should the us have dropped atomic weapons on japan to end WWII?

Question

how did the use of atomic weapons change our world today?

Answer 1

Oh, the ignorance.... Prince Henry, Japan not only did not offer to surrender before the bomb, they didn't offer to surrender until TWO were dropped. Santee, the Japanese didn't even have airborne radar for their night fighters, let alone an atomic weapons program. If you don;t know anything people, don't answer!

The decision was very justified:

1) Why expend allied lives by using a bloodier method of obtaining Japan's surrender, when the country was fighting a genocidal war against China, when every solder was brutalised and brainwashed into thinking his god-emperor DEMANDED he commit the most evil and brutal acts possible?

2) Japan was obviously incapable of winning the war after June 1942. They were obviously going to be defeated after the Battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf in mid-1944. Their basis for the war- inflict a blow on America and then force her to negotiate, had come to nothing. But still the warmongering leadership pushed on.

3) Japan's whole population was mobilised to fight. The battle of Okinawa, where thousands of Japanese civilians fought and committed suicide rather than surrender, terrified Allied leaders contemplating an invasion of the Japanese homeland. They had no illusion of victory, but were happy to do exactly what their Emperor-God demanded.

4) The Emperor was fully aware of the situation after 1942 but was happy to let his people die. He had complete control and authority- the authority of a God- he did nothing, and wasn't even punished after the war.

For me, the real moral question is why Hirohito did not surrender earlier, and why MacArthur let him off scot-free. No citizen of the Allied nations wanted a single Allied soldier to die for the sake of saving a Japanese life- especially to die with the end of the war in sight and for so little reason. Any conventional invasion of Japan would have been extremely bloody- probably more lives would have been lost than by the use of A-bombs.

The presence of atomic weapons changed the world because suddenly war probably meant complete destruction- war became a far more serious matter than it already was, the responsibility of political leaders far greater. A George Bush would never have been acceptable in the 1950s or 60s, when wisdom and balance were paramount virtues.

Answer 2

Yes. The US was 100% justified. The most important thing to remember is that the Japanese attacked the US at Pearl Harbor and started the war. As the Americans began to push the Japanese back toward their mainland, the Japanese took a 'never surrender' approach. This approach can been seen at both the islands of Iwa Jima and most importantly Okinawa. When the US was preparing to launch an attack on the Okinawa the was all but over. Still they refused to surrender and Okinawa became one of the bloodiest and costliest battles in WWII. Tens of thousands of American, Japanese and innocent Okinawa civilians perished in the fighting. Once the US had a foothold on Okinawa they set their sets on invading Japan. The US knew that the invasion would be the biggest invansion in human history, making D-Day look like the British Rock Invasion. The Japanese emperor was training EVERY Japanese citizen, including women and children, to resist the American invasion (he refused to surrender). Hundreds of thousands would have died. Worse, for the US, all of those brave men and boys that spent years fighting the Germans would have to be shipped to the Pacific to participate in the fight. America needed a better way out. The atomic bomb allowed that. The US dropped the largest test of an atomic bomb at the Bikini Atoll, close to a Japanese advanced base so that the Emperor would know the distructive power of the bomb. Japan refused to surrender. The US dropped the first bomb on Hiroshima. Still the Japanese refused to surrender. The US dropped the second bomb on Nagasaki with a promise for more to come. The Japanese got the hint and gave up, saving hundreds of thousands (some experts believe millions) of lives. EDIT: McArthur wrote the current Japanese constitution.

Answer 3

At first the US Air Corps tried high level bombing with the new B-29 Superfortress, but the discovery of the high altitude jet streams made precise bombing impossible. Resulting in a change to incendiary bombing at low level at night for most missions.
Carpet bombing by B-29s were devastating. The B-29 could carry three times the bomb load of a B-17 and fly at over 360mph. It was very fast and lethal in the incendiary bombing campaigns on metropolitian cities. American history likes to proclaim that the stick construction of japanese cities contributed greatly to the destructive effects of the campaigns. However, german cities suffered just as badly. The japanese cities were also ancient and had vary narrow lanes, or streets, which further contributed to both blocking escape pathways, as well as blocking firefighting equipment. The firefighting equipment was totally inadequate for the task, usually consisting of a tiny fire truck which sat two men and was outfitted with a couple of ladders, axes, and sand buckets; looking alot like an American Bantam Automobile that had been converted to the firefighting role. As far as I know, this aspect of total unpreparedness on the part of Japanese Civil Authority has never been investigated or properly addressed.
The effects of incendiary bombing was the creation of a fire storm. The lethality of which was more devastating than the atomic bombs which were used later. Far more people died in these raids than from any other single thing. There was no escape once a fire storm began and you were not on the edges where escape might have been possible. Hiding in a cellar was of no use as the oxygen had been used, and you baked inside what essentially became an oven.
All this raises the question of the effectiveness of atomic weapons in ultimate surrender of the Japanese Empire. Once Again, Americans like to think that the Atom Bomb caused the Japanese to surrender, and the Japanese like to use that notion against Americans, but ultimately the Japanese only surrendered when the Russians declared war and Japan was in danger of losing parts of the home Islands. Up till the last few weeks of the war the Japanese had been trading with Russia; Obtaining vital oil. The Japanese knew that Americans were a fair and just people, but that losing part of the nation to the Russians would likely mean losing it forever. The choice was obvious, fight on and still lose as well as lose part of the nation itself, or surrender to the Americans and endure the unendurable while America protected Japan from Russia. There were no other options. This is the only reason Japan Surrendered!

Answer 4

Yes. It was estimated that up to a million more lives would be lost in taking Japan! America & it's allies had already lost hundreds of thousands lives, Truman felt he had no choice & so he made the decision to use the bombs. Correct, the Japanese had tried to surrender but they sent their requests to the Russians & the Russians never passed them on to our government! The Japanese had, in fact, tried to surrended twice through the Russians but we were never informed for some reason known only to the Russians!
The use of atomic weapons have enabled nations both friendly to us & those who hate us to become a world threat. We never know when an unfriendly country will start W.W. 3! We will always have that hanging over our heads.

Answer 5

yes... it was the right decision, because if we didn't then the U.S. would have had to launch a d-day type offensive in order to take the island of Japan, and since the Japanese were dug into great defenses, and were known to fight to the death for their homeland, the estimated U.S. military casualties would have been between 50,000-250,000. it was a tough decision, mostly because there were American P.O.W.s in the country at the time, but you have to give Truman credit for making the tough decision, mostly because the whole idea of an atomic bomb was dropped into his lap right before the decision had to be made, because as the vice president, he had no idea about the Manhattan project. so i guess it was Japanese deaths versus American deaths, and i guess the right decision was made. also remember that the scientist had no idea that the atomic bomb was going to cause that much death and destruction.

Answer 6

If you alive during the WWII conflict, you have a much different idea, than those that were born after that time. I was alive during that time. personally I feel it was the correct idea. By using the bomb (the Japanese called pika don pronounced peek a don O makes an O sound) I feel we saved millions of lives on both sides. I knew a girl that was in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped. She was supposed to be in school that day, but female problems kept her home. She lost many friends that day, but when I asked her about the bomb she told me, "Yes we lost many people that day, but we saved many more".

Answer 7

It was the quickest way to end the bloodiest conflict in history. The US was preparing an invasion when the president decided enough American blood had been spilled.

The change. Now we can obliterate entire populations either on purpose, such as Japan, or we can do it on accident. Look up Chernobyl on www.wikipedia.com.

Answer 8

Dropping the bomb saved an estimated 500,000-1 million US troops from dying in an invasion. My father was one of them so I am a little biased in saying dropping the bomb was appropriate under the circumstances.

Answer 9

Well, we probably shouldn't have, but just as the last person said it was necessary of winning the war. Tough decision but a very good one on Truman's part.

Answer 10

It was a harsh decision but a necessary one. Truman gets points for making a very tough call.