During the final stages of WWII the US became desperate to end the war. It became increasingly difficult to ward off the Japanese suicide bombers and undying spirits. After a series of unsuccessful bomber raids, a decision was made. To this day, the dropping of the atomic bomb is still criticized. While it quickly ended the war and avoided more American casualties, it killed mass amounts of Japanese civilians, and is often considered inhumane. However, if you consider that our bomber raids on japan killed the same amount, if not more civilians, and that due to the beliefs of the Japanese people at the time, invasion would have led to civilians fighting and dying or committing suicide, and therefor would not have been a much better option. Also, we would have lost even more American lives in the process, and we warned them we had a catastrophic weapon before we used it. In that light, the atomic bomb might have saved more lives than it cost. America's decision in dropping the atomic bombs was justified because it ended the destruction that Japan was going to cause in the future, thus saving many American and foreign lives.
Monday, March 5, 2012
History
The United States of America got involved in the war on December 7th, 1941. Japanese planes came to Oahu, Hawaii and bombed the naval base on Pearl Harbor. Over 3,000 United States soldiers died, many ships and planes were destroyed, and was a turning point in the war. The day after, the United States and Britain declared war on Japan. After Hitler heard of this, he declared war on the U.S. and Britain. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, Japanese-Americans were put into Internment Camps. This was to protect the United States from any spying or attacks from the Japanese. In June, 1942, the U.S. won the Battle of Midway against Japan. After we won this battle, we were able to keep pushing the Japanese back. The Allied forces kept beating the Axis powers in battles. After the invasion of Sicily, Italy surrendered to the Allied forces. Shortly after this, there was D-day. The Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy, France and captured it. This was essential in our victory. The Axis powers were losing the war, so Hitler committed suicide and eventually, the German Army surrendered to the Allies. Japan would still not surrender. On August 6th, 1945, the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It killed many people and Japan would still not surrender. On August 9th, 1945, we dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Shortly after, Japan surrendered to the Allies, ending the second World War.
Evidence
Atomic Bombs Justification
The main reason that America dropped the atomic bombs on Japan is because we wanted to save many American and foreign lives. If we hadn't dropped the bombs, the war would have continued and many lives would have been lost in battle. American troops would have had to storm the island of Japan and many people would have died. The Japanese even said that they would never surrender and "the Japanese military and civilian population would fight to the death." We had to drop the bomb to show what the U.S. was capable of.
Harry Truman
In this article, Harry Truman explains how many people criticized dropping the bombs on Japan. He says that Japan "attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor" and "starved and beat and executed American prisoners of war." He is absolutely correct. Japan had caused many American casualties. If we did not drop the bomb, they would have continued to do these unspeakable acts.
Satoshi Kanazawa
In this article, the author explains that previous "carpet bombings of Tokyo in March 1945 did not faze them." He says that the only thing that would stop the Japanese is the future of bombs and technology. He also states that the Japanese government knew that the U.S. was far more advanced then previously thought after we dropped the bombs. They knew that they would stand no chance against our military, thus, forcing them to surrender.
Karl Compton
Karl Compton explains in his article that the Japanese people would have continued to fight. He was part of a group of scientists that interviewed a Japanese Army officer. The officer said that they "would have kept on fighting until all Japanese were killed, but (they) would not have been defeated." This just shows how much the Japanese did not want to be disgraced by surrender. They would have rather been killed then surrender.
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill says in his article that America should have dropped the bomb. He explains to the people that don't think we should have dropped the bomb to put themselves in the position of an American soldier that was about to raid Japan and possibly be killed. You would definitely want America to drop the bomb and end the war. He explains that there should be no reason to risk American lives if we could have ended the war at the time we did.
Gary Palmer
Gary Palmer explains how America was advancing in a nuclear age. Since we were the first country to use the atomic bomb, we will always have that reputation. Other countries will think twice before attacking us again. We will always be known as the country that is far more advanced than other countries. No country will want to mess with us because we will always know how to make the atomic bomb.
The main reason that America dropped the atomic bombs on Japan is because we wanted to save many American and foreign lives. If we hadn't dropped the bombs, the war would have continued and many lives would have been lost in battle. American troops would have had to storm the island of Japan and many people would have died. The Japanese even said that they would never surrender and "the Japanese military and civilian population would fight to the death." We had to drop the bomb to show what the U.S. was capable of.
Harry Truman
In this article, Harry Truman explains how many people criticized dropping the bombs on Japan. He says that Japan "attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor" and "starved and beat and executed American prisoners of war." He is absolutely correct. Japan had caused many American casualties. If we did not drop the bomb, they would have continued to do these unspeakable acts.
Satoshi Kanazawa
In this article, the author explains that previous "carpet bombings of Tokyo in March 1945 did not faze them." He says that the only thing that would stop the Japanese is the future of bombs and technology. He also states that the Japanese government knew that the U.S. was far more advanced then previously thought after we dropped the bombs. They knew that they would stand no chance against our military, thus, forcing them to surrender.
Karl Compton
Karl Compton explains in his article that the Japanese people would have continued to fight. He was part of a group of scientists that interviewed a Japanese Army officer. The officer said that they "would have kept on fighting until all Japanese were killed, but (they) would not have been defeated." This just shows how much the Japanese did not want to be disgraced by surrender. They would have rather been killed then surrender.
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill says in his article that America should have dropped the bomb. He explains to the people that don't think we should have dropped the bomb to put themselves in the position of an American soldier that was about to raid Japan and possibly be killed. You would definitely want America to drop the bomb and end the war. He explains that there should be no reason to risk American lives if we could have ended the war at the time we did.
Gary Palmer
Gary Palmer explains how America was advancing in a nuclear age. Since we were the first country to use the atomic bomb, we will always have that reputation. Other countries will think twice before attacking us again. We will always be known as the country that is far more advanced than other countries. No country will want to mess with us because we will always know how to make the atomic bomb.
Photos and Videos
Atomic explosion over Nagasaki. This explosion was seen for hundreds of miles. It towered over the island and every Japanese person knew what had happened.
Fat Man before it was dropped on Nagasaki. Fat man’s shape was very unique. Not many other bombs were shaped like this at the time.
Nagasaki post atomic explosion. The entire city was destroyed over a 4 square mile area. Around 200,000 thousand Japanese people were killed after the two atomic bombs.
This is the explosion cloud over Hiroshima. Hiroshima was bombed first, before Nagasaki. This was the first atomic bomb ever used. To this date, we have only used those two atomic bombs in war.
This is the little boy bomb. This was used to bomb the city of Hiroshima. This bomb killed many civilians in Japan.
Hiroshima after the impact of the atomic bomb. No people could have survived the terrible explosion after the bombs dropped. If you were to be looking at it when it went off, you would have gone blind.
Who Done It
Daniel Carpenter wrote the beautiful intro and found captivating pictures.
Keenan Kudell searched the web for intriguing facts on the history of the atomic bomb and discussed some very convincing points in our evidence.
Works Cited
Mary Bellis. (Date Unavalible). History of the Atomic Bombs and the Manhattan Project. http://inventors.about.com/od/astartinventions/a/atomic_bomb.htm
The Atomic Bombs and the End of World War II. August 5, 2005. The National Security Archive.
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/index.htm
The Atom Bombs. (No date avalible). http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWatom.htm
The Atomic Bombs and the End of World War II. August 5, 2005. The National Security Archive.
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/index.htm
The Atom Bombs. (No date avalible). http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWatom.htm
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