...On August 6th, the United States dropped an atomic bomb codenamed “Little Boy” on the city of Hiroshima in Japan. 3 days later, a second bomb codenamed “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki. The US had a few reasons for dropping the bomb. They told US citizens that dropping the bomb was absolutely necessary to avoid huge US casualties. They were told there was only one other option, and that was to attack Japan directly, which would lead to said casualties. But there was one other option. The Soviet Union was planning to enter the war against Japan. The US wanted to quickly end the war before the Soviet Union could enter so that they could establish their dominance over them. The bomb was the quickest way to do this, and they wanted to test the...
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...The dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a controversial decision made by the United States during the war. The decision to drop the bomb was made by President Truman and was a turning point American history. Despite the many disagreeing with the dropping of the atomic bomb it was a military necessity to win the war. The dropping of the bombs was a necessity because of Japan`s terrain, the amount of American lives that would be lost and their refusal to the ultimatum. Japan`s mountainous terrain would be very difficult for the United States to attack. In order for the United States to even come close to winning the war they would need amphibious vehicles to travel land and sea. As well as needing to be able to attack from all sides since Japan is an island. This tactic will put the US army at an offensive disadvantage. Also the Americans lack of knowledge of the terrain would also put them in a dangerous position (Document C). Therefore...
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...Was the decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan justified? The dropping of the atomic bombs was justified because the Japanese were not willing to surrender, therefore Truman didn’t have much of a choice but to drop the atomic bomb. The US wanted Japan to surrender to reduce the number of American lives lost. The dropping of the atomic bombs was justified because Japan wouldn’t surrender, so Truman was left under pressure. Hiroshima was bombed on August 6, and Nagasaki on August 9. The two cities were part of the Japanese war effort. One was an army center and the other was naval and industrial (Document B). This explains why it was justified because Truman bombed the important places that would eventually attack the United States. The bomb...
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...History of the A-Bomb In early August 1945 atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These two bombs quickly yielded the surrender of Japan and the end of American involvement in World War II. By 1946 the two bombs caused the death of perhaps as many as 240,000 Japanese citizens1. The popular, or traditional, view that dominated the 1950s and 60s – put forth by President Harry Truman and Secretary of War Henry Stimson – was that the dropping of the bomb was a diplomatic maneuver aimed at intimating and gaining the upper hand in relations with Russia. Today, fifty-four years after the two bombings, with the advantage of historical hindsight and the advantage of new evidence, a third view, free of obscuring bias and passion, can be presented. First, the dropping of the bomb was born out of complex infinite military, domestic and diplomatic pressures and concerns. Second, many potentially viable alternatives to dropping the bombs were not explored by Truman and other men in power, as they probably should have been. Lastly, because these alternatives were never explored, we can only conjecture over whether or not Truman’s decision was a morally just one, and if indeed it was necessary to use atomic energy to win the war. The war in Asia had its roots in the early 1930s. Japan had expansionist aims in Eastern Asia and the Western Pacific, especially in Indochina2. In July of 1940 the United States placed an embargo on materials exported to...
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...destructive nature of the atomic bomb: We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. It may be the fire of destruction prophesied in the Euphrates Valley era, after Noah and his fabulous ark. Yet, despite his characterization of the bomb as the fire that would destroy the world, Truman goes on to state: This weapon is to be used against Japan between now and August 10 It seems to be the most terrible thing ever discovered, but it can be made the most useful. How could a Christian man justify using what seemed to be the very power of God against enemy cities with the intent to kill over 100,000 innocent civilians with the power from one atomic bomb (Goldfield, D., Abbot, C., Anderson, V., Argersinger, J., Argersinger,P, Barney, W, Weir, R. ,2010)?” “Truman’s argument for the use of atomic weapons against Japan focused on the fact that the targets were strictly military and no innocent civilians would be harmed: I have told the secretary of war, Mr. Stimson, to use it so that military objectives and soldiers are the target and not women and children. Truman further argues that the U.S., on account of its reputation as a leader of the civilized world, would never bomb a civilian city: Even if the Japs are savages, ruthless, merciless and fanatic, we as the leader of the world for the common welfare cannot drop this terrible bomb on the old capital or the new. Moreover, Truman stated that the U.S. had no moral reprehensibility for using atomic weapons against Japan...
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...as I can see, the atomic bomb has deadened the finest feeling that has sustained mankind for ages. I regard the employment of the atom bomb for the wholesale destruction of men, women and children as the most diabolical use of science.”-Mahatma Gandhi, an Indian anti-war activist; giving his opinion about the United States’s atomic bombs drop on Hiroshima, Japan. The outcomes of World War I had repleted many countries with fears, therefore they tried to avoid wars with each other. However, World War II started and it lasted from 1939-1945. The global war involved two military alliances, which are the Allies and the Axis. The Allies alliances included the Soviet Union, United States, England, and Republic of China. While the Axis alliances...
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...The Atomic Bomb: A Necessity or a Desire Tanmay Bhanushali Year 10 Historical Paper “Great power imposes the obligation of exercising restraint” Leo Szilard - Hungarian-born Physicist and main scientist to oppose the atomic Bombings This was spoken in an interview titled “President Truman did not Understand”. This was between a US news reporter and Leo Szilard the key figure among the scientists opposing the use of the bomb. The interview was in August 15, 1960. Why was their so fierce Opposition? In what Way did Truman Not Understand? These answers lie in the depths of the controversy about the Atomic Bomb. Introduction The atomic bomb was a topic of major controversy but the main debate was about the necessity of the atomic bomb. Many say that the atomic bomb was dropped because it would save millions of American lives. However at that period the Japanese were also at the point of surrendering. Huge amounts of incendiary bombs were used in large-scale cities against japan. Many of the scientists in the Manhattan Project were disturbed about it. The incendiary bombs reduced much morale from the Japanese army and crippled the will power. However this small cripple made Japan even angrier because these incendiary bombs were used on innocent civilians and not the Japanese army. Many think that it was necessary to use the Atomic Bombs because Japan attacked America first and not the other way around. It is a fact that when Hitler attacked...
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...The scope of this essay is that the decision, to drop the atomic bomb, made by President Truman was largely influenced by political factors rather than military factors. By observing the historical timeline, the Cold War started shortly after World War II. Truman was likely to have been aware of the rising power of the USSR. This mostly likely influenced him more to drop the bomb. Truman at the same time could have been influenced by the people around him such as the Manhattan Project and Congress. The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been one of the most widely debated topics to date. The two conflicting sides of the argument are political and militarily. Traditionalist historians argue from the military perspective,...
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...airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima and destroyed its usefulness to the enemy. That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of TNT. It had more than two thousand times the blast power of the British "Grand Slam" which is the largest bomb ever yet used in the history of warfare.” This was vocalized by President Harry Truman in his famous speech where he declared the bombing on mainland Japan and, educated the American people of the capabilities their military had. Developed by a group of American scientists, atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6th and 10th 1945 respectively. These are the only two times that these bombs have ever been used to inflict damage on other countries but, physicists estimate that both bombs only used about 1/10th of 1% of their total capacity. From a moral standpoint, dropping the atomic bomb was the right thing to do because it ended up preventing millions of people from being killed by military warfare. Politically, it was also the right thing to do because it strategically helped end the war and, reminded the rest of the world of the supremacy of the United States as a Hegemon and militaristic power. If put in the position of President Truman, after careful analysis, I would choose to only drop one atomic bomb on Hiroshima. First, with the Japanese unwillingness to surrender, the United States was ready to commence with a top-secret mission titled Operation Downfall. This alternative to the nuclear bomb was the only other option...
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...Atomic Bomb Millions of people already dead and thousands more every day. The citizens beg for the conflict to stop but there is no end in sight. A single option seems to be able to end this conflict for good. In World War 2 the United States dropped the Atomic bomb on Japan in order to make them surrender and end the war. The dropping of the atomic bomb was justified in World War 2 because of Japan’s refusal to surrender, it saved U.S. lives and it demonstrated U.S. power. World War 2 was a dark time for all countries involved and especially the United States. Following the war in Europe ending with the death of Adolf Hitler, the war in the Pacific raged on. The United States were fighting with Japan to avenge the bombing of Pearl Harbor which started World War 2. Pearl Harbor was a surprise bombing of a United States naval base by Japan. It killed thousands of people and destroyed large amounts of naval equipment. As the United States fought Germany in Europe, the conflict with Japan was on the backburner. Now with the war in Europe over, Japan is the main enemy. Japan’s military strategy was known to be very unorthodox. With suicide pilots attacking U.S. ships and their relentless mindset made it a daunting task for the U.S. to overcome. In the mainland the U.S. was holding Japanese Americans in internment camps to isolate them from the rest of society in fear they may be giving information to the Japanese. The United States did not see an invasion of Japan as a viable...
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...During World War II in August 6, 1945 America dropped worlds first atomic bomb on Hiroshima in Japan. This atomic bomb was given a nickname "Little Boy". On August 9, 1945 three days after the first bomb was dropped United States dropped the second bomb on the Nagasaki. This bomb was given a nickname "Fat Man". Together these two bombs killed over 90,000 people immediately and it demolished the cities. The decision by President Harry S. Truman and his advisors to drop the atomic bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II was a military necessity. The first reason the bombing of Japan was military necessity because four years ago Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. According to document A bombing of pearl harbor killed 2,400 American .So Americans hated the Japanese, they wanted revenge from Japan. According to document B, on the poster it was written that " stay on the job until every MURDERING JAP is wiped out!". Americans were angry at Japan. They were encouraging other Americans by posting posters to take strong action against Japan. Also, Japanese Kamikaze attacked on United States ships in the Pacific Theater, these were the suicidal attacks on ships....
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...The main arguments, reasons, and evidence that support the perspective of Historian A is that she believed the atomic bomb designed by the United States was dropped on the Japanese with malicious intent. Historian A believes the Japanese wanted to surrender and the United States knew of their wish to surrender and chose to ignore it. The atomic bomb was essentially used as chess piece to bully Russia to do as the United States wished according to Historian A. The Japanese wished to surrender with only one condition; to keep their emperor in place. The United States wanted and unconditional surrender which caused the Japanese their lives. But the irony of it all was the United States let the Japanese keep the emperor in place after all. The main arguments, reasons, and evidence that support the perspective of Historian B was the dropping of the atomic bomb by the United States was a deadly but necessary evil. Historian B believes the Japanese said they wanted to surrender but in actuality was not. Historian B believes by dropping the bomb to shorten the war only saved more than the lives that was lost. Historian B believed the reports on sacrificing the Japanese as a scare tactic for the Russians is utterly false. The Japanese refused to surrender without condition after condition which could delay the war even further. Also, even after the first bomb was dropped the Japanese still refused to surrender unconditionally which cost their people even more lives. Historian B believes...
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...using the atomic bomb to end world war two because not only did they end several innocent lives by dropping the bomb, but they also had no real reason to attack them since Japan had no more allies and resources and were already planning to surrender. The United States ended up killing innocent children and people when the bombs were dropped. The bombs were dropped in the middle of civilian cities that were home of a large majority of innocent civilians. Most of the people that had to pay for the war were civilians that had no type of power or say in the decision and involvement of the war. Not only did the bomb affect those that lost their lives but the bomb also affected the land, and the people of Japan for generations that came after. The dropping of the bombs...
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...I’ve heard you ordered the use of the atomic bombs against Japan. After you’ve found out the Manhattan project had been successful, I know you had to make a decision to move forward with it or not. At first you and the Allies put out a demand for an immediate unconditional surrender, but Japan had refused. So since Japan had refused, you made a hard decision to drop the atomic bomb and put an end to the long four years of war with Japan. I understand why you strongly want to drop the bomb; however, for my sincere advice to you, I strongly suggest you don’t. Dropping to atomic bomb on Japan can lead to many disadvantages. For instance, when other countries realize that America had help this type of power, they will began the race to develop their own. Thousands of innocent Japanese people will die from the impact of this bomb and millions more will be affected by the residual radiation. Japan will be close to surrender anyways, and dropping the bomb will definitely insult in a major way. Most of all, it will forever create a great amount of animosity and anger between the two nations, that will exist for many years to come. Overall, the way you are using the atomic bomb is not justified because along with many others, we believe such...
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...Working smarter not harder is a quote that comes to mind when the topic of whether we should have dropped the atomic bomb on Japan comes up. In this essay I am going to give you my opinion about the event that occured during World War II. I believe that America was justified in dropping the atomic bomb. I will provide reasons to backup my opinion as such as by American soldier lives were saved, resources used were kept small and several more reasons. The first fact I’ll address is regarding all the men we saved by holding out and making the decision to drop the bombs. Instead of risking lives of hundreds of thousands American soldiers by having them fight on the front line this eliminated that need. By saving lives there were more families...
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