In the year 1945, WWII was about to end thanks to an event known as the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This event was devastating and malicious, it killed many innocent people. Life in Hiroshima back then was peaceful and it balanced itself in harmony. People went outside to see a busy street, with joyful kids running around on the stone-floor streets. In the heat of the crowd there were Japanese soldiers that were hurt from the war. Since Hiroshima was a busy city, it had a transit location that was known as a “transportation hub.” Little did they know that their happy life was about to be taken away. The bomb used was known as the “Little Boy” and it was built out of Steel and Tungsten Carbide (Little Boy and Fat Man 1). Japan wanted to retaliate after both of the bombings, but the bombing eradicated almost all of Japan’s medical supplies, so the Japanese soldiers couldn’t go on. To this day, many people are debating on whether or not this event was a legal act, and should the U.S. be prosecuted for it. I myself believe that the bombing was in fact, legal, simply due to the fact that Hiroshima had a military base, so therefore …show more content…
the attack was theoretically, an attack on a military base. Since the bomb was a nuke, it not only killed many people, but the people that survived actually contracted many diseases such as cancer, severe burns, and radiation sickness. The bomb didn’t just kill and reduce the population, the bomb radiated the city, and so all the medical supplies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed. Thanks to that, the Japanese soldiers were weak and helpless due to the lack of medical supplies. That is why the Japanese soldiers surrendered to the U.S. to end WWII (Hiroshima Before the Bombing 4). Since Japan had to rebuild their two sister cities, they lost a big heap of their money. This caused them to almost fall into an economical depression, but they recovered in time. It’s pretty obvious, but Japan’s population reduced to a very small number, before the bombing, Hiroshima had a healthy population of 200,000. After the bombing however, their population reduced to a weak 50,000 (This is an estimate.) All of this was caused due to the loss of Hiroshima’s children. Everyone knows that children are the future of the generation, and since Hiroshima lost the majority of its youth, the population decreased by a large amount. Before the bombing, Truman was presented with two choices. Either he could’ve invaded Hiroshima and Nagasaki with dozens of platoons, (soldier units) or he could’ve executed a bombing on the two sister cities. Both options have their own ups and downs, but one of them had to be chosen. We all know which one he chose, but does everyone know why he chose it? Truman chose the nuke over the invasion because he knew what his soldiers had been through. He didn’t want any more of his soldiers to be found dead on the battlefield, instead he let those soldiers go back home to be with their families. Truman chose to sacrifice the Japanese people because he didn’t want any more genocide in his own population. Even the people of his country chose the bomb because they didn’t want their daughters and sons dead. They wanted to see them again. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was legal because in Jacob G.
Hornberger’s article, he states, “The law does say that the crime is excused if it succeeds in shortening the war or if it is intended to shorten the war”(1). The bombing did indeed shorten the war because, if we didn’t bomb them, the war would’ve gone on for at least another year, which would mean more slaughter and death for both sides of the war. Even though the bombing was the most convenient choice, there was an even better choice, but it took a bit more risk. Truman could’ve used a spy to be able to run into Hiroshima in order to plant bombs all over the city, and once the bombs are planted, they would be detonated. It would be like a nuke without radiation. Like that the Japanese population wouldn’t of had dropped like flies in a
barrel. Ready for a science lesson? The radiation in the bomb was caused by something known as atomic fission. This is when the nuclear atoms split into small atoms, this creates a chain reaction, which eventually leads up to radiation because the atoms have split so much that they cover a large area with said radiation (Nuclear Radiation and Health Effects 10). This phenomenon causes the bomb itself to increase in danger because it will not just kill people, it will infect and radiate the survivors with cancer and radiation sickness. After the bombing, Hiroshima suffered a huge loss in its population. Both civilians and soldiers were killed in the attack, but more civilians died in the bombing. 200 soldiers died out of the 140,800 civilians in the attack, but the bombing didn’t just kill, the event fully eradicated Japan’s medical supplies, which shortened the war. I have been thinking about the bombing a lot, and I have realized that the U.S. didn’t fully accomplish their goal when they dropped the bomb. If you take some time to look at the death tolls of the attack, only 200 soldiers died, and 140,800 civilians died. More civilians died than soldiers, and the U.S. goal was to kill almost all the soldiers in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We didn’t kill that many soldiers, so we didn’t accomplish our goal. As I said, Truman had a good amount of choices to decide from, he could’ve invaded the cities, but he didn’t want more of his soldiers to die, so he didn’t chose that. He could’ve organized a swarm bombing, (When a fleet of bomber aircraft drop non-nuclear bombs onto a target) but that would’ve cost MORE than building a nuke, so we just went with building the nuke. That’s why the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was legal and convenient.
Japan: The Only Victim of The Atomic Bomb Japan will never forget the day of August 6 and 9 in 1945; we became the only victim of the atomic bombs in the world. When the atomic bombs were dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was World War II. The decision to drop the atomic bombs was affected by different backgrounds such as the Manhattan Project, and the Pacific War. At Hiroshima City, the population of Hiroshima was 350,000 when the atomic bomb dropped. Also, the population of Nagasaki was around 250,000 ("Overview.").
The Atomic Bomb Should Not Have Been DroppedAs President Obama signs new nuclear policy, we are reminded of the longand sordid history of nuclear policy in the United States. We have come a long waysince we decided to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II.It is amazing that we continue debating this initial deployment of nuclear weaponrytoday. The US should not have decided to drop these atomic bombs. This decisionwas morally incorrect and unnecessary. Thousands of people died who did not needto die, and many more became sick from radiation poisoning. The bombs wiped twoentire cities off the map. How can anyone even argue for this in the first place?One argument that was used to support dropping the bomb was that theJapanese forfeited their rights when they aggressively attacked Pearl Harbor andcommitted war crimes against prisoners and the Chinese. However, this argument does not work for a few reasons. First, there are two types of justice in war. There isthe justice for going to war (
Instead it would be more accurate to agree that the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki a war crime, however, the use of it was necessary and justifiable. The atomic bomb has caused many lives in Japan of those who were not directly involved in the war and in had long lastly medical effects due to being exposed to nuclear material. In addition, it was justifiable and necessary that the United States acted due to the face that it was known for the Japanese to take drastic measures. It is important to consider how rash the Japanese were their “kamikaze pilots ' willingness to die for the motherland” (Beshears, 2005). Thus, the allies had legit reasoning to believe that the Japanese would not go down without a fight.
There were many arguments and factors as to if Truman decided correctly and if the United States should have dropped the bombs. There were many disputes supporting the bombing. Some being the Japanese were warned early enough, it shortened the war, and it saved many Americans lives. There are also voluminous quarrels against the United States bombing the Japanese. Some of these are the bombing killed innocent Japanese civilians who did not deserve it, the Japanese was about to surrender before we bombed them, and the United States only blasted the Japanese because of racism toward them. Though there are many valid reasons for and against the bombing, there is still much controversy today whether president Truman made the right decision.
The dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan were ethical decisions made by President Harry Truman and the United States government. By the time of the atom bomb was ready, the U.S. had been engaged in military conflict for over four years and lost over 400,000 soldiers. Truman claimed, "We would have the opportunity to bring the world into a pattern in which the peace of the world and our civilization can be saved" (Winkler 18). The bomb was aimed at ending the war immediately and avoiding prolonged battle in the Pacific Theater and the inevitable invasion of Japan. President Truman hoped that by showing the Japanese the devastating weapon the U.S. possessed, that the war could be brought ...
The morning of the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were like any other morning in Hiroshima, the air raid warnings went off at about 7am and ended at about 8am. With not a plane in site they got the all clear, at least that’s what was thought. America dropped one of the biggest atomic bombs made at the time right on Hiroshima, since the bomb the people and town of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have never been the same. After the bombing in Hiroshima the survivors had to go about their lives and move on from all the destruction brought upon them. Some survivors though, showed hatred and anti American feelings towards the situation because all the grief and devastation that had been done. While other survivors didn’t show that
“My God, what have we done?” were the words that the co-pilot of Enola Gay wrote in his logbook after helping drop two bombs, one in Hiroshima and one in Nagasaki, that killed an estimated two-hundred thousand individuals. The bombings were completely unnecessary. Japan was already defeated because they lacked the necessary materials to continue a world war. The Japanese were prepared to surrender. There was no military necessity to drop the atomic bombs nor is there any factual information stating that the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were dropped to “save the lives of one million American soldiers.” The United States bombed Japan in August of 1945. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were uncalled for and could have been avoided.
On August 6, 1945, the first bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. Three days later on August 9, the second bomb hit Nagasaki. Whether the United States made a moral and ethical decision is still an ongoing debate. President Truman was faced with a difficult choice. The U.S. chose to adopt a stance that seemed to limit the amount of casualties in the war, by significantly shortening it with the use of atomic weapons. It was certainly a reasonable view for the USA to take, since they had suffered the loss of more than thousands of lives, both military and civilian. To the top rank of the US military the death toll was worth it to prevent the “many thousands of American troops that would have been killed in invading Japan.” This was a grave
How different would the world be if America had never dropped the bomb on Japan to end World War II? If America had simply offered Japan a way to surrender by simply threatening the use of the atomic bomb, would Japan have surrendered? The world will never know, however Leo Szilard, one of the scientists that created the atomic bomb, tried to make a plea for this to happen. A month before the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan in WWII, Leo Szilard and 59 scientists stood up for what they believed in and tried to alter the thinking and decision that the President was making.
After the first few days of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Americans, without knowledge of the aftermath of these cities, began cheering and celebrating as the bombings marked the end of World War II. Also, this event showed that Americans would be the ones who would lead the world into the nuclear age. In a Gallup Poll taken from August 10-15, 1945, Americans were asked whether or not they approved or disapproved of the use of atomic bombs on Japanese cities, 85 percent approved, ten percent disapproved and five had no opinion.30 then when asked if the development of the atomic bomb was a good or bad thing, 69 percent said it was a good thing, 17 percent said it was bad, and 14 percent had no opinion (Steele).
For decades, Harry Truman, the 33rd President of the United States of America, will always be remembered as the man who took the decision to launch the atomic bomb in two cities of Japan, Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The president takes measure, which was a very important decision and any President would ever have to make. Harry Truman, the 33rd President of the United States, is known for the decision to drop the bomb in Japan in August 1945.
“Little Boy,” the bomb dropped on Hiroshima killed 70,000 people with an additional 66,000 injured (30-39). “Fat Man,” the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, also carried its “share of America’s duty” by killing 40,000 people and injuring another 25,000 (30-39). The bombs also killed an estimated 230,000 more people from the after effects of the two explosions (30). The two bombings had opened the world’s eyes to the destructive power that could be unleashed by man. The bombs had raised hell on earth for those few minutes and produced a tremendous amount of casualties.
First of all, President Truman shouldn’t have initiated this savage way of ending a war. He could’ve found an alternate route by either cutting of the Japanese’s supplies and resources and force the people to surrender. Also Truman could’ve just fought out the war with Japan instead of just bombing their land and killing many innocent lives. According to Truman’s diary, Truman even wrote in his diaries that he did not know how extensive and lethal this nuclear bomb was. He claimed that his main intention to bomb Hiroshima was to test out the strength of the nuclear bomb and stop the war. But I think Truman went too far with this testing of his, this little test that he pursued to fire at the Japanese had caused many lives. "I have always felt that if, in our ultimatum to the Japanese government issued from Potsdam [in July 1945], we had referred to the retention of the emperor as a constitutional monarch and had made some reference to the reasonable accessibility of raw materials to the future Japanese government, and it would have been accepted. Indeed, I believe that even in the form it was delivered, there was some disposition on the part of the Japanese to give it favorable consideration. When the war was over I arrived at this conclusion after talking with a number of J...
The moral and military necessity of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings has been a subject of debate for almost half a century. Most revisionists emphasize the victimization of Japan during the attacks. They often forget the military realities and the historical context while judging whether it was necessary for America to use nuclear weapons against the two Japanese cities. It is important to note that Japan was the aggressor. Japan triggered the war that led to the bombing of its two cities with its sneak attack on America’s Pearl harbour in 1941. Subsequent systematic and flagrant violation of several international agreements and norms through employment of chemical and biological warfare and mistreatment of prisoners of war and civilians aggravated the situation[ Gar Alperovitz, The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb and the Architecture of an American Myth. (NY: Knopf, 1995), 89]. A response was needed to deal with increased aggression from Japan. Allied military planners had to choose between invading Japan and using the US atomic bombs in 1945[ Ronald Tabaki, Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb. (Little, Brown, 1995), 101
Consequently, when the Japanese refused to budge, the United States dropped two atomic bombs, the Little Boy and the Fat Man, on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As a result, the Japanese people faced their ultimate plight. The Japanese’s stubborn ways and refusal to cooperate were why the United States was forced to drop the two atomic bombs onto the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But there were also many downsides to the United States’ decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Using the atomic bomb was illegal anywhere on the earth, so the United States using it was not legitimate.