what were the advantages and disadvantages ending the war in the pacific using atomic bombs?

Answer 1

advantage = saving 1-2 millions of soldiers lives it would've took if the US/allies directly and conventionally took on Japan on Japanese mainland soil

disadvantage = indiscriminate killing of hundreds of thousands of japanese civilians from the nuclear explosion and radiation

Answer 2

Actually, some of the previous estimates of lives lost are a bit vacuous. There were 112,000 Japanese civilians killed at Hiroshima and 81,023 at Nagasaki, making the total civilian lives lost by atomic bombs less than 300,000 with the radiation sickness losses added. The greatest advantage was the earlier end of war by making the Japanese surrender. They likely would not have done so otherwise.
The use of nuclear warfare is debatable since then, but it brought a country to it's knees that would never have surrendered without it. I agree that regardless of the death from nuclear radiation, there were few disadvantages. If one objectively looks at the history of war, surrender is never accomplished by killing troops. It is accomplished by taking prisoners and killing people and breaking necessary things. Few pacifists realize that war is unnecessary until someone attacks someone else badly enough that they respond.

Answer 3

I'm sure you have heard of the Military Order of the Purple Heart. It is a medal given to someone for being wounded in combat. In April of 1945 the War Department placed a massive order for a supply of those medals, in anticipation of the expected casualties from Operation Olympic (the land invasion of Japan proper) and its aftermath until Japan surrendered. We finally used up that supply of medals a few months ago! So, to me, that is the major advantage of using those two atomic weapons.
And, despite the moaning and groaning of some who agonized over the Japanese casualties, many of those detractors in later years were driving autos made in Hiroshima by the Nissan Corporation. So, the "zones of death" which we created with the two bombings were temporary.
Many of the Japanese I met in both cities were content with our decision because they and their progeny had a chance to live beyond the days of the Pacific War.

Answer 4

Think about this for a moment, if we hadn't nuked Japan and used conventional weapons instead, the world would never have known how horrible the effects of nuclear weapons really were. It would have been much easier to use the much more powerful nuclear weapons against each other later in the 20th century. Using the more powerful nukes would have destroyed the human race. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were sacrificed so the human race could survive.

To more directly answer your question, read the other contributors answers.

Answer 5

The advantage is that the war ended in August of 1945 instead of sometime in 1946 with a couple million fewer Japanese and Americans killed. Also, the Soviet Union was unable to claim any part of the Japanese homeland the way they did Eastern Europe.

Answer 6

I agree with all the prior post 100%!

Answer 7

advantages we didnt have to invade which would of cost the lives of tens of thousands of americans and japenese

Answer 8

SAVED SO MANY OF OUR AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND I CANNOT COME UP WITH ANY DISADVANTAGE, BECAUSE OF THE CRUEL TREATMNT HANDED OUT TO OUR POWS AND AMERICAN CIVILIANS CAPTURED THEY GOT WHAT THEY DESERVED AND NOTHING LESS.

Answer 9

--The killing of American POWs known then to be in Nagasaki.