Atomic bombing of Japan. Justified or not?

Question

What are your opinions of the Atomic Bombs being dropped? Feel free to rant :D

Answer 1

It is justified. It is beneficial to us and the Japanese people.

Answer 2

Across this board people reiterate this conclusion that by dropping the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the war, but according to many sources the war was winding down and would have ended by December if not earlier. "The Strategic Bombing Survey, released June 1946,... concluded that 'certainly prior to 31 December 1945, and in all probability prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had no entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated."

Whereas it was accurate that many military leaders in Japan were not prepared to merely surrender, there were a significant number of domestic leaders dissenting on the logic to continue a protracted military campaign. Later reports indicated that defeat was eminent even without the bomb. Already, the island of Japan was cut off from the mainland supply routes and interior transit lines were dwindling with bombing strategies. Essentially, Japan was already falling, and it was only a matter of time before the white flag would be necessary.
So, the argument that "it saved lives" does not justify setting such a dangerous precedent for future generations. Many of you are correct that war is war, and death does occur, but justifying using atom bombs by pointing out the fire-bombings of Tokyo, Dresden, and other axis cities does not equate to an ethical conclusion to these hostilities.
As citizens of our respective countries, we understand that our government does not necessarily speak our opinions, and many times we are angered or regret our government's actions. With that said, we cannot take the wartime rhetoric about how willing the citizens of Japan were to accepting peace. As humans, we look to preserve our life and security. We have the basic right to life. In no way did all the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki deserve to be included in the political power struggle which ultimately engulfed them. The atomic bombing was a human travesty, and should not ever be tolerated to ever be "necessary" again.

Answer 3

I've read reports that say Japan tried to surrender before the bombs were dropped but Truman wouldn't acknowledge them so he could drop the bombs as a warning to Russia. If this is true, then the bombs were not justified and I would have preferred that we accepted the Japanese surrender and told Russia to get out of Berlin or we'll bomb Moscow.

I've also read that Japan wouldn't agree to complete and total surrender as Germany did, which would have been justifiably unacceptable from Truman's point of view because dropping the bombs did save the lives of thousands or perhaps a million US soldiers who would have died in a ground attack.

Regardless, I'm not sure dropping two bombs was justified, considering one should have been enough to make our point.

Answer 4

This is a hot one for certasin (no pun intended). I'm sure lots of peoiple are going to chime in and talk about how evil the united states was to do this. But before you start, let me fill everyone in on a few facts. Germany and japan were in the 40's also in the nuclear race. There was a joint plan in the works and almost complete in fact. They germans had sent a load of refined uranium by submarine to japan. Seems japan had the technology and germany had the material. The plan was to drop 4 devices on the westy coast of the U.S. by hot hot air ballon or kamakazi pilot. The date set for the drop was 2 days after we dreopped the ones we had. had we not done this, we would have been toast for sure. The sub captain, hearing about the surrender of germany, turned the sub and headed for the the u.s. and surrendered at a naval base in my own state of new hampshgire. THIS IS HISTORACAL FACT, look it up.
We now know how horrible a weapon this truly is ands when it was first develpoed, few imagined they would bvecome as big or prevailent as they are today. We would of course not use a strategic nuke today unless acted on in kind first. I do wish this technology was never developed but once germany started, it started a race that forever changed world.

Answer 5

Had to be done. The death toll estimates of a mainland invasion were half a million dead and that many more injured. And that was just the US military. And it would have dragged the war out for at least another two years. The Japanese civilian death toll would have be much, much higher than it was even with the bombing.

Oh and in case you didn't know it 100,000 people were killed in Tokyo alone with conventional firebombs. The US firebombed 67 cities in Japan which killed far more people than the atomic bombs did. The A bombs killed about 200,000.

Answer 6

Justice Wept,Truth flew out the window,as far as I can see,she never has returned.Never before in history has anything been more horrific.From what I have gathered we already had Japan ready to surrender with conventional bombings.When I read the book "Hiroshima",I became so distraught that I fell to my knees asking forgiveness from Heaven for what my country did.We still have a Silence about the effects of Radiation.I have never seen a Movie that came close to showing what it was like,only the scene from "Raiders of the Lost Arch",when everyone began to melt.

Answer 7

Justified.

Look at the bombings of Tokyo, Dresden, Hamburg, and Munich. We had already justified leveling entire cities to destroy one or two military targets. The use of the atomic bomb is no different than any of these other bombing campaigns.

Answer 8

It is easy judge something that happened over 60 years ago. Remember that the world had been at war for several years. The death toll was above 50,000,000. The Japanese had invaded and murdered unknown numbers of innocent people. They refused to surrender. If the U.S. had invaded Japan the number of people to die would have been at least 1 million. So, in my opinion the atomic bombs ended the war with fewer casualties than conventional warfare would have caused.

Answer 9

If you research the U.S. casualties on the islands going towards Japan in WWII, using the atom bomb saved a thousand fold American military deaths.

Answer 10

Yes...for several reasons.

1. It ended the war sooner than later.

2. It saved countless lives (American and Japanese). True, some Japanese paid a terrible price, but more would have without the bombs.

3. Civilization learned how terrible those weapons are, and none have been used since, even though many wars have been fought.

One day a nuke will be used...but it won't be by a civilized nation, but by a rogue group.

Answer 11

A simple case of killing fewer to save many. The invasion of Japan likely would have killed well over 1.0 million people, while injuring countless others. It was a horrible decision to make, but it was the right one. Leaders are sometimes called upon to choose the better of two very bad choices. This was one of those times that a resolute and decisive person was required. You could not have your cake and eat it too, as so many often want.