Atomic Bomb Dbq

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.
To start, the United States greatly advanced their military and changed other nations’ perceptions of them. The bombs improved America by creating fear in the Japanese, as this indeed worked very well. Japan was not planning on surrendering, no matter how many soldiers they lost, which was due to the Japanese’s god-like view of their prime minister, which showed a lack of fear. However, after the atomic bombs, it took under a month for Japan to surrender, most likely due to the fear of another atomic attack. Another example of the U.S.’s progress is becoming one of the world’s superpowers. After America dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, the world started looking at them as a more powerful country. The statement, “… its

devastating power would not only end the war, but also put the U.S. in a dominant position to determine the course if the postwar world.” (“Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki”) shows that the U.S. military became more powerful after the attack on Japan.
Secondly, America had no choice but to drop the bombs on Japan in order to cause the least amount of damage possible. As explained earlier, Japan was in a no surrender state, which means they would’ve kept killing Americans, while also losing their own men too. The story, “A Farewell to Arms,” explains the severity of the war and defeat by stating, “Defeat is worse,” (Hemingway); and this shows that losing wasn’t an option in this war. Because of this, they chose to drop the bombs instead of continuing the war, which could’ve killed many more people, depending on how long it would’ve went on for. A second reason the bombs would be less chaotic is because if the soldiers kept fighting head to head, it most likely would’ve lasted much longer, and with every battle, more and more cities and towns are demolished; as opposed to the bombs, which only destroyed two cities, and ceased the war.
Although it would’ve caused much more damage to continue the war, the devastation of the two cities in Japan was very severe.

The bombs may have horrified and ended many civilian and children lives, as described in the story “Hiroshima”. The story claims, “It would be impossible to say what horrors were embedded in the minds of the children who lived through the day of the bombing in Hiroshima,” (John Hersey). Even though the events may have hurt many innocent lives, if the war were to have continued on, many innocent American lives also would’ve been negatively impacted or ended. To add, many of our soldiers, as well, would be killed or hurt, which would make our military much weaker, allowing for other countries to invade the U.S. and take

over.
To conclude, America chose the best option to drop the atomic bombs on Japan. The U.S. was forced to drop the bombs in order to end the war as peacefully as possible, without killing off most of the American military, fighting them head to head. The United States also had a plus side along with ending the war, which was becoming more powerful and leading on to become a global superpower, which has the benefit of other nations fearing us and wanting to be our allies. Lastly, the U.S. may have killed many innocent lives, but the Japanese also harmed many innocent lives as well as killed many Americans throughout the war, so the bomb attacks were the obvious choice due to the more positive effects from dropping them instead of keeping the war going.