History help....Why drop the bomb?

Question

I am just asking for some opionons on my homework. I know I shoudl do this by myself but please help me.

You are the commander of the U.S forces August 1945. Preparing to attack the mainland of Japan. Your military now has a bomb capable of levelling an entire city and killing nearly 100,00 people in an instant. What will you do? List reasons for and against dropping such a horribly desstructive bomb on the Japanese people.

I know the Japanese attacked Pearl harbor and they were put in camps but why drop teh bomb. It is destructive but shouldn't I save it for something else liek a major port or a military base or a dam? Should I just invade with troops? I need some help...please

Answer 1

A petition by at least half of the scientists working on the Manhattan Project pleaded with the President to not use the bomb on civilian targets, but rather demonstrate a show of force on some unpopulated Pacific island. Would that have forced Japan to surrender? Who knows?

There were several considerations going on at the time, namely:

1.There were some diplimatic feelers via the Swedish embassy from Japan regarding surrender options. Were the militaristic leaders behind the 'feelers' or did it only involve the political diplomats from Japan?

2. The allies took a stance of unconditional surrender which had the effect of hardening Japan's resolve.

3. The USSR was in the process of ramping up their attack against Japan and had the ideas of hegemy in the orient.

4. Many historians and political leaders at the time predicted an early end to the war would save hundreds of thousands of GI lives, especially after their bloody experience on Iwo.

5. I doubt that Truman knew the extent of the Pandora's Box that he was about to open. This did not make it right or wrong, it just points out some of the vague decision-making going on at the time.

6. From a legal standpoint, international law did not address indiscriminate bombing of civilians, via incendiary, carpet bombing or nuclear attacks. The Geneva accords didn't address this issue until 1949 after an uproar over Dresden, Coventry, London, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and other area were raised.

As monday morning quarterbacks, we can easily state that the decision was wrong, based on humane reasons. But to me, a country that would attempt to civilize or moralize 'total war' at the time would most likely be defeated, to me that was the lesson of Dresden, Nagasaki and Hiroshima

Answer 2

The Japanese were a determined military force. They used Kamikazes, like modern day suicide bombers. They refused to surrender. Also, if you ask their prisoners or the Chinese (read of about the Rape of Nanking), the Japanese were extremely brutal. In fact, ask almost any person from a country in Asia. They were EXTREMELY BRUTAL...Ask China and Korea if they still really forgive Japan for what they did...

All chanes were that the Japanese would fight to the last man. As a consequence, many hundreds of thousands of Americans, Allies, and Japanese troops and civilians would have been killed if a traditional "landing" or invasion took place in Japan. Rather than prolong the war and avoid so many deaths, particularly Americans, we dropped the Bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. It was incredibly unfortunate, but it quickly changed Japan's mind and ended the war. That's why we did it.

I am sure you'll get a lot of hateful stuff about America, etc., but those people don't know history and just bash America. I have no problem with that as long as the bashers know their history....Again, it is sad that the bomb was ever used, but (1) it ended the war and (2) in the end, showed everyone why it should enevr be used, unless as an absolute last resort. By the way, Nagasaki and Hiroshima were not chosen for civilian casualties...they did have major industrial, military complexes..

Answer 3

No dear they didn't just attack Pearl Harbor they bombed and killed everywhere, China, Philipines, Guam, etc., They were savages at that time looking to rule the world. King of the Mountain so to speak, they tortured people horribly and were guilty of many war crimes as well. The bomb ended that hideous war and that was a good thing.
The only thing that is regretable everytime there is a war is the innocent people that were killed, and the imprisoned that were really not anti American. But in war that is always the way we must target the enemy and in that case the Japanese were not to be trusted no more than you or I if we were in their country they would have done worse. What they did to us in the Philipines and to the Philipinos was unforgivable. And still is a horrible memory for the Philipinos that survived that tyranny. They bayanetted babies and tortured the women and men mercilessly. That is why Mac Carthur vowed to go back it was incredibly horrifying. They were like ants infiltrated everywhere and the only way to stop them was the bomb, troops would not do it ever. You needed both and we did and it worked by the Grace of G-D thank goodness.

Answer 4

I have a bomb that has only been static tested under controlled situations once. It hasn't been field tested, so I'm going on faith that the thing will really work under combat conditions. By every account, if I choose to invade by ground, it will be a bloodbath on both sides, and we could end up with a gurrilla/ insurgent war akin to what we find ourselves mired in, in Iraq now. The effects of radiation are not known to me at this point, so I have no knowledge of what will happen to the people I bomb 20-30 or more years in the future. Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and several other cities have purposely not been bombed by conventional forces, because the existence, or at least development of this super weapon is made known to me, and a suitable target, one that hasn't sustained bombing by conventional forces needs to be secured so the true distructive force of this weapon can be accurately gauged. I am an AMERICAN commander. It is my sworn oath to protect and defend the United States from invaders, and Japan is certainly an invader. It is my duty to use all weapons, and personel available to me to carry out my mission to repel these invaders and defend the United States of America. Given these circumstances, I would probably drop the damn thing. It is true that by some accounts the Japaneese authorities were already actively attempting to surrender, or at least make contact with the American authorities, but given the botched declaration of war, that wasn't even delivered to the US authorities until after the raid on Pearl Harbor was under way, I don't think the American authorities of the time had any reason to believe the sincerity of the Japaneese Government.
Given the knowledge we have now of what radiation does to people decades down the line, knowing the true distructive capabilities of a nuclear device, maybe I would hesitate. I might invite the Japaneese authorities to show up at a predetermined location, and detonate a demonstration bomb first, warning them that their cities are next if they don't surrender forthwith. You can't judge the commanders decisions of 62 years ago by the knowledge we have today. They didn't have all the answers then. WW2 was only the second war that was fought with a mechanized army, and battle tactics, and rules of combat were still in flux then. Aerial warfare was an infant tactic in WW1, and in WW2 it too was still being developed. Japan, with their warior history was looked upon as a dreaded nation that would fight at the drop of a hat. Their culture, and practices weren't largely known to the outside world. Stories about Japaneese imperialism, Nanking, and the bloodbath that was occupied China, all made for a nation that was feared by the outside world. At least with the bomb, the bloodbath was restricted to a relatively small area, and a minimalized populace.

Answer 5

In summer of 1945 the U.S. was preparing for the invasion of the Japanese mainland. U.S. military experts predicted it would result in losses for U.S. forces of nearly 1 million soldiers and more in Japanese casulities in defending their homeland. President Truman faced with the loss of American lives decided to use the bomb. The Japanese were warned in advance of the bomb and failed to evacuate. After the first bomb dropped on Hiroshima failed to elicit a Japanese surrender the decision to drop a second bomb on Nagasaki was made. Following the dropping of the second bomb the Japanese unconditionally surrrendered.

Answer 6

NOTHING justified the atomic bombs that the U.S. dropped on Japan. What the general public in the U.S. doesn't know is that the U.S. was planning to drop around 6 MORE atomic bombs on Japan if Japan had not surrendered. Just imagine how horrible that would've been. The entire nation of Japan would've been wiped off the face of the earth.

Hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese civilians were killed. Just as many were injured. NOTHING, absolutely nothing justified the dropping of those bombs.

Answer 7

Dropping the bomb actually saved millions of lives. We could have attacked with troops, but the Japanese soldiers were trained to fight to the death and the civilians were told Americans would eat their babies so they would commit suicide. Inevitably many more Japanese and American troops would have died.
Just look at the casualties of Okinawa. 122,000 Japanese civilians were killed and 72,000 American casualities, with over 90% of the buildings destroyed. There was no way they would have surrendered otherwise.

Answer 8

Kill or be killed, the propaganda created by the Japanese government was very strong. Look at what it took to overtake Okinawa. They would have never surenderd. The Emporere was there God. It would have cost untold life on both sides. Truman made a very hard decision. He had to.

Answer 9

US has always been killing. Killing a city is not bravery.
They were (as they are now) cowerds to kill two living cities.
Had they been brave (even .00000001%) they would have fought in the fields.

Those support killing like Heroshima & Nagasaki was killed, I do not even want them killed like this.

Answer 10

Invasion of the main Islands of Japan would have cost millions of casualties on both sides.