The Bombing of Hiroshima

The bombing of Hiroshima has been a battling controversy on whether or not the United States did the right thing. On August 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Then on August 9, 1945, only three days from the bombing of Hiroshima, Nagasaki was bombed by the U.S. as well. The bombing of Hiroshima has its pros and cons but overall the bombing was necessary, but the second bombing on Nagasaki was not. The bombing of Japan saved American lives and many more for the future and ended the war; however, it was unethical for the thousands of Japanese who were harmed and should have had other alternatives.

The Japanese were depicted as terrorists who had massacred more citizens that are American. Therefore, the Americans through the advice of the security experts could not risk entering the Japanese Islands, as their troops would have been massacred. The only way to stop them was by using fierce weapons that would weaken them entirely and make the surrender at their own pace and willingness. The American government was justified having lost more than 418,000 lives, both of whom were either civilians or militaries, the pressure from the citizens were mounting. For the war to come to an end, the atomic bombs were the answer for that to happen.

On the other hand, it can be argued that the United States was not interested in war right away from the beginning, following the Truman doctrines. Due to this, they were not interested in long-term wars that would financially cripple the nation and make the citizens undergo much pain and agony. It is evident that the actions of German and Japan are the ones that triggered the US to have no any other option than joining the war.

Even so, they still did not think that it would be a good idea to stay in the war for any longer. The U.S. wanted the bombs to occur as payback for their own fallen soldiers from the war. In addition to this, the actions used by the United States of the atomic bomb was equally a good idea to silence the USSR that was growing stronger. Immediately after they had struck Japan with the bomb, it is evident that the US became the dominating nation in the entire world.

In John Hersey's Hiroshima (1946), he wrote about what six individuals experienced and how it affected them during and after the bombing. One of the individuals, Miss Toshinki Sasaki was a clerk at East Asia Tin works when the bombing had happened. Thousands of people had nobody to help them. Abandoned and helpless, under the crude lean-to in the courtyard of the tin factory, beside the woman who had lost a breast and the man whose burned face was scarcely a face any more, she suffered awfully that night from the pain in her broken leg (Hersey, p. 48). Miss Sasaki broke her leg and was in need of surgery. The people who were not as injured would help those in awful conditions but they would be outnumbered. The people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered even more after the atomic bomb. As if nature were protecting man against his own ingenuity, the reproductive processes were affected for a time; men became sterile, women had miscarriages, menstruation stopped (Hersey, p.78). The reproductive system for the men and women were not functioning so they are unable to have children. Based from Hersey's Hiroshima (1946), They reported that 78,150 people had been killed, 13,983 were missing, and 37,427 had been injured (Hersey, pg. 81). The results from the bombing were already high ranking but about an additional 70,000 more died from radiation sickness.

In as much as the government of the United States had quite a number of alternatives at their dispensation, it is important to note that they did not regret using the atomic bombs. Just like any other nation, the United States was literary soldiering on in what can be termed as the dark days of their history. Most of the American citizens were living in fear of attacks from either the Germans or the Japanese. Therefore, it is important to note that the United States of America's actions were far much justified as this as done on the pretext of protecting their citizens. In addition to this, in as much as the Japan's ally who were the Germans had already taken heed of the surrender policy, Japan had entire refused.

This is an indication that its strategy critically worked since the entire world ended up being peaceful. Through its strategy and action, the United States demonstrated to the entire world that it is the most powerful nation, showed the destructive power that it had and what it was capable of doing. Experts have argued that the price, which was required in order to keep the USSR in check, was quite steep. Other conflict management scholars have critically argued that if the United States had prolonged the use of the atomic bombs any longer, then this would have resulted to high fatality in Japan with more than 10 million people losing their lives.

If by any chance the US had made such attacks to any other nation, then it would have been unacceptable. However, in this case, it is evident that Japan had violated so many peace treaties and in one way or the other, they might have deserved the massive attacks. The attacks by the military critically showed that the United States were much more devastated with the effects of what Japan had caused back in their country. They were not that keen in ensuring that they invaded Japan. Therefore, the only way out since they were not interested in the war was to strike Japan from any other angle but make sure that the war had ended.

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