The Pros And Cons Of The Bombing Of Hiroshima

Three...two...one…¡#@%^! Instantly, 80,000 are dead (Hall). Near the end of World War II on August 6th of 1945, American B-29 aircraft Enola Gay dropped the world’s first atomic bomb, ‘Little Boy,’ on the unsuspecting city of Hiroshima, Japan. Tens of thousands of civilians were instantly killed from the explosion and as time passed, the death toll almost doubled due to exposure to radiation and other aftereffects from the bomb (LeMay & Tibbets). To this day, historians debate over very controversial ideas concerning the attack. Many people justify the use of the nuclear bombs by reasoning that the attack was what broke Japan’s spirit and ended the war. Consequently, one of the debates is over whether or not the Japanese surrendered as
However, the Stalin had already promised the Allies that when Germany was out of the equation, the Red Army would attack Japan along Manchuria. They officially declared war on Japan on August 8th and a day later, the same day the United States dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Soviet Union forces launched a surprise attack against the Japanese and greatly diminished their forces (Cook). The Japanese Supreme War Direction Council had previously refused defeat and would not agree to surrender until further negotiation with the Allies. However, the attack -- code name August Storm -- was “an assault so strong ... that Emperor Hirohito began to plead with his War Council to reconsider surrender” (History.com). Finally, on August 15th, Japan conceded its defeat and officially signed its surrender on September 2nd of
The horrors of August 6th and 9th of 1945 can in some respects, be compared to Sherman’s “March to the Sea” during the Civil War. In both cases, the military’s targeted objectives were not necessarily connected with the war and instead followed the “scorched earth” policy, Hiroshima obviously more so than Sherman’s ordeal. The goal of both of these war aims was to break their opponent's’ spirit. Whether or not they were successful is up to interpretation, though evidence points to not successful in Hiroshima’s case.
The necessity of atomic bombs to end World War II appears like it will be a timeless question that will haunt historians forever, never fully able to be answered. The answer awaits in realm of theory. What if the U.S. never dropped ‘Little Boy’ and the Japanese had surrendered simply because of the involvement of the Soviet Union? The world will never