Patrick Cooksey
Armstrong 4A
June 10, 2016
Question: How did the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki affect Japan socially, economically, and alter the country’s relationship with America?
On August 6th, 1945, a terrifying attack, unlike anything known to mankind in the past, struck Japan's Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These attacks were devastating, destroying everything and leaving the country in ruin, hence throwing the country millions of dollars behind in repairs and restoration. Not only was the land physically destroyed, but after the attacks, Japan lost its sense of unity. The explosion was seen through the eyes of Staff Sergeant George Caron: "The mushroom cloud itself was a spectacular sight, a bubbling mass of purple-gray smoke
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However, Americans did aid Japan in their reconstruction, and as time progressed, the two countries became close allies. American General Douglas Macarthur began rebuilding Japan shortly after the bombing, in order to have a stronger base during the occupation of Japan. “President Harry S. Truman tapped MacArthur to oversee the occupation, rebuilding and democratization of Japan [...] By late 1945, 430,000 of MacArthur’s troops were garrisoned across Japan, two-thirds of them flooding the Tokyo-Yokohama area. At the general’s directive, signs and street names in the area were rendered in English as well as Japanese, while in the Americanized city center English alone prevailed. Display of the Rising Sun flag was drastically limited. Buildings that had survived the war were largely requisitioned as offices and barracks for Americans” (Weintraub). While Japan was under the occupation of America, it had its benefits on both sides. America had military and naval bases in Japan, and America helped Japan throughout its restoration period. Today, relations between Japan and America are more stable. President Obama recently visited Hiroshima, making him the first United States president to visit post-bomb. During the speech, Obama said, “It’s a job of historians to ask questions and examine them, but I know as somebody who has now sat in this position for the last seven and a half years, that every leader makes very difficult decisions, particularly during wartime” (New York Times). Here, Obama implies that he does not agree with what had happened at Hiroshima, and nuclear bombs in general, but it may have been the only choice that the government could have made. Obama addressing the bombing implies that he acknowledges the tragedy Japan faced. Obama didn’t stop with his speech however. According to
warnings of intruder planes coming in the area. It talked about how a lot of
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
Japan will never forgotten the day of August 6 and 9 in 1945; we became the only victim by the atomic bombs in the world. When the atomic was dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was World War II. The decision of dropping 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."). However, there was no accurate number of death because all of documents were burned by the atomic bombs. On the other hand, the atomic bombs had extremely strong power and huge numbers of Japanese who lived in Hiroshima
With this 70,000 were wounded at Hiroshima. The co-pilot of the Enola Gay could see, “smoke and fires creeping up the side of the mountain”. Then again on August 9th a second holocaust was unleashed on Nagasaki. “…a giant ball of fire rose as though from the bowels and a giant pillar of purple fire…shooting skyward and with enormous speed” The effects of the bomb here were much less spectacular than at Hiroshima. There were only 80,000 initial casualties of which 40,000 were dead.
The United States decided to bomb Japan in order to save American causalities. Harry Truman warned the Japanese that they should surrender but they didn’t. Almost 90,000 people died instantly with the two bombs. On August 6th, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. At 8:15 A.M., 80,000 people died instantly in Hiroshima. A blast equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT. Ground zero was as big as four square blocks. Thousands of people died because of radiation poisoning around Hiroshima. Radiation poisoning eats away your cells and\or mutates it. This can cause almost any cancer known to man. The Enola Gay will be forever remember in this bombing. The Enola Gay was a B-29 bomber that dropped these atomic bombs. On this plane, there was 12 officers\pilots on it. There was also 12 cyanide pills that they were instructed to take if for some reason they would’ve been captured. Three days later, another atomic bomb was dropped in Nagasaki. This wasn’t as deadly as the first atomic bomb but this made the Japanese surrender. They had had enough. August 15th will forever be known as V-J Day. This date is when the Japanese surrendered to America in World War 2.
In August of 1945, both of the only two nuclear bombs ever used in warfare were dropped on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. These two bombs shaped much of the world today.
On August 6th, 1945, the United States of America dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima in Japan. Two days later, a second bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. These two bombs were the most devastating weapons ever seen, and their effects on human beings and property were plainly horrifying. Approximately 110,000 people were killed; most of them were innocent civilians who just happened to have lived in the wrong place at the wrong time. Although using this weapon was an atrocity to both the Japanese, and humanity in general, the world was at war. No matter what ulterior motives may have existed, the fact remains that the bomb was a justifiably necessary measure to bring an early end to aggressive war that was instigated by Japan. Japan would never have surrendered unconditionally, as decreed in the Potsdam Ultimatum. Invasion of the Japanese home islands were out of the question because of the ferocious defense that would have been staged, and the huge number of casualties that it would entail. The bomb shocked the Japanese militarists into surrender and gave the “peace-party” the added credibility they required to bring about a quick end to the war. The use of the bomb also kept Russia out of the war, preventing problems that had occurred in post-war Germany, and later on in Korea. When all factors are taken into consideration, the use of the atomic bomb actually saved more lives, both Japanese and American than it took.
Before the polychromatic clouds of atomic bombs burnt to black the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the bloodstained shores of Okinawa seemed to lay the fateful path of Pyrrhic Victory before Allied troops who awaited to invade the Japanese mainland. During this time, Allied bombers under the command of Major General Curtis LeMay, launched a victorious offensive of fire-bombings which ignited the wooden city of Tokyo into consuming flames, leaving the Japanese capital in smoldering ashes, killing more than 100,000 people. Moreover, advancing in the west, the Soviet Army marched into Japanese occupied Manchuria, further crippling the weakened nation whose supply of soldiers and war materials dwindled; the fall of Japan seemed inevitable. However,
“Little Boy” and “Fat Man”, the world’s first two nuclear bombs were dropped in two major cities in Japan: Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the 6th and 9th of August 1945. This “experiment” by the United States Government completely demolished the two cities, killing over 150,000 people instantly and nearly 50,000 people died from aftermath as well as radiation.
Desperate measures had to be taken to bring an end to World War II. The war was promised to continue, which would then result in many more deaths of American soldiers. By dropping the first and only two atomic bombs in history, America guaranteed that World War II would result in a quick conclusion. Although the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki did cost many Japanese citizens their lives, doing so was mandatory to bring an end to World War II. Dropping the atomic bombs was an extremely difficult but necessary decision that America had to make to bring an end to the war.
For more than four years after the events of Pearl Harbor, Americans sacrificed their lives to the war against the country of Japan. The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7,1941 achieved complete surprise and success. It was Pearl Harbor that unified American opinion and determination to see the war through on the Japanese who still maintained its position of being an aggressive enemy against Allied Powers. The U.S. fleet was rebuilt with astonishing speed, and its chain of defenses (Sakamoto). At the Potsdam Conference, a conference between the Allied forces to discuss war options, Truman learned of the successful test explosion of the atomic bomb and informed the other Allied leaders, that the atomic bomb was complete and ready. The United States, Britain, and China then issued a statement threatening to destroy Japan unless it surrendered
...e atomic bomb on Japan was extremely controversial it ultimately ended in America’s favor when Japan surrendered. According to Karl Compton, “it was not one atomic bomb, or two, which brought the surrender; it was the experience of what an atomic bomb will actually do to a community, plus the dread of many more, that was effective.” Hiroshima and Nagasaki will always serve as a reminder of the tremendous effects powerful weapons can have on a country. America consciously decided to seize Japanese lives in order to save American lives. The attack effected Japan in a massive amount of negative ways but the outcome of the atomic bomb did create positive effects for America. The devastation generated by the atomic bomb will never be forgotten by citizens worldwide. “The atomic bomb was more than a weapon of terrible destruction; it was a psychological weapon.” (Stimson)
The U.S. bomber " Enola Gay " was launched on the morning of 6 August 1945 in the direction of Hiroshima - loaded with a 4.5 -ton bomb . The weapon had a length of three meters and a diameter of nearly a meter.
The devastation brought about by the atomic bomb has caused fear among all the people that have realized the potential destructive power of its invention. The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945 completely obliterated both cities (Lanouette 30). “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.
On August 6, 1945 the first of two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan by the United States in order to finish World War II. The first one landed over the heavily populated city of Hiroshima. The second bomb was dropped, not only three days later, on August 9, 1945 on another Japanese city called Nagasaki. Both atomic bombs made terrible impacts on the cities they were dropped on. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed beyond belief leaving a trail of dust where once families lived a normal life. The U.S. should not have dropped the Atomic Bomb on Japan because it affected the climate and world’s mindset, targeted two sites that were not military bases, and killed a profuse amount of innocent citizens.