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73 years ago today, on August 5, 1945, the first atomic bomb used in war was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. (In Japan it was August 6, since they are across the International Date Line from us.)
Three days later, the second atomic bomb used in warfare was flown to its primary target of Kokura, Japan. They found the city obscured by clouds and smoke, and so flew to the secondary target of Nagasaki instead and dropped the bomb there.
Shortly afterward, Japan realized they had no way to stop the Americans from dropping bomb after bomb, wiping out city after city until the Japanese islands became uninhabitable. It also helped that Russia declared war on Japan that day. Japan surrendered, and WWII was over.
Japan didn't know at the time, that those were the only two complete atomic bombs the Americans had been able to produce at that time (plus one more shot off in July as a test in New Mexico). They could eventually produce more of the needed fissile material, but it would have taken months or years, so the Americans kept quiet.
The Army estimated that those two bombs, which killed approx. 150,000 Japanese, saved the lives of between 500,000 and 1 million Americans who would no longer have to invade the Japanese home islands to force a surrender, plus saving a million or more Japanese who would have defended their homes to the death.
Ironically, I was just going through a box of my relatives stuff from WW2...airborne, saw a lot of action all the way through north africa and in Europe. They were at the battle of the bulge.
Whole box of armbands and emblems he took off Nazis he killed.
He was scheduled to got to Japan for the invasion that never happened.
Oh well, glad they dropped the bombs.
Besides, they killed fewer than the firebombing of Tokyo and also the thing most of the uninformed don't realize is that the Japanese were killing thousands and thousands of people DAILY throughout their occupied countries like China, Korea etc.
Shortening the war by two months likely saved more Chinese, Koreans etc. than Japanese killed in the bombings.
The Army estimated that those two bombs, which killed approx. 150,000 Japanese, saved the lives of between 500,000 and 1 million Americans who would no longer have to invade the Japanese home islands to force a surrender, plus saving a million or more Japanese who would have defended their homes to the death.
This logic ought to give people pause, but it rarely does. Invasion of Japan would have been a means to a desired end but there was no absolute necessity that it be done. If an invasion had been ordered at the cost of a million American lives, that would have been a very bad decision to say the least. There were possible courses of action other than the two presented: disastrous invasion or nuking cities. An acceptable settlement somewhat short of unconditional surrender might have been reached or, failing that, Japan could have been worn down to the point that an invasion would not have been so costly.
This logic ought to give people pause, but it rarely does.
And for good reason, since it mostly wouldn't have worked.
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An acceptable settlement somewhat short of unconditional surrender might have been reached or,
The purpose of war is to frighten a nation (usually by a lot of murder) into changing its politics permanently. Your "acceptable settlement" would not have achieved that. In fact, it would have left the Japanese govt mostly intact, enough that they could launch another war after a few decades.
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failing that, Japan could have been worn down to the point that an invasion would not have been so costly.
Meaning, our soldiers would have had to keep fighting them until they were somehow "worn down". How many of our troops would have been injured or killed during this benevolent "wearing down"?
Explain to me why we owed them any more American lives than we had already sacrificed for them?
Those atomic bombs provided the best possible outcome of any that could be considered:
(1) No more Americans died on the missions to Hiroshima and Nagasaki
(2) They frightened the Japanese govt into changing its politics (i.e. surrendering and dismantling their war-at-all-costs government) REAL fast, and permanently.
This logic ought to give people pause, but it rarely does. Invasion of Japan would have been a means to a desired end but there was no absolute necessity that it be done. If an invasion had been ordered at the cost of a million American lives, that would have been a very bad decision to say the least. There were possible courses of action other than the two presented: disastrous invasion or nuking cities. An acceptable settlement somewhat short of unconditional surrender might have been reached or, failing that, Japan could have been worn down to the point that an invasion would not have been so costly.
Nope. It was absolutely necessary unless of course you wanted more American troops to die. Avoiding even one more death of a US soldier would have made the dropping of the bombs worthwhile. If you disagree, go spend some time a Pearl Harbor and ask the 1,102 sailors entombed in the Arizona what they think.
Those atomic bombs provided the best possible outcome of any that could be considered:
(1) No more Americans died on the missions to Hiroshima and Nagasaki
(2) They frightened the Japanese govt into changing its politics (i.e. surrendering and dismantling their war-at-all-costs government) REAL fast, and permanently.
Nothing else matters.
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Originally Posted by Hoot N Annie
Nope. It was absolutely necessary unless of course you wanted more American troops to die. Avoiding even one more death of a US soldier would have made the dropping of the bombs worthwhile. If you disagree, go spend some time a Pearl Harbor and ask the 1,102 sailors entombed in the Arizona what they think.
So America nuked Japanese cities not because it was the only alternative, but because it was the quickest and least costly (in American lives) way to achieve the desired outcome of total Japanese surrender. These are far more honest positions to take.
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