Atomic Bomb Dbq

The use of the bomb prevented what it would have been chaos. Even though the war in Europe had ended, the war over the Pacific was still going which it all started when Japan decided to attack the U.S. at Pearl Harbor in December 7, 1941. With it they had the U.S. declared war on them, at first the Japanese show strong but after a long of time, the U.S. was able to get a strong army and navy and so they were able to fight back, finally the U.S. had the Japanese only with their mainland. But the Japanese were not thinking of surrendering, they were still going to fight back with everything this made the U.S. get to the conclusion of dropping the nuclear bombs along with the facts that it would conclude in less casualties, the fear of the Soviet

Union (S.U.) in the post war, and the fact they had spend a lot of money in it.

So one of the reasons that the U.S. drop the bomb was because the Japanese didn’t want to surrender that easily and wanted to still give a fight. And we can see that in the video of Prager University, where they state that even after all the bombing, with B-29, and the blockade of the U.S. to Japan, the government of Japan had still mobilized most of the population into a national militia (Was it Wrong to Drop the Atom Bomb on Japan?). This fully supports the fact that America had no other choice but to use the atomic bombs, because even they had already shown to Japan much of their power, by not surrendering, Japan, didn’t seem to respect the U.S. power. So the use of the bombs would make clear to Japan that they were not going to win. Finally leaving them no other option but to surrender. Furthermore, we can look in David Kaiser article and cite where he says “The Japanese were not at all ready to surrender on American terms before the two bombs were dropped.” (Why the United States Dropped Atomic Bombs in 1945). This shows that the Japanese were preparing themselves for a battle that the Americans didn’t want to fight, again leaving them only with the option of the nuclear bombs. It also make us comprehend that the decision of the Japanese of not taking surrender as an option made it clear for America that they had to be harm on Japan if they wanted them to surrender, even if Japan had not to much left to be able to fight. Finally, today we can understand that the Japanese also brought this on themselves because they want to surrender, instead they wanted to give one last big fight.

Since Japan wanted to give his all before surrendering then the fight would had cost a lot of population for both nations.

Truman didn’t want that and the nuclear bomb provided less casualties for both sides. And we can even prove it with the statement that Maurice Isserman made where he says the following “This time bombing did all that the Air Force generals said it would. Japan surrendered without a single American infantryman having to die.” (World War ll: America at war, pag. 165). This statement shows that the U.S. used the atomic bombs because they didn’t want to lose any more men, and obviously, not only Truman was in favor of that decision. It also supports it because by not losing any men, it basically meant that it was the easiest way possible, for the U.S., to make Japan surrender. We can also see that Isserman it’s not the only one with that idea, just as it’s mentioned in the New grolier encyclopedia “The atomic bomb offered an alternative to putting American lives to risk.” (New grolier encyclopedia of World War ll: Victory in Japan, pag. 123). Here we can see that the atomic bomb was used by the U.S. because it offered another option that it made life easier for everyone, mostly everyone, then why not take the chance and saved the lives of a lot of people. And it didn’t only meant that but it also meant that in the long term everyone would be grateful with that decision, and they would not be criticizing the government for the use of the bombs being a bad

decision, and neither blaming them for a bigger loss of American soldiers. Leaving us to understand that the use of the bombs had to be done for the better of everyone, even the Japanese.

But that wasn’t all of the reasons because the threat of the S.U in the post war was fear of the U.S. and if they led the S.U. invade Japan they would get advantages, but the bomb prevented that by making the war way shorter. And to prove it, we have an article from Tom Nichols where he says that the U.S. was definitely trying to end the war sooner since they didn’t want the Soviets to invade Japan.(No Other Choice: Why Truman Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Japan). With this we can noticed that the U.S. needed to use the atomic bomb for them to be able to make Japan surrender sooner, because if the Soviets had invaded and killed a lot of people, Stalin would have easily excuse himself by telling that was because of the Americans asked him to join that he did all that. And so the S.U. would have gotten an advantage in the international public, thing that would have affected a lot to the U.S. To further understand this topic we have the thesis of Joseph H. Paulin were he says that by using the atomic bomb the U.S. would gain advantages internationally, also it would no longer need the Soviets to invade Manchuria (America’s decision to drop the atomic bomb). This basically goes to show that by using the bombs the U.S. would gain a lot of benefits, since it would let the S.U. not invade Manchuria, and if they had they would had keep it, meaning that it would not let the S.U. increase. Not only that but it will also be able to put the U.S. over the S.U. internationally since they would have been the ones who had use the most powerful weapon ever seen, since they wouldn’t let the S.U. use it themselves or show their powerful army. So, we can see that by using “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” (name of the bombs) the U.S. gain a lot and it didn’t let the S.U. gain much more. Leaving the U.S. in a very good spot after the war.

Finally, another reason for the U.S.

to use the nuclear bomb was the factor that they had spend a lot of money on that project, and by not using it it would had seen as if it was a waste of money. And we can notice this in a text of “The Americans” where it says the following: “Some people feared that if the bomb were not dropped, the project might been seen as a gigantic waste of money.”(The Americans). This allow us to understand that the U.S. had to use the bomb to make all the money they spend on it, worth. And also to not let that project affected them badly in the economy. We can even get deeper in the topic by seeing that Joseph H. Paulin says that if the bomb had not been used the military and the administration would have to explain why did the government spent two billion dollars of taxes on research (America’s decision to drop the atomic bomb). This demonstrates that the government didn’t want to felt pression of the American people, which finally make them do that decision. Not only that but Americans would also see the project as a good way of spending the money they paid for taxes, leaving the government of the U.S. as good with its citizens. So, today we can understand that the use of the bomb was also affected by social factors, such as the public eye after the war, and that they would had been criticized for not doing use of the bomb, telling then that it would had all been a waste of

money.

In conclusion, we can see that the U.S.had to ,make use of the bomb because of four things: the Japanese didn’t want to surrender, it allowed, for both sides, less casualties, the U.S. didn’t want the S.U. to gain advantages for the post war and lastly, because the government a lot of money in the project. And it would just made the life of Americans so much difficult had they not use the bombs, because we can see that it allowed them to make Japan surrender so much easier, it also ended the war without needing to make any American soldier die, it let the U.S. gain advantages in the post war and it also prevented the Soviets from gaining more territory and power, and not only that but it also made it so everyone could see that it was such a good way of spending the money of the country, since it won them the war, putting them in a very good spot internationally. Thankfully this good decision for and from the U.S. not only it affected on those days, but it also has an impact on us today, letting everybody know the strength of that kind of weapon, leading to today, where it has not been used since that day.