Atomic Bomb Dbq Analysis

On the morning of August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. On August 9, 1945, the second atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. Thousands died instantaneously while many more died from radiation exposure from the bombs. The use of the atomic weapons was unnecessary due to the fact the Japan’s military was greatly weakened and ready to surrender, thousands of innocent lives were sacrificed simply for political power, and there could have been alternatives to cease the war.
After their losses at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, Japan’s military had weakened greatly. In Doc D, a Japanese soldier even admits that the Japanese were on their way to defeat. The Japanese had lost a large portion of their air corps and navy. They were rendered powerless in the skies and the water. In Doc C, you can see the Japanese desperation as they attack U.S. ships
nearing the end of the war. They knew they weren’t going to win and tried to create as many U.S. casualties and possible with what was left of their navy. Eventually, several Japanese mainland cities, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Kon, were demolished by bombings. Thousands of civilians were killed by these air strikes. In Doc K, Admiral William D. Leahy stated that Japan was already defeated due to the successful sea blockade and bombing with conventional weapons. The United States Strategic Bomb Survey in 1946 even stated “Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped.”
In Doc G, one of the crewmembers of the Enola Gay stated “Good God, how could anyone survive that down there?” It is clear they were aware of their intentions when they were dropping the bombs.
They clearly wouldn’t have wished this horrific act upon themselves so why wish it upon someone else? Almost 70,000 civilians were killed instantly from the blast and thousands more were killed by crumbling buildings. The weeks following the disaster, many more innocent lives were lost due to radiation poisoning. The few that managed to live suffered severe burns, injuries, and mutations from the radiation exposure. In Doc L, Colonel Tibbets reveals that he thought he was doing more good than bad when he says “I have been convinced that we saved more lives than we took,” and in Doc I, President Truman states “We have used it against those who attacked without warning at Pearl Harbor…” In reality, the casualties from Hiroshima alone outnumbered those of Pearl Harbor considerably. They fought fire with fire to solve the problem, but it just created even more destruction that could have been
avoided.
President Truman had thought of many alternative ways to end the war. One alternative was to hold a demonstration bombing would have convinced Japan's leaders to quit and it wouldn’t have killed that many people. If the Japanese government and military had witnessed the capability of the bomb, it might have convinced them to end their resistance. Another alternative was to wait for the Soviet Union to join the war. In World War II the U.S. and U.S.S.R formed an alliance against Nazi Germany and due to this alliance, the Soviet Union confirmed they would declare war on Japan on August 15. If the Soviet Union were to enter the war against Japan, the Japanese would be outnumbered and realize that defeat was inevitable.

The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was an unnecessary action taken by President Truman to conclude the war. The bombings were unnecessary because Japan knew they would have to surrender soon due to their weakened military, many civilians had to suffer and pay the cost because of the need for political power, and there were other ways we could have stopped the war with less devastation.