Essay/Term paper: Drop the bomb?

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Humanities Essays

Timothy Cole

U.S. History - Grech



Atomic Bombs Dropped on Japan, Justified?



On August 6th and 9th of 1945 U.S. bombers dropped atomic bombs on the

Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing utter destruction and many deaths.

These bombs were dropped as the Pacific battles of World War II were coming to an end.

Soon after Japan surrendered, ending the war. But, was the use of atomic warfare

necessary? Was it too harsh and cruel to the Japanese? The first question was whether or

not to drop a bomb. The effects of atomic warfare had not been known and studied, but it

was apparent that it would be a good tool in ending the war. The first bomb did appear

necessary to ending the war. It would put Japan in check to bring a quick finish to the

fighting, saving many lives, as well as prevent the Russians from joining the Pacific War.

The second on Nagasaki, however was obviously not. It was handled foolishly, in that the

Japanese were not allowed enough time to surrender and it seemed like a big sick

experiment. The United States of America was justified in dropping the atomic bomb on

the island of Hiroshima, but not justified in doing the same to Nagasaki.

Throughout the war scientists had been involved in the notorious Manhattan

Project, the production of the atomic bomb. In three years the U.S. was ready to test the

first atomic bomb, and did in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Seventy prominent scientists

signed a petition to warn the government of trouble ahead. They did not yet know the

dangers of this powerful weapon and wanted to stage a demonstration for the Japanese to

see what power the U.S. had. That never happened. George Marshall then suggested that

we warned the Japanese ahead of time to clear the military base at Hiroshima of people,

but the army didn"t want the Japanese to expect the attack. Less than a month after the

first test, a bomb fell on Hiroshima.

Dropping an atomic bomb worked as expected. The two main goals of using

atomic warfare were simple, to put a quick end to the war, saving up to a million U.S.

lives, and finish off Japan before the Russians try to take over parts of the Pacific. It

pretty much worked, the war ended soon after and even though the Russian declared war

on the Japan, like expected, they were not able to gain to much power in the Pacific.

Dropping of the first bomb on Hiroshima was the right choice of the American military.

Even though it was justified to used atomic power to put an end to the war, the

second bomb on Nagasaki was unnecessary. It came only three days after the first bomb

hit Hiroshima. Most historians say this was not enough time for the Japanese to consider

and sign a surrender. Another city was destroyed for no reason. Old documents state that

Japan was ready to surrender. Besides the time factor the bombing of Nagasaki was

obviously wrong because it seemed like the U.S. military was just experimenting. The

two different bombs were based on two different substances, uranium and plutonium. It

seemed as if the U.S. wanted to see which was more powerful and did so by taking

advantage of the situation. The bombing of Nagasaki did not play an important role in

the end of the war as the first bomb and therefore was unnecessary.

Only the first bomb, dropped on Hiroshima, was justified to be dropped by the

U.S. military, while the second, dropped on Nagasaki was not. While the goal of the

atomic bomb was reached the second was excessive and cause more destruction than was

necessary. From the Manhattan project on to the first test in New Mexico, the goal was to

drop an atomic bomb to help insure a quick win for the U.S. in the war. Another one was

just too much and should not have happened.