Justification Of Hiroshima And Nagasaki Bombings

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Justification of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings 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 ]. They had to weigh carefully the present and future costs and benefits for the American people. They decided to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The choice they made was justifiable. Initially, the US had planned to invade Japan in what was to be known as Operation Downfall. America would have provided most of the forces for the operation. The rest were to come from the British Commonwealth. However, the U.S projected that the operation would cost the country more than half a million soldiers. Furthermore, the U.S feared that an invasion would hav... ... middle of paper ... ...t that Japan was killing more people per week for many years than those who died in the single bombing event. Incriminating United States and ignoring the fact that Japan was already committing war crimes before the U.S struck is a weak attempt to argue that U.S bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. All in all, though thousands of people died after the U.S bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the best solution to Japanese aggression. The casualties of the bombings are far much less than the casualties of Japanese aggression. Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved more than a million lives that would have been lost if the war had continued for the next one year. The bombing was a better option because invasion of Japan would have resulted in many civilian casualties. Therefore, the US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified.

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