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The causes and course of world war 2
The causes and course of world war 2
The causes and course of world war 2
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Bombing Japan was one of the most difficult decision President Harry S. Truman had to make. While war was being waged in Europe, Japan was carving out an empire in the Pacific. They took many colonies owned by other nations and it was because of that that the Americans felt threatened by the Japanese in the Pacific. To subside the Japanese empire building, the Americans strengthened Chinese resistance by sending troops and they stopped giving the Japanese oil shipments. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, a U.S. port in Hawaii, in response to the Americans’ actions. This brought the U.S. into a war with Japan. After years of fighting in the Pacific, the Japanese didn’t have the military power to fight. The U.S. tried to get Japan to surrender …show more content…
unconditionally, but the stubborn Japanese wouldn’t give in. The U.S. now needs them to surrender unconditionally quickly so that the war will be over and save the lives of many American soldiers. The U.S. could let the Japanese keep their emperor and work out treaty, demonstrate to the Japanese the power of the atomic bomb and scare them into submission, or they could drop a few atomic bombs on Japan without warning. They want to get Japanese to surrender while preserving American values like fighting to end aggression and preserving freedom, but the Japanese are stubborn and won’t surrender without a lot of pressure. The best approach is obviously letting the Japanese keeping their emperor and working out a treaty because U.S. troops can occupy Japan, reform Japanese society through the emperor, and end the war quickly. The U.S has other options aside from bombing Japan. Bombing Japan and scaring them with the awesome power of an atomic bomb would be enough pressure to force the stubborn Japanese into an unconditional surrender. It is also the surest and fastest way of ending the war and ending it on U.S. terms. Other options risk the lives of many American soldiers because the Japanese soldiers and citizens are trained to fight to the bitter end. Similarly, demonstrating the power of the atomic bomb may do the same thing without killing hundreds of thousands of Japanese citizens. The U.S. could activate an atomic bomb on an abandoned Pacific island to show the Japanese what they are up against. This demonstration will also keep the only nation that is capable of threatening U.S. power, the Soviet Union. This course of action also preserves the American value of freedom and is consistent with what the Americans have been fighting for during the war: an end to human suffering and a peaceful post-war world. Alternatively, the U.S. could wait until Japan surrenders, let them keep their emperor as a figurehead, and occupy Japan. This option preserves American values and allows the U.S. to reform Japanese society and implement the terms of the Potsdam Declaration through the emperor. The Japanese can’t make a military comeback because they are deprived of resources due to the U.S. blockade. Though ending the war in a peaceful manner isn’t without its flaws, the faults of the other options far outweigh those of the pacifist option.
The atomic bomb uses a lot of resources and is very expensive to make. It is because of this that demonstrating the power of the bomb may be a waste, especially if the Japanese still won’t surrender unconditionally after seeing it. The atomic bomb has also not been perfected yet and if something were to go wrong when demonstrating the power of the bomb, it could be taken as a sign for how weak American equipment is, encouraging the Japanese to hold out. And even if the bomb demonstration does go well, it could encourage other nations, like the Soviet Union, to build bombs of that caliber. Similarly, if the Americans were to bomb Japan itself, other nations would feel compelled to build atomic bombs of their own for their protection. Furthermore, using an atomic bomb on Japan would deepen anti-American feelings in the Japanese, which would make them reluctant towards American reforms in Japanese society. Dropping a bomb on Japan also undermines what fighting this war has been about to Americans: preserving American values and principles like freedom and …show more content…
justice. Creating a peaceful post-war world and ending the war in a peaceful manner is undoubtedly the best course of action for the U.S..
The preservation of American values, providing a quick and easy end to the war, paving the way for reform in Japanese society, and saving the lives of American soldiers make it the best option for the U.S.. Though waiting for the Japanese to surrender may seem like it would prolong the war and give the Japanese a chance to make a military comeback, with no allies, an insufficient navy and army, no resources, or food supplies for the population, Japan could be weeks, or even days from submission. They cannot hold out much longer. Allowing them to keep their emperor would also encourage them to surrender because one of the main things keeping the Japanese from surrendering is the confusion over whether they get to keep their emperor. Taking away all real political power away from the emperor and having him act as a figurehead while U.S. troops occupy Japan would allow an easy way to reform Japanese society and implement terms of the Potsdam Declaration upon the Japanese. This peaceful approach will save the lives of young American soldiers as well as innocent Japanese citizens who followed their military government blindly because they had no choice. It is the undeniable best course of
action. To save the lives of American soldiers as well as hundreds of thousands of Japanese citizens, pave the way for a peaceful post-war world, provide an easy way of reforming Japanese society, and end the war within weeks, the U.S. needs to wait until the Japanese surrender unconditionally and occupy Japan. There is no better option.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was one of the most atrocious attacks to have ever happened on American soil, starting with disagreement on the Potsdam declaration. Japan’s greed for more land and industrial materials led the Japanese to make a plan to keep the United States out of the war, which consisted the use of kamikaze pilots and bombs to destroy our aircraft carriers and boats in an attempt to control the Pacific. While leaving the drowning, and dead bodies of thousands of American seamen and battleships at the bottom of the sea, seemed to be a good idea to the Japanese; America joined World War II and introduced the first nuclear weapons as reprisal for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Had the Japanese agreed to an unconditional surrender and end to militarism during the agreement on the Potsdam declaration, the introduction to nuclear weapons and the death count wouldn’t have been so high and devastating on both the American and Japanese sides.
According to document A, President Truman believed that it was his duty to protect and save American lives And that's exactly what he did. If we did not go through with the atomic bomb, then we would have had to get Japan to surrender another way, yeah we could have put up an economic blockade and continuously bombed them like Admiral William Leahy wanted to do in in document A. Or we could have invaded and lost many more lives in the process, the war would have dragged on costing more American lives and more money for the United States.
The United States of America’s use of the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has spurred much debate concerning the necessity, effectiveness, and morality of the decision since August 1945. After assessing a range of arguments about the importance of the atomic bomb in the termination of the Second World War, it can be concluded that the use of the atomic bomb served as the predominant factor in the end of the Second World War, as its use lowered the morale, industrial resources, and military strength of Japan. The Allied decision to use the atomic bomb not only caused irreparable physical damage on two major Japanese cities, but its use also minimized the Japanese will to continue fighting. These two factors along
There were many events that led up to Japan making the decision to bomb Pearl Harbor. It all started with Japan wanting to expand their power. Japan was an island nation, it was isolated from many other nations, and Japan chose to be that way. But by the beginning of the 1900’s Japan was starting to fall apart as it was starting to become short of raw materials. Japan figured if it wanted to survive it would have to expand to get more materials. (O'NEAL 410-413). Japan started trying to take over Asia; they landed in the east coast of China in Manchuria and stationed troops there in order to try to take over northeastern China. ("Japan Launches A Surprise Attack on Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941"). In reaction to Japan’s landing and hostility towards China the United States, who wanted to keep the open-door policy with China, placed economic sanctions of Japan to slow down Japan’s advances in China. (Higgs). President Roosevelt hoped that these sanctions that the United States put on Japan would lead them to making the mistake of declaring war on the United States (which would also bring Italy and Germany into the attack too since they were all allied) the reason why Rooseve...
But the Japanese military was cruel and had a mindset almost suicidal and the only viable way to win the war and prevent the least amount of American lives lost was to speed up the process with the use of atomic weaponry. Dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not an easy decision by the U.S. military and government and as the president stated it was not something that was taken lightly or was likely to be used again unless necessary. The Atomic bomb had quite an impact on American military strategy and it is important with the amount of impact two bombs can have on not only the United States but the world that we understand the reasons this kind of weaponry is used in the first place as a well calculated last
Atomic Bomb in World War 2 During World War II the United States government launched a $2 billion project. This project, known as the Manhattan Project, was an effort to produce an atomic bomb. This project was taken on by a group atomic scientists from all over the world.
The alternatives to dropping the bomb were also discussed at the Interim Committee. The American government was trying to get an invitation response from the Japanese government. If the United States did not drop the bomb and ‘Operation Downfall’ had been carried out by the military forces, the Soviet Union would be on the verge of entering the war and Hirohito, the Japanese emperor, would still remain in power (Donohue 2).... ... middle of paper ... ...
Atomic Bomb The use of the atomic bombs on Japan was necessary for the revenge of the Americans. These bombs took years to make due to a problematic equation. The impact of the bombs killed hundreds of thousands of people and the radiation is still killing people today. People today still wonder why the bombs were dropped. If these bombs weren’t dropped on the Japanese the history of the world would have been changed forever. The Atomic bomb took 6 years to develop (1939-1945) for scientists to work on a equation to make the U-235 into a bomb. The most complicated process in this was trying to produce enough uranium to sustain a chain reaction. The bombs used on the cities cost about $2 billion to develop, this also making the U.S. wanting to use them against Japan. “Hiroshima was a major military target and we have spent 2 billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history- and won.” (3) The bomb dropped on Hiroshima weighted 4.5 tons and the bomb used on Nagasaki weighted 10 kilotons. On July 16, 1945, the first ever atomic bomb was tested in the Jamez Mountains in Northern New Mexico, code named “Gadget.” The single weapon ultimately dropped on Hiroshima, nicknamed “Little Boy,” produced the amount of approximately twenty- thousand tons of TNT, which is roughly seven times greater than all of the bombs dropped by all the allies on all of Germany in 1942. The first Japanese City bomb was Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. An American B-29 bomber, named Enola Gay, flown by the pilot Paul W. Tibbets, dropped the “Little Boy” uranium atomic bomb. Three days later a second bomb named ”Fat Boy,” made of plutonium was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. After being released, it took approximately one minute for Little Boy to reach the point of explosion, which was about 2,000 feet. The impact of the bombs on the cities and people was massive. Black rain containing large amounts of nuclear fallout fell as much as 30km from the original blast site. A mushroom cloud rose to twenty thousand feet in the air, and sixty percent of the city was destroyed. The shock wave and its reverse effect reached speeds close to those of the speed of sound. The wind generated by the bombs destroyed most of the houses and buildings within a 1.
Admittedly, dropping the atomic bomb was a major factor in Japan's decision to accept the terms laid out at the Potsdam agreement otherwise known as unconditional surrender. The fact must be pointed out, however, that Japan had already been virtually defeated. (McInnis, 1945) Though the public did not know this, the allies, in fact, did. Through spies, they had learned that both Japan's foreign minister, Shigenori Togo and Emperor Hirohito both supported an end to the war (Grant, 1998). Even if they believed such reports to be false or inaccurate, the leaders of the United States also knew Japan's situation to be hopeless. Their casualties in defending the doomed island of Okinawa were a staggering 110,000 and the naval blockade which the allies had enforced whittled trade down to almost nothing. Japan was quickly on the path to destruction. (Grant, 1998). Of course, the Allies ignored this for the reason that dropping the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would intimidate Russia. Had they truly been considering saving more lives and bringing a quick end to the war in Japan, they would have simply waited them out without the major loss of life seen at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the direct cause for the end of World War II in the Pacific. The United States felt it was necessary to drop the atomic bombs on these two cities or it would suffer more casualties. Not only could the lives of many soldiers have been taken, but possibly the lives of many innocent Americans. The United States will always try to avoid the loss of American civilians at all costs, even if that means taking lives of another countries innocent civilians.
In my personal opinion, after gather as much information as possible, I think that the use of the atomic bomb is impracticable and a waste of time, money, and lives. If I were President of the United States I could have made the decision to not use the Atomic bomb on Japan. Using this weapon would only open the door to more destruction. After dropping this bomb, I don’t think it would have ended the war. It probably would have ended World War II, but I think that it would have created more wars to come. People, most likely Japan, would have wanted revenge and find a way to counterattack. They would try to create a more dangerous destruction weapon that would allow them to retaliate and destroy. I, as President, would have wanted to prevent that. And in the best interest of my country I would have made the decision to keep this nuclear weapon out of war.
From the perspective of Army Generals and a Chief of Naval operations, it was not necessary to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. General Arnold, chief of Army Airforce remarked that conversional bombing would end the war with japan without an invasion. General Eisenhower stated that it was completely unnecessary to drop the atomic bomb. Admiral Ernest J King, chief of US naval operations advised that a naval blockade was sufficient to end the war with Japan. One of the strongest advocate of the use on the bomb, General George Marshall suggested that Japan be warmed and given a chance to surrender. Even diplomats advised that Russia’s signing of his proclamation calling on Japan to surrender would have been enough to end the war.
I personally believe that Truman did the right thing. It was obvious in all the battles in the pacific that Japan was extremely brutal when it came to attacking and would do anything but admit defeat so, the US knew it wouldn't been very dangerous. I think that the only way to make them surrender was to scare them to do it and that's exactly what the US did. The back and forth fighting wasn't completely useless and would make the invasion last 10x longer then it had to. Japan was mostly just focused on trying to harm us. Meaning they were distracted and their soldiers died in the kamikaze attacks. I really don't think that invading their homeland would lead to the war ending. The US was smart to bring out the bomb because it put the Japanese in their place and made us one step closer to ending the war other then using the basic combat fighting and having many American deaths and a long gruesome
Even though president Truman ordered to drop a horrific bomb on Hiroshima, he did have some reasoning behind it. His understanding was that if we invaded Japan than it would've killed more innocent people. This bomb was supposed to stop the war by showing Japan the power America has, but it went out of hand. There is a large possibility that president Truman had no knowledge of the bomb having radiation until after the destination was hit. Supposing that Truman had information about the bomb before, he may not have launched the bomb. Not only that, but Japan had already promised the United States that they would go to war with the Soviet Union, which led to
The United States has been positively redefined after dropping the atomic bombs on Japan. On August 6th, 1945, America became the first country to drop an atomic bomb during war. Following just 3 days later, the U.S. dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki, changing, not only the U.S., but the entire world as well. These colossal attacks advanced the United States in a favorable manner because it led America to become a superpower of the world, and it caused the least chaotic ending of World War II possible.