The Truth About Why America Dropped Atomic Bombs on Japan

America Dropped Atomic Bombs on Japan

America Dropped Atomic Bombs on Japan

A flash of blinding light fills the sky.

70,000 civilians living in Hiroshima are killed in an instant.

In the years to come, 70,000 more will die from radiation poisoning.

Three days later, a second atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, annihilating 40,000 men, women, and children.

The United States has detonated the first and only atomic bombs ever used in a war.

But in doing so, they may have saved millions of lives.

Did the end justify the means? The answer to this question may make you sick to your stomach and question your morality.

On December 7, 1941, Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor.

Planes dove from the sky, slamming into the hulls of U.S. Naval ships.

The Japanese frantically searched the waters for their main targets, but they were nowhere to be found.

The goal of the attack on Pearl Harbor waste destroys the United States Pacific Fleet, and the only way to do so was to eliminate its aircraft carriers.

However, several ships were not docked at the naval base at the time of the attack as they were out on assignment in the Pacific.

This included the three aircraft carriers that the Japanese were hoping to destroy.

Over 2,400 Americans lost their lives during the surprise attack.

From that point on, most of the American population wanted revenge for the men lost at Pearl Harbor.

In fact, this single moment in history would set in motion events that would result in the deaths of millions over the course of three and a half years.

After entering World War II in the Pacific, the United States was forced to play a deadly game of cat and mouse with Japan.

Their armies hopped from one island to the next, costing men and resources.

The goal of each side was to control as much of the Pacific waters as possible.

For the United States, it was a matter of maintaining a foothold in the region to launch attacks on Japan's main island and end the war.

For the Japanese, it was a battle to keep control of their power and force the United States back across the Pacific to their mainland.

There were massive amounts of casualties on both sides.

Civilians that inhabited the islands of the Pacific and East Asia were caught up in award they had no desire to be in.

Unfortunately, they did not have the power to stop the two nations from ravaging their homelands.

Neither side would back down, so drastic decisions needed to be made.

The decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan started with the bloodiest conflict in the Pacific, the Battle for Okinawa.

U.S. Forces made their way closer and closer to Japan.

The Japanese knew that if they lost Okinawa, an invasion of their homeland was imminent.

Each side had everything to lose when the battle started.

The U.S. Codenamed the incursion of Okinawa Operation Iceberg.

On April 1st, 1945, the United States launched the largest amphibious assault in the history of the Pacific Theater.

Boats and amphibious vehicles cruised through the water loaded with soldiers.

When they reached the shores of the island the ramps lowered and Marines flooded onto the beaches, they immediately met heavy resistance.

The Imperial Japanese Army already had a stronghold on the island, and they would not give it up easily.

In fact, the Japanese would rather fight tithe very last man than surrender this strategic location.


KADENA AIR BASE:

The main objective for U.S. Forces were to take Kadena Air Base, which would then serve as a launching point for Operation Downfall, the name given to the invasion of Japan.

Thousands of Allied ships, planes, and vehicles carried out attacks across the island, but the Japanese were dug in and ready.

They launched kamikaze counter offensive sand made sure to strike key targets to slow the Allied advance.

It was a bloodbath for both sides.

The Battle of Okinawa resulted in the highest number of casualties of any battle in the Pacific.

It’s estimated that somewhere around 160,000military personnel died while fighting for control of the island.

The United States lost close to 50,000 men while Japan lost somewhere between 80,000to 115,000 people.

The saddest part is that the biggest loss of life was for the Okinawans themselves.

Nearly half of the 300,000 people who lived on the island before the attack died during the battle.

Some were forced to enlist in the Japanese army, while others were innocent victims caught in the firefights and bombings that took place across the island.

After months of fighting the United States secured victory on the island and gained control of the airfield.

However, even once the majority of Japanese forces were defeated, the Americans still had to contend with guerilla fighters and small Japanese units sprinkled around the island.

They would hide in the forests and sabotage.

 Operations whenever an opportunity presented itself.

Patrols often found themselves being ambushed out of nowhere as they let their guard down thinking the enemy threat had been dealt with.

In fact, some Japanese soldiers never received word that the war had ended and continued fighting for many years after Japan surrendered and World War II was officially over.

The loss of life and military assets during the Battle of Okinawa gave U.S. Intelligence pauses.

If the Japanese were able to inflict such damage on a small piece of land hundreds of miles away from their main island, what would it cost Allied forces if they were to invade Japan itself? The loss of life would be unimaginable, and it was hypothesized that it would take years to finally subdue Japanese forces.

If there was another way to force Japan into surrendering, the U.S. Needed to find it quickly. As the Battle of Okinawa raged on in the Pacific, President Franklin D.


 Roosevelt died of an intracerebral hemorrhage in the brain on April12, 1945.

Harry Truman was sworn into office as the next President of the United States and immediately started making difficult decisions about the war in the Pacific.

After word reached Truman that Okinawa had been secured at a great cost, he tasked his advisors with finding a way to force Japan to surrender.


SOLUTION WITH MINIMAL U.S. Casualties (NO GOOD OPTIONS)

And he wanted it done with minimal U.S. Casualties.

Unfortunately at the time, there was no good option.

It had become clear that Empower Hirohito would not submit willingly.

In fact, everyone in Japan believed that they would win the war and were willing to lay down their lives to make sure that happened.

Men, women, and children; military, civilian, and elderly; all Japanese citizens would rather have died than surrender their country toe foreign power.

This meant that regardless of what Truman decided to do, lives would be lost.

The question was: just how many people needed to die in order for World War II to come to close? Soon after the transition of power from Roosevelt to Truman, the new president was made aware of a top-secret weapon that was being developed by scientists in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

It was known as the Manhattan Project—named after the location of the team’s first office in New York City—and would result in the world’s first atomic bomb.

After the successful test of the first nuclear bomb ever created on July 16, 1945, at Alamogordo Bombing Range, Truman believed that the atomic bomb could be his only way to force Japan into surrendering.

Truman asked a committee of advisors led byte Secretary of War Henry Stimson to determine if using the atomic bomb on Japan was the best course of action to end the bloody war.

After seeing the devastating effects of the nuclear explosion, the committee did not take this task lightly.


Civilian Casualties Would Be Immense:

They knew that if the U.S. Detonated an atomic bomb on Japanese soil, the civilian casualties would be immense.

But it was determined that an invasion of Japan would be even more costly for both sides.

Most of the committee concluded that the bomb should be used.

Stimson was a huge advocate that this was the right decision.

So, under the advisement of the committee, President Harry Truman issued the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, 1945, which called for the unconditional surrender of Japan.

Truman warned that if the Japanese Emperor did not comply, there would be “prompt and utter destruction.

”There was no way that Japanese leaders could have known what Truman was talking about as they had never seen a nuclear explosion before or even knew that such a bomb existed.

This is one of the main problems with trying to justify that using the atomic bomb.

The Potsdam Declaration would have been outrageous to the Japanese Emperor and his advisors.

They knew that if the United States invaded their island, they could depend on the masses to fight until the very last person fell.

The Japanese people would not give up their homeland to an invading enemy and the Japanese leadership was pretty confident that they could cause enough casualties to the Allied forces that, at the very worst, they would end up negotiating a truce.

This would allow Japan to make a few demands of their own such as maintaining control of their country.

However, this was not an option for Allied forces.

They would not negotiate; it was either unconditional surrender by Japan or nothing.

When Truman did not receive a reply from Emperor Hirohito he gave the order to drop the bomb.

On August 6, 1945, a Boeing B-29 called Enola Gay took off from an airfield on Tinian Island.

In its cargo hold was “Little Boy,” the first atomic bomb ever to be used in war. At 8:15 A.M.The Enola Gay spotted Hiroshima.

The crew prepared to drop the bomb and get the hell out of dodge before it detonated.

The signal was given.

Red lights flashed as the bomb bay doors opened.

Little Boy was dropped 31,000 feet above the city of Hiroshima.

44 seconds later there was a bright flash the atomic bomb detonated 1,500 feet before hitting the ground.

Approximately 70,000 people were instantly incinerated by the blast.

The Japanese finally found out what Truman meant by “prompt and utter destruction.

”It’s unclear what exactly was being discussed by Japanese leadership immediately after the bomb was dropped, but when no declaration of surrender came three days after Hiroshima was bombed, the U.S. Decided to try again.

On August 9, 1945, a different B-29 named Bockscar carried a second, larger, atomic bomb named “Fat Man” towards Nagasaki.

The bomb was dropped, and the instant it detonated, 40,000 more Japanese civilian and military personnel were consumed in the fiery blast.

Both Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been wiped off the face of the planet by the atomic bombs.

Japan was now ready to surrender.

Talks between Japanese leadership and the United States began, and on September 2, 1945, Japan officially signed documents of surrender on board the USS Missouri.

The question is: was the use of the atomic bomb justified by the United States? Was there another way to convince Japan to surrender, or did tens of thousands of Japanese civilians need to die? We’ll present you with evidence for both sides of this argument, but you will ultimately have to decide for yourself.

You may be surprised at which side you choose.

After the atomic bombs were dropped and the United States occupied Japan, some shocking information was discovered about Japan’s plans for ending the war.

According to Japanese military officers and soldiers, they knew where the U.S. Invasion was going to land and had already begun preparing to inflict as much damage as possible to their forces.

Their orders were to repel Allied forces fora are long as possible and inflict casualties by any means necessary.

Most of the Japanese military strategists knew that they would not be able to stop the invasion.

But it was also known that the island's entire population would fight until they were all killed.

Surrender was not an option for the Japanese people and they believed that was better to die fighting than to lose their homeland tithe invading force.

Knowing this, U.S. Military leaders were convinced that they had made the right decision.

There were over 70 million people who lived on the island, and it was predicted that everyone from children to grandmas would do their part to stop the invading Allied forces.

This included makeshift kamikaze runs by civilians using grenades or other explosives.

The carnage would have been unfathomable.

Therefore, by detonating the atomic bombs, the military concluded that tens of thousands of U.S. Soldiers' lives were saved along with millions of Japanese lives.


WAR IS INHUMANE, WORLD WAR II

Another argument to justify the use of the atomic bomb is that war itself is inhumane.

The bombs dropped on Japan helped end World War II, and therefore, it was the right call.

To put it into perspective, in March of 1945, the United States dropped incendiary bombs on Tokyo.

This caused massive fires to sweep across the city and consume everything in their path, including civilians.

It is estimated that well over 100,000 people were killed in the Tokyo bombing.

So, was this any better than dropping an atomic bomb? The long-term effects of both situations are different.

Over 1 million people lost their homes in the Tokyo bombing, but those who survived did not need to worry about radiation poisoning and cancer like the survivors of the atomic bomb blasts.

A home can be rebuilt, but death by radiation cannot be avoided.

It was also estimated by General MacArthur that even if the Japanese government was forced to surrender after the invasion, there would still be countless guerrilla groups that would hide in the forests and mountains on the island that would need to be dealt with.

They would continuously wreak havoc at U.S. Installations and oppose the new government that would be put in place.

MacArthur concluded it would take a million.

 Troops ten years to deal with the rogue Japanese soldiers.

At that point, the war may have been overrun paper, but the battle would still continue for U.S. Soldiers stationed in Japan.

It’s also important to note that many Japanese people still thought that they could win the war even after the atomic bombs were dropped.

The Emperor himself needed to declare the war over, or the people of Japan would keep on fighting.

The atomic bombs forced Japanese leadership to concede and to tell their citizens that they had lost the war and it was now time for peace.

This led to several civilian and military groups taking up arms and revolting against their own government as they believed there should be no surrender.

But these attempts to overthrow the government were put down by the Japanese military, and the unconditional surrender commenced.


ARGUMENT THAT HARRY TRUMAN USED

A less strong argument for using the atomic bomb, yet one that Harry Truman used after he left office, was that Japan started it.

This may sound childish but many Americans wanted revenge for what the Japanese did at Pearl Harbor.

In 1958, the City Council of Hiroshima passed resolution condemning Truman for ordering the atomic bomb to be dropped on their city.

Truman responded that he did not blame the council for condemning what he did, but he claimed the United States had “been shot in the back,” referencing the attack at Pearl Harbor.


1 BOMB SAVED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF CIVILIANS

He concluded his letter back to the council that the atomic bombs saved hundreds of thousands of Americans and Japanese lives.

Therefore, it was justified.

Some historians think that the American people would have forced Truman to use the atomic bomb even if he had decided not too initially.

As more and more American soldiers died in the war and information about the successful test of a nuclear bomb in New Mexico got out, the public would have pressured Truman tousle the new weapon of mass destruction, or they would be happy to elect someone to office who would.

It’s hotly debated whether demonstrating the capability of the atomic bomb by dropping it on an uninhabited piece of land for the Japanese to see would have been enough to cause them to surrender.

Many scientists in Truman's initial committee of advisors believed that this show of force would indeed have been enough.

However, the military personnel felt differently.

The Japanese people were so invested in the war that merely demonstrating the atomic bomb’s potential may have been seen as an empty threat.

Therefore, it was concluded that the bomb must be dropped on a city that had military significance.

The decision of which cities to bomb did not fall to Truman but to military leaders.

Both Hiroshima and Nagasaki were chosen because they had military manufacturing facilities.

However, this does beg the question: why couldn’t the bomb just have been dropped on a military facility away from any major cities? There were plenty of Japanese bases that were isolated from civilian populations, so why couldn’t one of these have been the target? This question has also been debated over the decades without any clear answer as to why hitting a military base couldn’t have been tried first.

This brings us to an unsettling idea.

Maybe dropping the atomic bombs on two Japanese cities was not justified.

The main reason why many believe that dropping the atomic bombs was unethical is that the.

 Military intentionally targeted civilian populations.

Many believe that the United States used terrorist-like tactics to force the Japanese government to surrender.

Even current military ethics courses in the United States make justifying the dropping of the atomic bombs difficult.

When tough decisions need to be made during war and collateral damage is inevitable, the proportionality of benefit to cost needs Tobe weighed.

It’s agreed upon by many military officials and historians today that the destruction of military targets at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was nowhere near proportionate to the loss of civilian life.

This makes dropping the bombs on these cities an unjustifiable choice.


SOUTHERN PART OF KYUSHU

For people who think dropping the atomic bomb was necessary but that a military target should have been chosen, it’s often cited that the bomb should have been dropped in the southern part of Kyushu.

It was here where Japanese troops were massing to mount a defense against the U.S. Invasion.

Not only would this have been of strategic significance, but it would have minimized the civilian casualties by targeting an area that was mostly filled with military personnel.

And although some believe that dropping a demonstration bomb wouldn’t have resulted in Japan surrendering, not everyone sees it this way.

If the United States had detonated a bomb where high-ranking Japanese officers could see it, it’s very plausible they would recommend to the Emperor that peace talks should begin immediately.

Also, if the demonstration didn’t work, the next option still wouldn’t have to be blowing up a city full of civilians, as they could have tried dropping the bomb on a military base first.

But the fact that the very first target was a densely populated city where 70,000 people were obliterated by a single bomb seems like an extreme first choice when there were other, more justifiable options.

Many historians also believe that if a demonstration atomic bomb was used, the Emperor of Japan would be willing to enter negotiations.

Although it’s probable the U.S. Would have refused this option as they wanted Japan’s unconditional surrender.

But it has been argued that if the United States had been willing to negotiate, Japan would have come to the table after an atomic bomb demonstration.

In fact, even without a demonstration, it’s thought that most high-ranking officials in the military and government already knew the war was lost.


NEGOTIATION ROOM

So, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that if the United States had been willing to let Emperor Hirohito stay in power, Japan would have surrendered.

This would have all been possible without the mass murder of over 100,000 civilians by atomic bombs.

But there was another factor that would have almost certainly led to the surrender of Japan.

It had nothing to do with nuclear explosions or the United States.

Instead, at the same time the U.S. Was dropping its second atom bomb, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan.

There was no way that Japan could have defeated both the U.S. And Allied forces in the Pacifica’s well as the Soviet Union advancing from the west.

Japan knew this, and it’s very plausible that if the United States had waited for the Soviet Union to declare war on Japan, they would never have had to drop the atomic bombs in the first place.

Japan’s plan at the time was to cause enough American losses that they would be forced to negotiate a settlement.

The average Japanese citizen and soldier might have believed that Japan could still win the war, but the leadership was not under the same delusion.

They were just weighing their options and trying to figure out the best outcome.

However, once the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, it was only a matter of time before they became overwhelmed on multiple fronts.

As soon as the Soviet Union joined the battle, they steamrolled their way through Japanese lines in Manchuria and pushed deeper and deeper into Japanese controlled territories.

Once this happened Japan likely would have sought out a deal with the United States even if they hadn’t dropped the atomic bombs.

The reason for this is because Japan already knew that if the Soviets invaded, it would have been a very different type of occupation than if the United States was in charge.

Japan likely already had information about the way that occupied territories in Europe were being treated by the Allies versus the Soviets.

The Soviets did not have the best reputation.

They tended to incorporate territories into the Soviet Union and brutally strip them of their national identity.

Knowing this, Japan may have seen occupation by the United States as a better option if they were to surrender.

And since the Soviets were closing in quickly, Japan may have reached out to the U.S. And surrendered even if the atomic bombs hadn’t been dropped.

And if this is the case, then the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not justified at all.

There is no doubt that at the time, the majority of the American public believed using the atomic bomb was completely justified.

In fact, a Gallup poll that was conducted almost immediately after the bombs were dropped in 1945 found that 85% of Americans approved of the decision.

This is a huge amount of support, which may be why Truman felt pressure to give the order.

It is important to remember that although Truman authorized the use of atomic weapons, a committee of military personnel made the decision of where to strike.

In a Pew survey conducted in the last several years, the sentiment of the American people has changed drastically about the use of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Now only around 50% of U.S. Citizens believe it was justified. There are probably several reasons for this.

For one, many of the people who were alive during World War II and were impacted by Pearl Harbor are no longer with us.

People who are further removed from such a tragic event tend to have less emotional investment and, therefore, may think more critically about a decision that cost the lives of over100, 000 civilians.

We also now know much more about the long-term effects that nuclear weapons can have on people and the terrible diseases that can result from radiation poisoning.

Many individuals don’t think anything justifies killing so many civilians, even during a World War.

This is especially true since there were other options besides dropping the atomic bombs on heavily populated cities.


UNDEFINEABLE FACTS

There are arguments to be made for both sides of the atomic bomb debate, but there are a few undeniable facts.

The United States targeted cities with civilians when they had the option of demonstrating the power of the atomic bomb on uninhabited land or against strictly military personnel.

The Japanese were also probably willing to sit down for peace talks even without the bombs being dropped, especially after the Soviet Union declared war on them.

All that being said, the atomic bombs definitely played a major role in forcing Japan to surrender and ending World War II.

If the United States had invaded the main island of Japan, many more people would have died than perished as a result of the atomic bombs.

This does not necessarily justify the use of atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagaski, but it does make you think if it was the best option in a really bad situation.

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