Atomic Bomb, Essay Example

When it comes to war, there are always two sides. This is true with the atomic bomb that was dropped on Japan August 6, 1945.  On that fatal day, the bomb was a total destruction of the city, Hiroshima.  This casualty rate was estimated to be seventy to eighty thousand people.  With fatalities of this magnitude, arguments arise about the good and bad of such a massive attack.  Reviewing the correspondence and the specifications of the attack allows the separation of the good and the bad that are involved in this attack.  The United States reacted in the way they felt was best to stop Japan from their fatal actions and corrupt leaders.

There were many arguably positive sides for the atomic bomb attack on Japan.  Truman administration had felt the power in the possession of the atomic bomb would be the leverage they needed for inducing Moscow’s acquiescence.  Truman as well as his advisors had alternate options besides the atomic bomb.  They had intended on unconditional surrender and the anti-soviet reflection was heavy in their thinking.  This means that the soviet actions, politics, and failure to comply led the United States to resort to such a drastic measure.  The resistance that Japan was demonstrated with their fatal actions needed addressed.  They had committed mass suicide on Saipan pushing kamikaze attacks on Okinawa, and 100,000 people were killed in Tokyo by a fire bombing.

The United States reviewed the capabilities of Japan whose economy and society was tremendous strain”; nevertheless, “the ground component of the Japanese armed forces remains Japan’s greatest military asset.”   Another positive to the choice of the atomic bomb was that the United States only had two bombs ready.  They didn’t have an option to waste one to make a demonstration in a rural area.  Also consider Richard Frank estimate’s the depiction of the Japanese army’s terms for peace: “for surrender to be acceptable to the Japanese army it would be necessary for the military leaders to believe that it would not entail discrediting the warrior tradition and that it would permit the ultimate resurgence of a military in Japan.” That, Frank argues, would have been “unacceptable to any Allied policy maker”.  If the United States invaded Japan as opposed the bombs used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have caused a greater casualty rate.

There were many negative sides for the atomic bomb attack on Japan.  Herbert P. Bix has argued that the Japanese leadership would “probably not” have “surrendered if the Truman administration had clarified the status of the emperor” when it demanded unconditional surrender.  Japan was ready to admit defeat already.  There were more than 60 cities that were destroyed war and conventional bombing as well.   Another document associate with this attack showed the cons of the attack.  This document has played a role in arguments developed by Barton J. Bernstein that a few figures such as Marshall and Stimson were “caught between an older morality that opposed the intentional killing of noncombatants and a newer one that stressed virtually total war.” The United States did not provide enough time after the bombing of Hiroshima before attacking Nagasaki for the word to get out.  Meaning the attack lost value because there was not enough time for the bombing to be enough to prevent the second attack.  Finally, the casualty rates were excessive making this attack looked on negatively.  After Hiroshima, It was reported in a message from Captain William S. Parsons and others regarding the ultimate impact of the detonation.  It immediately killed at least 70,000 people, with many dying later from radiation sickness and other causes.

The United States reacted in the way they felt was best to stop Japan from their fatal actions and corrupt leaders.  The facts and proof associated with this bombing allows the reader to see both the positive and negatives sides of the US attack.  Regardless of the personal opinions for right and wrong, it is clear that this was and still is a big debate for the validity of an attack on this magnitude.  This 1945 attack took hundreds of thousands of lives, some military and some civilian.  Regardless of the events, the end results were favorable for the surrender of Japan.