Atomic Bombs Against Japan (Essay Sample)

Atomic Bombs Against Japan
Author
Institution
Abstract
The United States established a secret called “Manhattan Engineer District.” The nation used this project to develop atomic bombs (Wainstock, 1996). The Manhattan Project carried out its initial triumphant test of the bombs on July 16, 1945 in a desolate region called “Journey of the dead” (Walker, 2008). The Hiroshima bomb was a uranium gun-type atomic while the Nagasaki City bomb was made using plutonium implosion- technology. The US dropped the first bomb (Little Boy) on August 6, 1945 on Hiroshima. The second bomb (Fat Man) was dropped on Nagasaki City three days later. Although the precise number of people who died in the incident is not accurate, historians approximate that between 90,000 and 166,000 people died in Hiroshima (Walker, 2008). In addition, historians estimate that about 60,000 to 80,000 people in Nagasaki perished from the disaster. The deceased succumbed to radiation sicknesses and burns. The two bombs dropped on the Japanese cities are the only atomic weapons ever used in the war history.
Introduction
The United States is the first and only country to have used atomic bombs against another nation. This incident occurred on August 6 and 9 in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki cities of Japan respectively. The attacks killed approximately 300,000 to 400,000 civilians. The exact number of individuals, who perished in the attacks is not accurate because the records burned up during the massacre. A large number of the deceased victims of the attack perished on the first day from radiation sickness and burns among other forms of injuries. Since the US demonstrated the detrimental effects that weapons of mass destruction can do to the human race, the debate on controlling the technology has raged on for numerous decades. This essay will evaluate the factors that motivated President Truman to authorize the use of atomic bombs against Japan in 1945.
Prior to the United States attacking Japan, it had warned the nation to end the Second World War. By 1945, Japan was the most powerful nation that was obstructing the termination of the war. On 16th July, 1966, President Truman (US), Chiang Kai-shek (Soviet Union) and Churchill (United Kingdom) arranged the Potsdam conference. The meeting developed the Potsdam declaration, which wanted Japan to surrender unconditionally (Wainstock, 1996). However, the country failed to declare its position in the battle as it was waiting for the Soviet, a neutral ally, to respond whether they will support its assailants, the West, to fight against it. However, the United States assumed that the Japanese had declined the offer as it failed to accept the terms of time. This implied that the US had to look for an alternative method of compelling the country to surrender, which included using weapons of mass destruction (Wainstock, 1996).
The United States could have used military action to conquer Japan, but the country had a strong army that could have left several American soldiers dead by the end of the mission (Miscamble, 2011). The United States military intelligence had reported that the country had a veteran of more than two million at home. In addition, a civilian force of more than 28 million people fortified this army. President Truman opted to use the atomic bombs because a ground troop could cost America several casualties. Moreover, the country’s military casualty and cost of maintaining the war was consistently increasing. Truman reasoned that an atomic bomb could destroy major cities in Japan that could in turn cripple its military power (Wainstock, 1996).
According to historians, the United States had decoded a message from the Japanese officials that they were preparing to end the war, as per the Potsdam Declaration. However, Truman authorized the detonation of the bomb in the Japanese Cities in order to intimidate Soviet Russia, which was by that time a powerful state in the East. The United States reasoned that if it could demonstrate to the world that it had powerful mass destruction weapons, it could then control Soviet Russia’s influence in East Asia and Europe (Walker, 2008). Historians claim that the Japanese bombings were strategic to help the US monopolize power in the post World War by the fact that Truman delayed the Potsdam Conference until the atomic bombs were successfully tested. Both Churchill and Truman felt that they could use the bomb as a diplomatic lever for compelling Stalin (The Soviet) to assume a secondary position in world affairs.
Some analysts had proposed that the United States demonstrates the effect of the atomic bomb to the world even without dropping it on the Japanese cities, but Truman was against this idea. This was because the weapon was still in its initial development stages. The US was spending large resources on the war, as well as getting numerous casualties. The US reasoned that demonstrating on the effect of the bomb could scare the Japanese, but if it failed, the Japanese, Germans and other countries could escalate the war to a completely new level, which could destroy the United States. The developers could not guarantee that the bombs could detonate despite the successful trial (Wainstock, 1996).
Furthermore, the president alleged that the Japanese could surrender even if the demonstration was successful. The US had sent several posters warning the nation that if it did not surrender, it will experience total destruction. This motivated the president to authorize the bombings so that they could create a significant psychological effect on the Japanese citizens. Previously, the US had declared aerial war on Japan, and then urged the citizens to rebel against the emperor so that he could stop the war. However, the government remained adamant in spite of some cities experiencing up to 97% destruction (Wainstock, 1996).
Truman claimed that he authorized the bombing of the cities in order to save the lives of both Americans and Japans. He claimed that the Japanese military had conducted more than 3500 Kamikaze raids that h...