On August 6, 1945 the first ever Atomic Bomb created was dropped on Hiroshima, this was followed by another bomb dropped on Nagasaki three days later on August 9, 1945. The bomb dropped on Hiroshima killed as many as 140,000 people, and as many as 80,000 people were killed in Nagasaki. What is even more startling is that neither of these figures takes into account the amount of people who died in the following few weeks, months or even years as a result of the enormous amount of radiation they were exposed to. The impact of these bombs was massive, and not just for the Japanese. Their immense effect is still felt throughout the world to this day.

President Truman stated that the Atomic bombs were dropped to end the war with Japan and to save the lives of American soldiers. He told the American people that an invasion of Japan could have cost between 500,000 and 1,000,000 casualties, and to not use the bomb, would cause a huge loss of American lives.

Another possible, yet unstated reason for using the Atomic bombs on Japan was the fact that the Americans didn’t want the Russians to be involved in the peace negotiations. This was because they viewed the Soviets as a threat and a possible enemy and didn’t want to give them any control over Japan or Asia. America didn’t want to have the same problems with land division as those that had occurred when Germany surrendered to the Allies months earlier.
I think the US decided to use the bombs as a solution for a combination of reasons, which were put forward to end the war. The apparent and significant reason for dropping the bomb was to end the war with Japan and to save American lives. However, I believe the fact that America didn’t want Russia to become involved was one of the most significant reasons for making the decision to drop the bomb at that time.

“Secretary of State James Byrnes, Truman’s closest confidant on atomic matters, was eager to “get the Japanese affair over with before the Russians got in” and felt that knowledge of America’s new weapon would make the Soviets “more manageable”.” This extract from Why Did We Drop the Bomb? In Time magazine shows the attitude towards both the Russians and the bomb that people in power had at the time and gives more evidence as to why the bombs were dropped. Finally, I think the military had a view that the bomb was just another weapon to be used in war, it didn’t matter how strong it was, or how many people it would kill, it had the power to win a war. Because the military had such a narrow-minded view on such a weapon, they weren’t overly concerned with the fact it might kill hundreds of thousands of people, the majority of whom would be innocent civilians.

There were several alternatives to dropping the bombs on Japan which could have ended the war just as quickly. The least favourable option raised was to invade Japan, this was sure to end the war; however the casualty rate expected was colossal. It is also thought that if the Potsdam Declaration had allowed Japan to surrender, while being able to keep their emperor, Japan would have surrendered. Nevertheless, the USA wanted an unconditional surrender and as a result Japan didn’t surrender.

Both the US Navy and Air Force felt that a blockade on Japan would be enough to force surrender. Another option raised was to demonstrate the Atomic Bomb on an unpopulated area, however this didn’t go ahead. The USA could have explored a diplomatic option, to come to an agreement with Japan. Finally, many experts thought Japan couldn’t last more than a few months and would have surrendered in less than six months in any event.

The invasion of Japan was thoroughly explored by the military. Many of those planning the invasion weren’t even aware of the bomb’s existence. Because of this, the invasion had been examined from all angles and presented to the president. I feel that the US would have been happy to wait for Japan’s surrender. However once the Russians became involved, the US wanted to end the war as quickly as possible to deny Russia the spoils of war. The option of invasion became invalid to those in power. I feel that these alternatives to dropping the bomb were explored fully; however the unnecessary haste of the US to use the bomb was brought on by the Soviet’s imminent involvement.

The option of blockading Japan with the Navy and Air Force was fully explored and enforced to a degree. It undoubtedly helped to cripple Japan’s Navy and Air Force and also made living conditions in Japan much more difficult. The option of seeking a diplomatic solution with Japan was not explored nearly as thoroughly as it should have been. If the US had tried to come to an agreement with Japan (ie. A conditional surrender) it is extremely probable that Japan would have surrendered.

In my opinion, the option of dropping the Atomic Bomb on an unpopulated area was very seriously considered and explored, yet my feeling is that the US really wanted to properly test their new weapon. I think that Truman and those advising him on the bomb were really looking for a reason to drop the bomb as opposed to looking for a reason not to drop the bomb. This lead to several options that would almost certainly have brought victory not being completely investigated.

Prior to August 1945, Japan was on the verge of defeat and everyone except the extreme militarists were more than ready to surrender. Japanese soldiers were scattered across the Pacific and throughout Asia, consequently they were in no state to defend Japan from an invasion.

As a result of the successful Allied submarine campaign in Japanese coastal waters, Japanese merchant shipping had been largely destroyed. The remnants of the Imperial Japanese Navy were confined to port for lack of fuel. Their Air Force was decimated with the remainder grounded because fuel was being saved in anticipation of the expected Allied invasion. Supplies from the mainland had been cut off, and Japan’s war economy was in shambles, with production of fuel, steel, rubber and other vital supplies at only a fraction of their pre-war levels. People were going hungry as a result of a food shortage. Japanese men were unavailable to work in factories; women and young children needed to work to produce military supplies.

The Japanese ambassador informed the Soviet Foreign Minister “…But so long as England and the United States insist upon unconditional surrender, the Japanese Empire has no alternative but to fight on with all its strength for the honor and existence of the Motherland.” This shows us how close Japan was to surrendering, and I think they would have if the USA had attempted to seek a diplomatic end to the war.

The USSR declared war on Japan on August 8th 1945. The USA went on to bomb Nagasaki the next day. I strongly believe that Truman chose to drop the second bomb purely because of the Soviet declaration of war. He wanted to intimidate Stalin and show the power that the USA now possessed with the Atomic Bomb. I also think that the US government wanted to end the war before the Soviets could become involved with negotiations of Japan’s surrender and benefit from the spoils of war. This was mostly due to the trouble they had with Russia after the Nazis surrendered.

The combination of Russian involvement together with the fact that the US was exceedingly eager to see the full extent of the bomb’s power on a ‘real’ target encouraged them to use the bomb. Those in power wanted to use the bombs to justify the $2bn investment they had made in developing the bombs; they wanted to end the war on their terms, and to begin a new era in weapons technology. After Hiroshima, Japanese scientists believed that the bombing was a one off stunt that couldn’t be repeated, so it’s entirely possible that a demonstration bomb would have had no effect on Japan’s willingness to surrender.

There wasn’t a large amount of opposition to the dropping of the Atomic Bomb. However this was mainly because there were only a handful of people who knew the bomb existed. Some of the scientists who created the bomb were opposed to its use because they were afraid of how much damage it was capable of inflicting. Because of the slight opposition and Truman’s advisers being eager to use the bombs, I think the decision to drop the bomb was made far easier and the full ramifications not taken as seriously as they should have been.

Despite the first bomb being used, the second bombing, on Nagasaki was definitely unnecessary. Japan was so close to surrendering before the first bomb, that a second bomb was hardly needed. The fact that there were only three days between the bombings is even worse; the US gave Japan no time to process what had happened and to discuss surrendering. Some may argue that because the Japanese believed Hiroshima to be a one off stunt that the second bomb was necessary to prove the strength of the USA. But really Japan was already defeated and whether or not they believed another bomb could have been dropped really didn’t matter.

The morals involved in dropping the Atomic Bombs on Japan have sparked massive discussion for decades. Killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people with just two bombs is obviously an appalling violation of human rights, even in times of war, especially when huge amounts of the people killed were civilians.

On the other hand, the relentless US firebombing of Japan killed as many as 900,000 civilians which is many times the amount of people killed by the two Atomic Bombs, yet this is rarely brought up in comparison to the Atomic bombs. I still believe that bombing civilians anywhere at any time is an inexcusable act, but that the dropping of the Atomic bombs is no different from killing hundreds of thousands of people using a different method.

It is good, at the very least, to see that nuclear weapons have not been used since 1945. To some degree, we are fortunate to have seen the terrifying effects of these devastating weapons. Now that we have witnessed the death and destruction caused by nuclear weapons, I believe countries will be unwilling to use these weapons out of fear of retaliation and the destruction that would face the human race if a nuclear war broke out.

In conclusion, I strongly believe that the dropping of the two bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were exceedingly immoral and excessive, the bombs just weren’t necessary for Japan to surrender. I thought that the Allied blockading of Japan with submarines was a great tactic because it crippled Japan and brought them closer to defeat. It frustrates me that the USA couldn’t seek a diplomatic solution with Japan to end the war without having to kill so many people with the Atomic Bombs. If they had negotiated with Japan and allowed them to keep their emperor when they surrendered, it is highly likely that they would have surrendered. Their eagerness to test the bombs and to keep the Soviets out of the picture were the leading factors in dropping the Atomic Bombs.