Was THIS A FORM OF TERRORISM??

Question

During World War II, the United States intentionally dropped firebombs on German cities and nuclear bombs on Japanese cities killing hundreds of thousands of people. Was this a form of terrorism?

Please choose a side and try to explain why you chose it (as best as you can). THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

Answer 1

"Terrorism in the modern sense is violence or other harmful acts committed (or threatened) against civilians for political or other ideological goals. Most definitions of terrorism include only those acts which are intended to create fear or "terror", are perpetrated for an ideological goal and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants.

As a form of unconventional warfare, terrorism is sometimes used when attempting to force political change by convincing a government or population to agree to demands to avoid future harm or fear of harm, destabilising an existing government, motivating a disgruntled population to join an uprising, escalating a conflict in the hopes of disrupting the status quo, expressing a grievance, or drawing attention to a cause."

On this definition of terrorism then yes, the United States of America used terrorism as a form of warfare, I don't believe they had any 'military' targets in sight when fire-bombing, thus their targets were civilians and their goal was to use terrorism for their political goals, and it worked as a fine vessel for a propaganda victory.

I don't think somebody really needs to elaborate on the action of dropping a "Nuclear Bomb" on a country, the effects of which, psychological, physical, I believe are still on going.

It was the easy way to demoralise a falling Empire, that doesn't under any circumstances make it right.

The irony is restrictions were then put in place to make sure Japan shall never posess or manufacture nuclear weapons.

Was somebody worried the favour would eventually be returned?

Answer 2

Many people define terrorism as the illegal use of force. However, when wars are declared other rules apply, in particular the Geneva and Hague Conventions. Japan was not a signatory to the Convention during WW2 and their appalling treatment of prisoners caused many thousands of deaths (and more than a hundred thousand of civilian deaths). Both Germany and Russia also failed to abide by the Convention and prisoners of war were often executed. The idea that the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan was a form of terrorism is, for some, contentious. However the dropping of the second bomb (on Nagasaki) is harder to agree with.
The firebombing of cities was of course carried out by a number of countries. If those cities had been undefended, such acts would have been illegal (according to experts).

Answer 3

One may regard it as a form of terrorism, and indeed, it basically was meant to kill civilians. But this was a war, and those who started it should first blame themselves. Just like Croation Rebels (Ustase) Islamo Fascists in Bosnia, and Albanian terrorists in Kosovo should blame themselves for their loss in wars in the Former Yugoslavia, even though Serbs didn't deliberately and intentionally target civilians to an extent similar to what even a civilized country-such as the US was in both World Wars-did.

Answer 4

and i suppose you'd rather be subservient to Hitler's heirs after they overran the world, than whoever it is that you call your leader now? times were different, things were different, and what was done was what had to be done.....those who don't remember history are indeed condemmed to repeat it, as you show that you obviously either were too young to know what happened during WWII, or have done absolutely no research at all on the atrocities committed by the japanese, the plans they had, or the further millions that would have been killed in the pacific campaign on both sides had something not been done to stop it at that time...and whoever above me made the ludicrous statement that the japanese had already surrendered? they need to go back and study the history of the time.....

Answer 5

Yes. The object was to force the enemy to surrender by targetting the civilian population.
When this was first done on a large scale during the Spanish Civil War the event was condemned by those very nations who used the same tactic in WW2

Answer 6

The sad thing is that we tell other country's that they can't have nuclear activity, but we ourselves are the only country to have ever gone to that extreme.

Answer 7

Yes, and they're still at it !
When the atom bombs were dropped Japan had already surrendered - but that didn't stop the the bomb drop.