Why did America nuke Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and bomb Tokyo when?

Question

They were on the verge of surrender in WW2?

What was the point in murdering hundreds of thousands of civilians? There was no other way? We had to break the spirit of the Japanese?

If so, the plan took a very interesting u-turn when the US built strong links with the Imperial government so it could suppress democracy there. And it has maintained them ever since. Sure, there are free elections now, but everything is run by corporations - exactly how the US wanted it to be.

Why not just Nagasaki AND Hiroshima, but the bombing of Tokyo? The air force blitzed the capital. The buildings were all made of wood. Women and children died in their scores. At least the hundreds of thousands of people who died instantly in Hiroshima died instantly. Children would leap into water, only to have the napalm burn them even worse.

These weren't soldiers, or pilots, they were just civilians. The navy was destroyed. They had been defeated.

Why kill hundreds of thousands of civilians??

This is all very bizarre, being told to brush up my history by ordinary people when I am a historian.

Answer 1

Cause the US gov.wanted to see what would happen to people in the event of a nuclear holocaust!And what a perfect time to do it!

Answer 2

First you should suggest some alternative. The alternative that the military came up with was a ground invasion.

To answer your question, there are only 2 beaches on the east side of the islands that could be invaded. The civilians were being handed rifles, i'll have you know. Don't believe it? Maybe you deny the Bataan death march too. Why kill hundreds of thousands of civilians? Because a ground invasion would look like the battle of thermopylae except the death toll would be in the millions just to hold the beaches and you'd be a fool to think that there would be no civilian deaths in a MAINLAND GROUND INVASION.

I read the rest of your post and I conclude that you either don't know much history, have been brainwashed by your professor, or are purposely ignoring facts that you don't like. "At least the hundreds of thousands of people who died instantly in Hiroshima died instantly." That is not very scholarly. You are trying to make an idea pull itself up by its bootstraps. What also makes me think that you are not an expert on the subject matter as you claim to be is the fact that the majority of the dead hibakusha did not die instantly, rather from heat and radiation poisoning.

Answer 3

The answer is very simple. The Japanese military did not want to surrender. They would have continued to fight until everyone was dead. If you are a historian, then you should also know that the military was contemplating killing the emperor because he was going to surrender. The military coup was averted and the emperor announced the surrender. That was outlined in a show on the history channel.

The United States and our allies would have had almost 1 million men killed if we invaded Japan. So the leaders decided to bomb Japan to show the power of our new weapon.

Obviously it worked, so the rest is history.

Answer 4

Many of the scientists involved in the building of the bombs petitioned the government to invite Japanese officials to a demonstration bombing at some deserted Pacific island and were turned down.

I've always wondered why that course wasn't followed.I mean,there was another bomb already in existence and others on the way.Why couldn't we have tried to avoid killing more civilians?

Answer 5

They were not on the verge of surrender. But blinking two major cities out of existence and telling them it would continue until they gave up or were wiped from the earth really made them rethink their position.
was it an ugly choice, yes. War is the darkest side of humanity there is. The very fact that we will slaughter and be slaughtered all for a little piece of this earth defies all logic so trying to understand is pointless.

Answer 6

There was no "Air Force" in WW2 (it was the Army Air Corps), nor was there any "napalm." Tokyo was a modernized city with legitimate military targets, not the primitive wooden village you paint it to be.

You might be a "historian" but you certainly aren't a scholar...otherwise I would think you'd care about accuracy more and personal agenda less.

Answer 7

Their atomic bomb had on no account been dropped from the sky earlier, so they mandatory a interior sight which strengthen into untouched via their previous firebombing marketing campaign with the intention to degree the full outcomes of the bomb and take a photo of that excellent mushroom cloud. they did not care approximately civilian lives, please, the final element the individuals have been worried approximately strengthen into the eastern people's protection. they could all die, for all the individuals care. The individuals could desire to take their useful photos and use their bright contraptions to degree the full results of the bomb, for analyze purposes, you recognize. they had spent approximately 3 or 4 years gaining knowledge of, making plans and arising the atomic bomb, and had spent very almost 2 billion money on it. of direction it had for use, in spite of each little thing that factor and dedication, absolutely everyone strengthen into emotionally related to the ideal use of the bomb. And as properly, lots of the eastern militia compounds and bases have been already broken or destroyed via the B-29 firebombers, so the individuals mandatory an unscathed and sparkling city, because of the fact there have been not many different militia bases left to wreck.

Answer 8

To put an end to the war and to give you the right to make these ridiculous statements. They were not on the verge of surrender and many more American troops would have died before they did. What is your problem?

Answer 9

"This is all very bizarre, being told to brush up my history by ordinary people when I am a historian."

I don't think the Court Historian for the Chrysanthimum Throne really counts in circles outside Tokyo.

Answer 10

You can thank the psychotic far-right general Tojo for this. The emperor wanted to surrender but Tojo wouldn't have it.

BTW, before you go feeling sorry for the Japanese, consider what they did to the Chinese, Koreans, Phillipinos, and Vietnamese. Hitler's gang was a bunch of clowns in comparison to the Japanese loons. I may be an "ordinary person" but I do know enough WWII history to understand this point.

Answer 11

The allies were planning a full scale invasion of the Japanese home islands. They weren't on the verge of surrender even after the bombing of Tokyo.