Was the United States Justified? Assessing the Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The bombing of Hiroshima was devastating. Besides the tens of thousands of casualties, the U.S. came out triumphan. On the day May 7th, 1945, the Nazis surrendered, almost ending WWII, but some of the Axis Powers were still fighting, on December 7th, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, a major Navy base in Honolulu, Hawaii, officially bring the United States into WWII. When the Nazis surrendered, the United States saw the perfect time to strike, starting the first use of a nuclear weapon on an enemy ever in history! The bombing of Hiroshima was a very tragic event for Japan, but a very triumphant moment for the United States, ending conflicts with Japan, and even WWII in 1947.

Many factors influenced the decision to drop the bomb (Little Boy) on Hiroshima. The creation of the bomb happened soon after Pearl Harbor, and quickened when the Nazis surrendered. The actual research (The Manhattan Project) had been started during the height of WWII, and had grown very strong over the course of the war. Although, once the bomb was dropped, around 85,000 people died (The Manhattan Project). The display of immense power, made other countries (and unions in the U.S.S.R's case) want that same power too. Even today, many countries are still creating bombs like the one dropped on Hiroshima, but many countries today, are also realizing how bad having the massive displays of power could be. Many countries are trying to dispose of them, one example of this, was in 2013, Scotland tried to vote themselves out of the United Kingdom, saying that If Scotland leaves the UK, all of our nuclear armaments must be moved out of the country (Time Magazine)

The bombing of Hiroshima was a triumph for the United States because of The technological advancements. Some reasoning for this is because at the time, it was the most powerful weapon on Earth. The atomic bomb is a special weapon, it worked in a very scientifically advanced way for its time. Nuclear fission produces the atom bomb. Inside the bomb atomic nuclei are being split. A single neutron strikes the nucleus of an atom of radioactive materials, such as uranium or plutonium, it knocks 2 or three more atoms free, creating a massive explosion that devastates cities, such as Hiroshima in this case. A nuclear bombs power has the power of two-million pounds of TNT.

The bombing of Hiroshima was a triumph for the United States because it gave the United States a new crude way to force world peace on uncooperative countries. Some proof for this is I shall give further consideration and make further recommendations to the congress as to how atomic power can become a powerful and forceful influence towards the maintenance of world peace(President Harry S. Truman). This shows that not only is the atom bomb an influence towards the maintenance of world peace, but a big triumph for the United States.

The bombing of Hiroshima was a very triumphant event for the United States from an economic point of view, in that, ending WWII stopped a lot of people from dying in the wars, saving many lives. If the war had continued on, nobody knows how many people would have possibly died. We know that the United States had planned on many allied deaths, because before the United States had gone with the decision to bomb Hiroshima, the allies had gone with Operation Downfall whose goal was to invade Japan from the south. The United States had planned for such an immense number of casualties and injuries, that they manufactured million of purple hearts. When the allies decided to bomb Japan instead of invade, only around 10,000 of those were given out. Some of the purple heart medals made in 1945 are still being given out to this day (are purple hearts from 1945).

Now of course, there was some obvious tragedy involved, one of the most clear ways was the immense number of people who died during and after the bombing. The number of people who actually died ranges from source to source, but is somewhere around 90,000“146,000 people died from the bomb, either during the event or from the radioactive fallout afterwards (Atomic Archive). Many people were also injured, around 41,000 total people were injured within 3 hours of the actual bomb falling.

Conclude-Blake

These reasons conclude that the bombing of Hiroshima was triumphant for the United States because of the Technological advancements, a new crude way to force world peace, and also economically.

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