The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II

The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II

Introduction

The second world war took place between 1939 to 1945. In World War II the United States dropped the Atomic bomb on Japan in order to make them surrender and end the war. The dropping of the atomic bomb was justified in World War II because of Japan’s refusal to surrender, it saved U.S. lives and it demonstrated U.S. power. The United States were fighting with Japan to avenge the bombing of Pearl Harbor which started World War 2. It killed thousands of people and destroyed large amounts of naval equipment (Madison, 2007). As the United States fought Germany in Europe, the conflict with Japan was on the backburner. Now with the war in Europe over, Japan is the main enemy.

Japan’s military strategy was   very unorthodox. With suicide pilots attacking U.S. ships and their relentless mindset made it a daunting task for the U.S. to overcome.  The United States did not see an invasion of Japan as a viable option so they considered the option of using nuclear weaponry. The   justification of the atomic bomb was   Japan’s refusal to surrender. Their main mentality was to kill or die trying (Stimson, 2009).They used strategy called Kamikaze, this was effective than dropping bombs because it had bigger explosion   more accurate since the pilot would be guiding the plane until impact.  This was quite the contrary as Japanese felt it an honor to die for their country in this way (Shelton, 2005) it was surprise for the United States and had a very big impact. The effectiveness of the Kamikaze pilots proved to be a great problem for U.S. military leaders.

The   dropping of the atomic bomb was justified to save U.S. lives. With World War 2 being one of the bloodiest wars the U.S. had ever been involved in, when an opportunity arose that would save lives, it was certainly a good option to use  the atomic bomb as a weapon of mass destruction that can only cause harm, but in this case it did save the lives of many American soldiers. The other option proposed was an invasion of Japan. This option had many downsides to it that would not be present with the atomic bomb route (Stimson). According to Republican politician Henry Stimson “We estimated that if we should be forced to carry this plan to its conclusion, the major fighting would not end until the latter part of 1946, at the earliest. I was informed that such operations might be expected to cost over a million casualties, to American forces alone” (Stimson, 2009). He showed that an invasion of Japan would be far more time consuming than ending the war right there with the atomic bomb. The dropping of the atomic bomb and the affect it had on Japan did establish the United States as a world power and demonstrated what the United States was capable of.

After the bombings with the atomic bomb, the rest of Japan heard the news   Japan’s reaction “News of Hiroshima’s destruction was only slowly understood in Tokyo. Many members of the Japanese government did not appreciate the power of the new Allied weapon until after the Nagasaki attack” (Skates, 1994) Japanese   realized the power of the United States after the first attack on Nagasaki. Even further into that is reveals that they did not appreciate their power until the bomb was dropped. Both are significant in showing U.S. power which justifies the dropping of the bombs in the first place. Following the attacks Japan did ultimately surrender .This was not only significant in the fact that is represented the end of the war, but it also showed other countries the power of the United States. News got out of the attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima and the world was in shock.

Reference

Maddison, A. (2007). The world economy volume 1: A millennial perspective volume 2: Historical statistics. Academic Foundation.

Shelton, D. L. (2005). Encyclopedia of genocide and crimes against humanity. Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes against Humanity, Dinah L. Shelton, Ed, 2013-31.

Skates, J. R. (1994). The invasion of Japan: Alternative to the bomb. University of South Carolina Press.

Stimson, Henry L. “The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb.” Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb (2009): 1. MAS Ultra – School Edition. Web. 22 Mar. 2015.