Fire Bombing Argumentative Essay

The statement “Killing 150,000 people in less than a second actually allowed fewer lives to be lost.” might sound horrendous. However, that statement is the reason why the United States was able to win the Second World War. In contrast to this statement, some people might argue that it is inhumane to massacre that many people in less than a second. The dropping of the atomic bombs on August sixth and ninth of 1945 was the correct decision for American in order to effectively and efficiently end World War Two. America should have dropped the bomb because it saved American lives, there was a lack of incentives not to use the bomb, and dropping the bombs was the quickest way to end the war. First of all, the Atomic Bomb saved American lives.

Dropping the atomic bombs was not a new calamity at the climax of World War Two. The United States had already “fire bombed” the cities of Tokyo and Dresden. During the Tokyo firebombing, an estimated 200,000 civilians were killed instantaneously. The Dresden fire bombing also produced a total of 25,000 civilian deaths. Fire bombing was also a more vicious tactic by the United States than the atomic bombs were. Fire bombing consisted of a two wave attack where the first wave would come through and detonate bombs about 100 feet above the ground in order to blow out the building’s windows. This technique was used to expose the internal contents of buildings so that they could burn faster. Immediately after the first wave, the second wave would come through and drop bombs that were created with the sole purpose of starting fires. The whole city would erupt in a big fire that would absorb the air from the atmosphere. The civilians in those cities would die either by being charred to death, or by suffocating to death due to the lack of oxygen. Therefore, the atomic bombs were not a new thing, but rather they were another domino that fell on the gameboard of bombing raids. Another incentive to use the bomb involved the time and money spent by the Manhattan Project on the creation of the bomb. The Manhattan Project spent five years and two billion dollars on the atomic bombs. That money could not go to waste

If the United States had decided not to drop the bombs and continue with a land invasion, then there would be a continuous cycle of D-day invasions and a stalemate would have to be called after several gruesome battles. With the dropping of the atomic bombs, the Japanese unconditionally surrendered and stated that they lost the war. As stated earlier, the Japanese fight to the death and would most likely win in the attempt of a land invasion. Some counter arguments might say that there alternatives such as a demonstration on an island or the United States needed to wait on the aid of the Russians. However, the Japanese culture would have mocked the U.S. if they saw them drop the bomb on a deserted island. In addition, the Russians had just left East Germany and had at least a four month minimum time period to mobilize their military all the way to Japan, and still have time to effectively invade. Plus, the invasion would not have worked because of the barbaric fighting tactics from Japan. On top of all this, the American economy was still in an severe depression. The United States had to quickly end the war so that the government could focus on efficiently restoring the economy and getting out of the depression. Dropping the bomb resulted in fewer American lives lost and shortened the