this is for any one who specialises on world war 2 history?

Question

what reasons did America have to drop the atom bomb on Hiroshima? I need to know soon as it is for homework due in on wednesday. Please help!

Answer 1

I'm certain that if you get off off yahoo questions and answers, the phone, the IPOD, and all video games, between now and wednesday you can find the answer yourself.

I will give you a hint, however.
It has something to do with losses.
How many lives would we have been lost invading Japan vs. lives lost dropping the bomb.
Hmmmm....One more hint ( I'm such a sucker) Some feel we did not want Russia to invade japan as they were ready and willing to do so. This of course would have meant Japan would have become communist.

Answer 2

This should get you started, but you will need to do some background research, I am just going to set the stage for you.
Basically, we would have lost an unbelievable amount of men and the war with Japan would have raged on for a long time if we had not dropped the bombs. Hiroshima was a Japanese stronghold containing army headquarters and numerous military camps. Hiroshima was a communications center and a military meeting point. However, Hiroshima was picked mainly because there were no prisoner of war camps in the city. All of these things made it ideal for dropping such a powerful weapon. In addition, even though there was a signifigant civilian population, the Japanese government had issued evacuation notices to many residents living around the military camps. When the bomb "Little Boy" was dropped on 8/6/1945 on Hiroshima, the civilian population was down to 250,000 people (approx) from nearly 400,000 in the previous years (due to evacuations).
Keep in mind when doing this paper or whatever that the dropping of two huge bombs over major Japanese cities was known to the Japanese empire. President Truman warned the Japanese many times before we actually dropped the bombs. They knew something was coming and should have surrendered, but the truth is, no one really knew what the full extent of the damage was going to be.
The bombs were dropped 3 days apart after the failure of the Japanese Empire to surrender before Hioshima and again after Hiroshima.
The bombs were dropped to avoid Operation Downfall (the planned invasion of Japan) which would have probably lasted months to possibly years and cost both sides enormous amounts of life. Look at what we faced on Iwo Jima and Okinawa...there was no way we could have taken Japan had we not dropped the bombs...millions of soldiers would have died.
You should look up the Potsdam Conference and the Potsdam Declaration and also Operation Downfall (which was divided into two other operations) to fully understand why the bombs were dropped and what responsibility lied with each nation that was involved.
Also-check into this if you want, but I am not sure you'll be interested...Japan does NOT teach their students WHY the bombs were dropped, the simple fact is that they know we destroyed 2 major towns with Atomic bombs, but they do not know why. Much of the WWII literature is censored and some is banned. It is a strange situation there.

Answer 3

At the time of the Japanese surrendered the American president Harry S Truman stated that if Japan had not surrendered when it did the war may have dragged on for a further 6 - 12 months at a possible cost of 1,500,000 Japanese and 5,000 American lives. Given the ferocity of the Japanese soldiers any assault on the Japanese mainland would have exacted a high toll in lives on both sides. Some people say that the reason for the dropping of the atomic bomb by America was to scare the Soviets. Maybe both are true. You decide

Answer 4

The main reason is that they did it because they could. Howvere the casualties inflicted by both the weapons used (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) pale into insignificance when compared to the potential loss of life had the Allies been forced to conduct a conventional seaborne assault of the Japanese home islands.
The Japanese under Hirohito simply were not going to surrender. Even after the second bomb was dropped there were still elements in the Japanese military who wanted to fight on. Their culture regarded capitulation as the worst kind of dishonour. Thousands of Japanese soldiers and civilians killed themselves rather than becoming prisoners of the Americans whom they believed, due to propaganda, were monsters.
You may find some revisionist historians will give you all sorts of reasons why the Atom Bomb should not have been used. They are at best, mistaken and at worst, deceptive.
The bottom line is, had America not used atomic weapons, the war would have dragged on for upwards of two years with casualties numbered in the millions rather than around 150,000.

Answer 5

Because the Japanese where animals, intent on invading Australia. They brought about their own down fall by bombing Pearl Harbour thus "awakening a sleeping giant" in America. Thank God they did, otherwise we would have been in trouble ! They would have fought to the last man, women and child and after D day and Victory in Europe a land invasion was considered far to costly. With the advent of the Atomic bomb, a show of might was deemed necessary and also to flex muscle along side Russia who suffered the Greatest losses of all, but where to emerge as a Super power. Mainly to stop the Japanese invasion further into the South Pacific and because a land invasion would have been a disaster !

Answer 6

The British intention of invading Japan was known as Operation ZIPPER. The dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki forced the Japanese to surrender unconditionally.
There was a rumour at the time that if Germany was prepared to fight on, then one would have been dropped there also.

Answer 7

The Japanese had to be taken out of the war, and there was no way that they were going to surrender. The battle for Okinawa, the southern-most Japanese island showed the Americans that the Japanese would defend every inch of their national soil, many soldiers preferring to die in suicide "banzai" charges rather than surrender. A large part of the civilian population even committed suicide, believing the Americans would torture them and rape their women. There were even, supposedly, rumours among the Japanese peasants that the Americans were cannibals, and would eat them. The experience of Okinawa persuaded the Americans that a land-attack on the main Japanese islands would lead to an enormous death-count on both sides, and it was felt that not enough of Japan would be left after such an attack to rebuild a society. The only way that could be seen to force a Japanese surrender and avoid such terrible loss of life would be the use of the atomic bomb. Be sure that it wasn't an easy decision to make, and Robert Oppenheimer, who had led the team who built the bomb, was very scathing about its use, and campaigned extensively against the arms race in the 50s. Many people still question the decision to use the bomb, even if it did bring about Japan's almost immediate surrender, and thus the end of the second world war.

Answer 8

It has been observed that once the US developed the Atomic bomb it was almost inevitable that they would use it.

Having said that there was considerable justification in using a weapon which it was hoped would shock Japan into surrendering and therefore avoid the estimated 1 million US combat casualties that were expected as a result of having to invade Japan and force her capitulation by conventional means.

Even after the dropping of the second bomb on Nagasaki factions within the Japanese government and military hierarchy were intent on continuing the fight to the death and every able-bodied Japanese had been told that it was their duty to die defending scared Japanese soil.

The Japanese had put out "peace feelers" before the dropping of the bombs but their offer fell well short of the unconditional surrender that was required and included not only the retention of the Emperor but also the implied forbidding of any form of occupation. In typical Japanese style of the time, the actual conditions and statements released by the Japanese were worded in such a way as to leave considerable doubt as to their exact meaning and to contain many "loopholes".

This Japanese stance made it clear that they were not fully aware of the seriousness of their own military and economic situation thereby requiring the shock effect of the bomb to not only bring them to their senses but also, and perhaps equally important, to provide the Emperor with a face-saving justification for making his unprecedented radio broadcast announcing the surrender.

Answer 9

Read about the Allied plan (Operation Downfall) for an invasion of the Japanese home Islands starting in Nov 1945 then you will know why.

Estimates of casualties were horrific, millions on the Allied side, and possibly TENS of MILLIONS on the Japanese side.

I truly believe that dropping those bombs saved lives in Japan.

Also, it was necessary to win the war before Stalin could attempt an invasion. At the Potsdam Conference witrh Roosevelt Stalin had agreed to participate in the final aussault on Japan, and in 1945 Truman was warned by McArthur and Nimitz that they couldn't stop him attacking!

Here is a start:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Downfall

Philip

Answer 10

After 4 years fighting the USA did'nt have the men to invade Japan, thousands would have died, trueman decided to drop the bomb and end the war by at least 6 to 12 months.