August 6th, 1945, 70,000 lives were ended in a matter of seconds. The United States had dropped an Atomic Bomb Essay on the city of Hiroshima.
Today many argue over whether or not the US should have taken such a drasticmeasure. Wasit entirely necessary that we drop such a devastating weapon?Yes, it was. First, look at what was going on at the time the decisionwas made. TheU. S had been fighting a massive war since 1941. Morale was most likely low, and resources were probably at the same levelas morale.
However, each side continued to fight, and both were determined towin. Obviously,the best thing that could have possibly have happened would have been to bringthe war to a quick end, with a minimum of casualties. What would have happenedhad the A-bomb not been used? The most obvious thing is that the war would havecontinued. U.
Sforces; therefore, would have had to invade the home island of Japan. Imagine the number of casualties that could have occurred if this wouldhave happened Also,our forces would not only have to fight off the Japanese military, but theywould have to defend themselves against the civilians of Japan as well. It was also a fact that the Japanese government had been equipping thecommoners with any kind of weapon they could get their hands on. It is true thatthis could mean a Japanese citizen could have anything from a gun to a spear,but many unsuspecting soldiers might have fallen victim to a surprise spearattack! Thenumber of deaths that would have occurred would have been much greater, and aninvasion would have taken a much longer period of time. The Japanese would have continued to fight the US with all of what theyhad; spears, guns, knives, whatever they could get their hands on, just as longas they continued to fight the enemy. Asmentioned before, it is a fact that some civilians had been ready to fight ourmilitary with spears!What made it possible that the Japanese would resort to using spears? Whywouldn’t they use guns or other weapons?Well, the truth was, the government just didn’t have the resources togive out a gun to just any citizen.
US naval blockades are one of the major reasons that Japan was so low onresources, and a main point opponents of the decision to drop the bombconstantly bring up. Japan obviously was very low on resources. Japanese civilians were ready to die with spears in their hands, surelythe military would do the same. Besides, the Japanese military did still have some resources to go on.
So again I must bring out the fact that Japan could have continued tofight, and they would have. And I’m sure anyone can realize what would happen if the war continued;more deaths. AdmiralWilliam Leahy, Chief of Staff to President Roosevelt andPresident Truman, wrote, “By the beginning of September 1944, Japanwas almost completely defeated through a practically complete sea and airblockade. ” Ifthat was true, how could they have continued to fight and rack up enemy kills?If the Chief of Staff to the President figured they would soon surrenderaround September 1944; why were they still fighting almost a year later?And how can we be so sure that any other estimates on when the war wouldend would be correct? Basically, we can’t. For all anyone knows, Japan would have kept fighting.
It was the atomic bomb that forced Japan to surrender and in turn savedthousands if not millions of lives. How can anyone be so sure that Japan would continue to fight? No one cansay exactly what would have happened, because let’s face it, no one reallyknows. It’spossible Japan was just about to surrender, but most evidence would not agreewith that statement. I’m sure most have heard of a group of men called the Kamikaze. Kamikazewere “suicide” pilots. They would load an airplane up with explosives and try to nose-dive itinto an enemy target.
Think about what must be on this pilot’s mind. Imagine the undying lovehe must have for his country. He would fight until the end, for his emperor and his country. The scary thing about this is the majority of the Japanese militarythought this way. The fact that the enemy is ready to die so long as you diewith him is not something a soldier wants to think about before going intobattle.
Oncemore I must bring into the picture .
