Hiroshima And Nagasaki Dbq

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The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki towards the end of WWII was a tragic but necessary attack on Japan. This was a realistic step to ensure the total surrender of the Japanese and consequential end World War II. People argue that it was inhumane and unnecessary as the Japanese were already weak. The arguments I will present show the necessity of the atomic bombings.

As many already know the POWs kept in Japanese camps were treated horribly and with little regard for their life’s value. An estimated 25% of Japan’s POWs died in captivity either from execution or from malnutrition, dehydration, etc. As soon as the invading US would have touched the ground all of the hundreds of thousands of prisoners were to be executed1, the fact that our …show more content…

Death before dishonor had always been their ideal. The government had been especially pressing this in the years leading up to WWII. They also believed that with their emperor being the descendant of the sun goddess that they would always win and that their empire was invincible. They had no intention of ever surrendering and many thousands of Japanese soldiers and citizens committed suicide so they could not be captured or forced to surrender. We did not know at the time the state of their supply shortage. Without a supreme and unbeatable show of strength and seriousness we never could have imagined a surrender such as what happened. Bombing the wilderness or dropping only one bomb just would not have had the same effect.

The Manhattan Project cost over 2 billion dollars. After creating something that required that much capital it is not realistic to waste it on an empty field or small village. Partial detonation in the middle of nowhere would be trivial, but even partial detonation would destroy a lot in a big city like Hiroshima with fallout. To not drop it at all would be even more foolish. Imagine you bought $1000 worth of supplies to make a poster for a class final and you set it aside and don’t turn it in at all. That is completely

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