Was the use of a nuclear bomb to end WWII necessary?

Answer 1

After allied forces had pushed the Japanese back to their mainland, they still refused to quit fighting.

Refusing to surrender gave Harry Truman (assumed the war time presidency at Roosevelt's death) two choices. Either invade Japan on the ground at the cost of thousands upon thousands of Americans and Japanese lives or drop a bomb and kill thousands of Japanese.

I have a tendency to think Truman already made the decision to drop the bomb but, don't think he thought he would need two!

The reality: A horrible destiny for a proud people that were lead by a vicious war machine and a misguided emperor. Thousands of Japanese and their off spring affected for years after.

Was it necessary?

Answer 2

I don't know the answer to your question. From the American point of view it definitely seems that it was the best option at the time. From a Japanese perspective, it was a terrible tragedy.

For those who haven't been to either Nagasaki or Hiroshima - there is an Atomic Bomb museum in each city. The one in Hiroshima is larger, but the one in Nagasaki is impressive also. I remember reading about the Atomic Bombings in school, but never did I really have an idea of exactly what the destruction must have been like until I spent time in both cities, went to each museum, saw photographs of the absolute destruction of the cities -all buildings completely demolished within a certain radius, mothers holding their babies completely carbonized, shadows of people blasted into the side of buildings, the bones of someones hand with glass that had melted and become part of the hand and then resolidified. While discussing whether or not it should have happened, try to remember the pain it caused to so many people and why we must try to keep from ever getting in a position where we feel we need to use one again. Stories of schoolchildren who had been sent away - returning to find all of their classmates gone, children who were completely orphaned.

Just keep in mind the other side of the coin...
If you ever get the chance, I would urge you to visit Japan, and while there stop by one of these museums...

Here's hoping another bomb like those will never be dropped!

Answer 3

Probably, yes. It's impossible to know what ACTUALLY caused the surrender (Nagasaki on the 9th or the Soviet entry into the war on the 8th), but it's a good bet that the bomb had something to do with it.

That said, was nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki explicitly necessary? Doubtful. The people who witnessed the detonation at Trinity were much more impressed with the power of the bomb than the Japanese government was. After all, nuking a city makes it hard to get accurate intelligence.

The better route would have been an air burst six miles out over Tokyo harbor... enough to scare the bejeezus out of half the Japanese population (and almost all of the leadership). Either that, or melt the snowcap off of Mount Fuji. If it worked, you'd have a Japanese surrender with virtually no casualties.

And if it didn't, you'd still have one bomb left over for Tokyo itself.

But hindsight is 20/20, and nobody ever suggested that possibility to Truman.

Answer 4

Necessary, No.

In my opinion the right decision, Yes.

The intelligence had reason to believe that the Japanese were going to fortify, arm themselves and our guys would have had to fight inch by inch across the entire island. The lives lost would have skewed military, whereas the bomb killed mostly civilians.

The US military had lost many lives fighting in the Pacific and an invasion of Japan would have been the worst yet. The bomb was a good idea because it ended the war quickly with few American deaths and it established the US as willing to use it as a measure of protection. War is hell.

Answer 5

Yes, it was unnecessary. The war ultimately would have ended given enough time. The U.S. alternative to using the atomic bomb was a full-scale land invasion of Japan which would cost millions of lives on both sides and likely lead to a dramatic reduction in the ability of the US military to function properly. The atom bomb, though still a terrible weapon, helped save more than it killed, and greatly expedited the end of the war.

So could we have won without it? Yes. Is it better that we used it? Definitely.

Answer 6

In Hiroshima? Yes. It demonstrated the power of the United States and how futile it would be to refuse to surrender (we didn't tell them we only had 2 such weapons).

Nagasaki is different. I don't think we gave the Japanese time to fully comprehend what had happened at Hiroshima. The Japanese government was spread throughout the country and didn't meet immediately to discuss surrender. I think we should have waited more than 3 days before dropping the second bomb. It might not have been necessary.

Answer 7

Yes. The Japanese were like the terrorists - willing to die by the thousands for their cause. However, when we took out several thousand in a few seconds, they began to rethink their strategy.

We need to do the same thing with the terrorists. I'm sorry that some innocent citizens will die, but that's what happens in war. If we didn't drop the bombs, millions more would have died because the war would have gone on much longer.

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Answer 8

well... alot of people say no. but im going to have to say it was... i mean the japanese were ready to defend themselfs. they taught children to throw themselfs under tanks and blow themselfs up to destroy them... they trained pretty much everybody to fight for every inch of their land... and america knew that. they made alot and i mean ALOT of purple hearts. some of those purple hearts are still being given to wounded soldiers today and there are still plenty to go around... so there woulda probably been alot more lives lost if we did an invasion military and civilian if we didnt drop those bombs. thats my opinion... if u dont beleive me then do the research urself. because the japanese were ready for war. and we didnt want to lose soldiers if we had an alternative to save soldiers lives.

and also to add (this is probably the last thing ill put in so u dont have to listen to me anymore) after we dropped the 1st atomic bomb the japanese were planning to surrender. but the japanese military started to hold the emperer of japan hostage in his palace. because they never surrendered in a war before. once the recording of the surrender was played tho many of those military men committed suicide

Answer 9

Yes the abrupt end to the Axis saved thousands of American lives, stopped the war, and gave America more diplomatic leverage.

Answer 10

Yes. The amount of men that would have been killed in the invasion of Japan would have been huge. It also served the purpose of showing the world what a terrible weapon the A-bomb was.