The Pros And Cons Of The Atomic Bombs

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On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped by the United States in the city of Hiroshima, Japan (population of approximately 284,000 and 43,000 soldiers), instantly vaporizing and killing some 70,000 people instantly. Three days later, on August 9, a second atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki (population of approximately 195,000 citizens), where roughly 35,600 people were immediately killed by the blast, flames, and collapsing buildings, all according to the Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics. What could have possibly been the reason behind this mass killing of innocent civilians? During that time, World War II was in full effect, with no signs of stopping anytime soon. The Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor…show more content…
The support behind this is that Japan thought very highly of themselves, and surrender would never be an option. During the war, there were stories of Japanese soldiers’ committing suicide before they had the chance to be captured by oncoming American troops, the point being that they were willing to fight until death for their country, never admitting defeat. Plan B concerning getting Japan out of the war was to actually invade the country, which would have led, according to the page The Decision to Drop the Bomb on the U.S. History Online Textbook, to the deaths of hundreds, maybe thousands of American soldiers. On this same page it is said that “an Allied demand for an immediate unconditional surrender was made to the leadership in Japan.” So, even though Japan wasn’t directly warned about the dropping of the atomic bombs, the country was given the opportunity to surrender, but was the rejection of that request enough to drop the bombs that would kill tens of thousands of people instantly, and cause thousands more to die in the months and years afterwards from starvation, disease, and radiation

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