discussions in history and culture classes is that an invasion of Japan itself would have been needed, and that the death toll probably would have been much, much higher for both sides and gone on for much longer..

While horrific, the use of the atom bomb sent a culture shock and a reality check throughout the whole world. Their use there has probably kept them from actually being used anywhere else since then. Had they not been used there, who knows where they might have been used later, and at what cost?