Why Did The Atomic Bomb Attacks

The raids on the Japanese mainland were considered just as controversial as those on Europe. For example, on the night of the 9/10 March 1945, the US air force bombed Tokyo, with incendiary (fire) bombs. As Japan’s air force had been almost obliterated by March 1945, the US B29 bombers flew over Tokyo with no opposition from the Japanese Air Force meaning that Americans could drop all their weapons on Tokyo causing optimal damage to the Capital of Japan. As most of Tokyo’s buildings were made of wood, the incendiary bombs burned the city down causing the deaths of around 100,000 people14.
The most well-known raid on the Japanese mainland was the raid on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the atomic bomb on during August 1945. In the religious community, the atomic bombing raids on Japan were heavily criticised. For Example, Pope Pius XII said that “every act of war directed to the indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants is a crime against God and man.” As a result,
However, recent research by historians has shown inconsistencies between the memoirs of Truman and declassified secret documents from the US government where the number of US lives saved due to the atomic bombs was at the most 20,000 and some estimates put the number of lives saved lower at maybe hundreds or tens. This is because the Japanese military in August 1945 was very weak due to the fact it had a minimal air force reduced to using kamikaze attacks to destroy US ships and an army which would use suicide ‘bonsai’ tactics against ground troops. Though many Americans were killed as a result of the suicide tactics, it showed the desperation of the Japanese army in