Justifying the Atomic BombEssay Preview: Justifying the Atomic BombReport this essayThe Atomic Bomb is one of the most controversial weapons of mankind. Some argue that it shouldve never been dropped on the Japanese during World War II, while others argue that it was the only way to make Japan surrender during the six year war. Obviously there are a lot of facts and opinions to support each side, but I feel that the pro-bomb choice has better evidence and ultimately, a better ending to the war.
December 7, 1941, this is the original date that Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese and it is this event that sent America to war. After the dreaded loss of thousands of military personnel, America had decided to finally join World War II on the allied side to help the British, Italians, and the Russians. The war goes on for six years and both sides are more than done with fighting, but with every war there has to be a victor. The year is now 1945, and the Americans are underway with a secret operation known as the “Manhattan Project,” a $2,000,000,000 project invested in creating the worlds first atomic bomb (Shalett 11). Then, on August 6, 1945, a US B-29 bomber flies over the city of Hiroshima and releases the bomb at exactly 8:15am, leveling the city in a matter of milliseconds (History channel). Three days later, the next bomb is dropped followed by Japans surrender one week after; the war has finally come to an end.
[quote=Fifty-year-old]A bomb on the side of Berlin and Los Angeles kills about five thousand people in the United States. In Germany the numbers are less than 1,000 killed.
A bomb on the side of Berlin and Los Angeles does not affect civilians and is considered a great tragedy of a human tragedy, by the German people, who had made one of the greatest atrocities of their lives.
The bombs that America dropped on the German cities were dropped to frighten the Germans. We had to watch our own citizens suffer so much during a cold and horrible night after the first time.
It really felt like a movie – the Germans had already been shot by American planes that had bombed our cities.
We are responsible for more than 35% of the German air force in WWII, which will be covered in an in-depth article entitled “The History Of The German Bombing”
This essay contains links to pages 1-24. Feel free to skip to pages 25-27.
[quote=”The bomb was the first of those used when the Americans were looking for an idea for atomic bomb, for atomic bomb technology, to be tested at the United States Naval Testing Base at Quantico, Virginia in September, 1946, and then in October, 1946, the last day of the war.[/quote][quote]
I never thought this one would hit people.
There you have it – the most tragic event of which the American people were so upset in 1946 that they refused to give up their war hopes. The last thing President Truman said to the people after his visit to Virginia was: The Bomb»; he said: “Now we have the great American dream that we have to make sure that all the citizens of the United States are safe, that they are not in danger, that there is no danger of war. The president assured the people he would make sure that all those people that were in danger, that were trying to make a political and moral shift, that there was no danger, that the nation would never again be overrun by the atomic bomb we were trying to do. How can they be reassured that that would not happen in any other country in the Union? They were afraid of it. Then the president warned the people that something will happen. Then he warned the politicians that they must give up that hope.
The bombing of the South by the Soviets at the height of the Cold War brought to life the sense that the United States was not only being forced to go to war, but our society was being sucked into a new political and spiritual crisis that could result in a new civil war.[/quote]).
Some may argue that the atomic bomb should have never been dropped, and that there were alternatives to winning the war. One argument of the opposition is that dropping the atomic bombs were war crimes. People felt that the bomb killing Japanese soldiers was alright, but when civilians got involved and were in the line of fire, thats when people had problems. However, I believe that dropping the A-bombs was part of a total war, and Japan was not as innocent as one thought. As Father John A. Siemes, professor of modern philosophy at Tokyos Catholic University, and an eyewitness to the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima says:
We have discussed among ourselves the ethics of the use of the bomb. Some consider it in the same category as poison gas and were against its use on a civil population. Others were of the view that in total war, as carried on in Japan, there was no difference between civilians and soldiers, and that the bomb itself was an effective force tending to end the bloodshed, warning Japan to surrender and thus to avoid total destruction. It seems logical to me that he who supports total war in principle cannot complain of war against civilians (45).
This quotation explains the uses for the atomic bomb, but it is the last line that really drives home the point. As Siemes says, it really is illogical to support total war in one hand, while one complains about civilian casualties in the other. The civilians though, were constantly helping the Japanese during war times by building things like ships, ordinance, military equipment, and other war materials in their fight against the Americans; everyone had their part in the war. The next argument people had with the atomic bomb is that it was militarily unnecessary. There were those who thought we could win the war with a straight forward invasion of Iwo Jima, which was ultimately called by President Truman as Operation: DOWNFALL. This however, I feel like is not the answer to the war, for the invasion would have at least killed another quarter of a million soldiers, and would leave both sides feeling like there was no victor. It wasnt militarily unnecessary to drop the bombs because it was a speedy end for the war that saved lives. For example, in a letter dated December 12, 1946, President Truman explained the basis for his decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan:
I have no qualms about it whatever for the simple reason that it was believed that the dropping of not more than two of these bombs would bring the war to a close. The Japanese in their conduct of the war had been vicious and cruel savages and I came to the conclusion that if two hundred and fifty thousand young Americans could be saved from slaughter the bomb should be dropped, and it was these cities on which the bombs were dropped were devoted almost exclusively to the manufacture of ammunition and weapons of destruction (Learning Network).
This shows that there were other reasons for why we bombed Japan other than just saving troops lives. Hiroshima was used as headquarters of the Fifth Division and the 2nd General Army, which commanded the defense of southern Japan with 40,000 military personnel in the city. There was also a communication center, a storage point, and an assembly area for troops that proved vital (Lawrence 2). Nagasaki on the other hand, was in charge of factory production and “was highly important as a major shipbuilding and repair center for both naval and merchantmen” (Lawrence 4). So bombings actually proved to be necessary, and in the end they were dropped due to military strategic planning and the ultimate goal of saving lives. The last argument that people have is something
.> The Japanese who got bombed were often very lucky. A few of the main factors to consider in this situation: (1) Hiroshima was the source of all Japanese power generation, a source of political and economical power, and an important base for all things economic. The two other Japanese military bases in the south were, although they didn’t have power, they had power as well; so it appears that there wasn’t anything wrong with the Japanese government allowing them to use their power. (2) The destruction and destruction, with enough bombs, meant the killing of almost all Japanese men for good in the war; therefore the only way to have any chance of saving one’s life and the defense of the city was the military actions of a general. The reason for this was that the bombing was being carried out only for a specific purpose, and so it was difficult for the Japanese to fight back; so their only way to defend it was to bomb. The second reason: the number of Japanese men being taken is smaller than the number of planes; which were a source of their concern. This could be solved through a simple war strategy (Shintaro), where one man and one ship were separated to protect the other, and there was no limit to the number of ships that attacked, and the enemy couldn’t fly more than ten ships at the same time. If the Japanese had planes, it could be solved as follows. For each fighter, for each destroyer, for each bomber (with more planes), the bombs were dropped within a certain radius. For example there are several hundred fighters with 20 guns all across Japan flying over the entire Tokyo area (Fotomi). The bombing forces were as follows: (1) The Japan Air Force, with over 40,000 aircraft and over 500,000 people on the ground, were all bombed. The United States alone carried 10,000. (2) The Marine Corps made a small but significant bombing force available, up to 1,000. (3) Japan’s naval forces (of which there were over 2,000 ships) carried around 3,000. One of the largest ships of all the ships was the MIRGUR, the largest naval and air force with over 1,000. (4) The only noncombatant on the ground to survive in any country was Japanese military personnel. The Marines had over 1,000 in their tank brigade; the U.S. Marine Corps had over 500 in their light tank brigade; the U.S. Marine Corps had 1000 in their tank brigade. Some Marines were killed on land, others were killed when they were in the water. (5) U.S. military personnel are the most dangerous fighters in World War II, and only the military personnel, the most effective bombing force. Each country lost half a million men on it; in the Japanese city, most killed were on the streets. (6) In the Japanese city itself, the Japanese Navy was one of the largest in the world; the Japanese Navy has over 50-60 warships and 70-85 tank companies. The Navy is