Was it necessary for the U.S to Nuke Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Question

I mean I don't know a whole lot about it other than the fact it seemed really mean... people are still dying from the after effects of the radiation wasn't it some other solution that they could have come to? what would have happened if they didn't drop the bomb and is it a possibility that somebody could drop a bomb on us?

why don't just drop bombs on iraq and bring the war to and end?

Answer 1

Who knows, because we don't have the luxury of witnessing the outcome without the use of the bomb.

I have been to the memorials/museums at both Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Both of them are a very eye opening experience. It's also very sad. It's easy for people to say "Nuke em!" whenever dealing with another country. Seeing pictures of charred children's bodies will make you think twice about it.

The problem with Nuclear weapons is that they have no mercy. They destroy EVERYTHING. They do destroy bad guys and military weapons, but they also destroy Grandparents, Children, babies, pets, homes, grocery stores, EVERYTHING.
For the person that thinks the people that died and are still dying is propoganda - think again.

Answer 2

Yes, sadly the Nagasaki bomb was necessary. The Japanese population was trained and highly motivated to never surrender, literally millions of them would have died along with about a million US service men if we had invaded the Japanese home island. The little known fact is that we had already killed more civilians with fire bomb attacks than we did with both the nukes. The Hiroshima bomb had been delivered several days before, and the Japanese leadership gave no indication that they would not continue to fight. So, as sad as it is, the US actually did the kind think by dropping the bomb and bringing the war to an end. There was absolutely nothing mean in the act. Mean implies cruelty, and we were anything but cruel in ending that war! It was not a fight we chose, desired, or willingly got into, if you recall the history of the time.

Answer 3

If the U.S. hadn't dropped the bombs then it would have been necessary to invade the Japanese homeland, which would have been very fiercely defended to, pretty much, the last Japanese, and 100s of thousands of people would have died from both sides. Total war is a very nasty business, and it was believed that the only way to convince the Japanese government to surrender unconditionally was to demonstrate what the new weapons could do. It's was believed in some circles that both the Japanese and the Germans were close to creating A-bombs and other super weapons of their own, and it was a race to be first - the US was first.

Japan and Germany were working on advanced weaponry -- the first jet in combat was German. It failed because Hitler was commited to the bomber and funded it too late, and their military hadn't yet worked out the tactics for the new weapon. If the Japan had been able to perfect and launch its super weapons it had been developing - an inter-continental super- bomber for example - things may have not gone as well for the US.

Yes, its possible for other nations to attack us with nuclear weapons; that's what the underlying threat of the Cold War between the US and the USSR was over.

Answer 4

Most people do indeed agree that it was necessary to drop the atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. It was the quickest, most effective way of forcing Japan to surrender and bringing about the end of World War 2. Had the atomic bomb not been built and used, the only way to force Japan to surrender was to invade Japan itself, which could have brought about hundreds of thousands of more American deaths, and extended the length of World War 2 by several years at least. Thus, dropping the atomic bomb did bring about hundreds of thousands of Japanese deaths, but in a time of war, the United States would rather have hundreds of thousands of enemy citizens die, rather than hundreds of thousands of their own soldiers. Also, recent documents discovered in Japan unveiled the horrible truth that Japan had nuclear weapons that were being shipped in from Germany via submarine. However, the U.S. captured the submarine before it reached Japan, and the Japanese never received their nukes. Recent documents reveal, however, that had Japan received the bombs, they had plans to drop them on San Francisco just a mere two weeks after the days we dropped our bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Who knows? Had that bomb been successful, they might have even invaded California and taken control of much of America. No one will really ever know....

Answer 5

yes given the Situation at the time.
You must remember the purpose of war is NOT to kill people.
The purpose of war is to FORCE the Enemy to do YOUR will.
You make his life so horrible that he will do whatever you say just so you will STOP. Based that, the Atomic Bomb as used was the best available weapon to end the war QUICKLY. The Estimates of Allied Casualties for a Invasion of the Japanese Home Islands ran into the MILLIONS!!!
1 The Allies were very Worn out Militarily and Economical from the War in Europe
2 Given the Japanese Suicidal defense of Iwo Jima and Saipan. The Defense of the HOME ISLANDS would possible have lead to the Destruction of the Japanese RACE.
3 We really didn't know what we were dealing with in terms of just what sort of weapon we had created. The creators knew what they had, but the Military Command didn't in fact Gen Marshall once ask about using Atomic Bombs to clear a Beaches for Invasions.

Answer 6

Not really but if they didnt then truman would not have been able to say 'look what we can do' to the Soviet government. I am not so sure if people are still dying as a result of the radiation though, and the city of Hiroshima has been rebuilt, the Hiroshima bomb and Nagasaki bombs were airbursted with little residual radiation

Answer 7

I for one think it was. just my opinion because not having dropped both bombs would have prolonged this war and cost more lives than it already did. Japan was going to fight this out until their was no one left to fight. Even though the allies had pretty much secured the victory, going into Japanese territory would have come at a big price. Dropping the bombs made it easy to avoid that whole aftermath and it forced Japan to surrender. This is the price people pay when countries go to war

Answer 8

Yes it was. Without a doubt. This act saved millons of lives mostly Japanese. Was it a terrible deed? Hell no! It was them or us, or have we all forgotten that they fought to the very last man on Iwo Jima and were well prepared to fight to the last man woman and child for motherland. In many cities womena killed their own children and then killed themselves rather than surrender. It was this that tipped the balance. Truman knew that if he did this, and then followed up with humaity afterwrds it would work, and he was right. Hate to sau it but sometimes might does make right
Do you know abything about history, warfare or psychology? Egads. yes we had to do it. And I have to say it was right to do it. Might have to do it again in the not so distant future. Why do we have them if we arent going top use them against an Iran or Korea hmmmm? Mutually Assured Deterrence? Hah! I have to assume about half of the inane fishing questions come from hired staff at Yahoo.

Answer 9

My father, who was in the Navy at the time and knew the situation in Japan, thought not. But after some study, I do not agree. The bombings were intended to bring the war to a rapid close, and did so, saving millions of casualties on both sides. But it was a near thing; even after Hirohito had concluded that the war had to end immediately, there were militarists who wanted to continue fighting; they attempted a palace coup, and were nearly successful.

Answer 10

This was the last big event in a war that lasted some 4 years involving most of the earth, killing ten of millions of people.

All you knows is that "it seemed really mean".

The short answer is "yes" it was necessary. Japan would have fought to the death of every citizen for the honor of their emperor. The bomb (2 of them) changed their minds.

The long answer: do some research.