Was it wrong to drop an atomic bomb on women and children in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Question

Image
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsiarto/144598402/

Video Images
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMkP4T-eqig&mode=related&search=

Aftermath Video + tests that killed US citizens
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SC5FGRGeTA&mode=related&search=

Answer 1

Nope. War is Hell and Japan had numerous opportunities to surrender. It probably saved a lot of American soldiers' lives.

Answer 2

Hmmm...good question. I think the answer would have to be yes and no.



Considering that Iwo Jima was a lost cause and yet the Japanese were determined to kill as many US troops as possible imagine what would have happened with an Allied invasion of Japan itself.



Aside from the regular troops they had 30 million civillians prepared to fight and die for the Emperor, including women and children. Therefore I would say the bombing of Hiroshima could well be justified, although a better military target should have been selected.



However the bombing of Nagasaki I do not agree with. The point had been made with the first bomb. The Japanese were about to surrender. The second bomb appears more to have been about impressing or frightening the Russians than anything to do with hastening the defeat of Japan.

Answer 3

difficult question ... there is a terrific documentary on HBO this month about what happened from the men, women, and children of Hiroshima and Nagasaki's perspective



we did what we did to end the war ... as you know, Japan had just bombed Pearl Harbor (civilians we're killed there as well)



... and it did work, the war ended right there ... its could be argued that if we didn't do it we may all be speaking Japanese today



"my god, what have we done" were the first words out of the pilots mouth after the first bomb hit ... the world changed that day ... we opened Pandora's box ... and from that moment forward the world will forever live in fear of the atomic bomb



but what did we learn? ... hopefully, we learned that we can never let it happen again

Answer 4

Not at all.



How many reasons you need?



1) The conquest of the Japanese main islands would have resulted in the death of millions of people, Japanese and allies alike. Doubt that? Consider that the Japanese were willing to crash their own planes into US ships and planes. What would they have been willing to do if their homeland was threatened with invasion?



2) The firebombing of Tokyo killed more people than the bomb.



3) The Japanese, being far out of range of conventional aircraft, conceived of a terror campaign. They sent over 10,000 ballons out over the Pacific, with the expectation that they would start fires in the US. Had they had a bomb to send instead, they would have used that instead.

Answer 5

I used to think so, until I read about some of the other proposals that were floating to end the war. A traditional invasion was estimated to cost over 5 million Japanese lives and 1 million Americans - there were other plans to continue heavy firebombing which was causing up to 250,000 deaths a day - and there was even a plan to poison the agricultural supply of rice.



Its hard to sympathize with the nation that starts the war and refuses to give up... The Chinese and Koreans were quite glad to see Japan defeated, so its not like America just picked a country out of a hat.



So... how many lives did the atomic bomb save? Unfortunately in the world of war, that's the more accurate question.

Answer 6

1.Japanese military officials were unanimously opposed to any negotiations before the use of the atomic bomb.

2. The bombings ended the war months sooner than would otherwise have been the case, saving many lives that would have been lost on both sides if the planned invasion of Japan had taken place.



The Battle of Okinawa showed this determination to fight on at all costs. More than 120,000 Japanese and 18,000 American troops were killed in the bloodiest battle of the Pacific theater, JUST 8 WEEKS before Japan's final surrender. In fact, more civilians died in the Battle of Okinawa than did in the initial blast of the atomic bombings. When the Soviet Union declared war on Japan on August 8, 1945, and carried out Operation August Storm, the Japanese Imperial Army ordered its ill-supplied and weakened forces in Manchuria to FIGHT TO THE LAST MAN!



Even after the destruction of Nagasaki, the emperor himself needed to intervene to end a deadlock in the cabinet to concede defeat and accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. One of Emperor Hirohito's closest advisors, stated: "We of the peace party were assisted by the atomic bomb in our endeavor to end the war." Hisatsune Sakomizu, the chief Cabinet secretary in 1945, called the bombing "a golden opportunity given by heaven for Japan to end the war."

Answer 7

the atomic bombs, while they exploded, radiated extensive clouds of airborne dirt and mud and staggering bursts of radiation, so great, that any dermis that replaced into uncovered throughout the time of the flash of sunshine on the instant have been given third degree burns (wait, or is it 1st, i'm uncertain, it incredibly is like the main extreme burns). human beings, hundreds and thousands and thousands of harmless human beings: youngsters, old human beings, mothers, fathers, even little little ones have been incredibly fried instant. Then, over the path of the month or so as that it took for the radiation to disperce, all that radiation replaced into putting over their heads, seeping into their bodies with each 2nd, inflicting all kinds of mutations in them, or perhaps worse of their youngsters. plus, so some distance as i remember, the bombs weren't even necessary. the two japan replaced into already like 0.5 an afternoon removed from resign having sent human beings to offer up already, or that they had already surrenderred (i'm uncertain which one, i'm no longer likely an authority on the international conflict, fairly no longer the yank area of it, srry). ) besides, i'm hoping that helped. :)

Answer 8

Mr. negative is back. The entire country of Japan was at war with the US and all of the western Pacific nations. The country was a war machine. The early estimates were that the US would lose a million soldiers in the process of defeating the home islands.

Dropping the bombs was clearly the right decision. Only someone looking to be troublesome would see it any other way.

Answer 9

A certain element of society would have us believe that we had no right to even kill the japanese. They started a war with the US and were defeated after these two bombings. Up until that point it was death after death and would have continued for another year had it not been for the bombs.

Anyone that can look at Pearl Harbour and not believe we had the right to do whatever we wanted is at a loss for reasonable comprehension.

Answer 10

This is going to sound odd, but no.



The Japanese had quite the resolve. Though we were pushing forward they wouldn't give up. They'd fly planes into us instead. All the bombing we had previously done wasn't making an impression. Two big ones made the impression and the war ended. Think of how many lives it may have saved compared to if the war had continued.



We don't make or use powerful weapons with the goal of killing. We make them with the goal of protecting our own people.

Answer 11

Whether or not it was wrong, it's been done and there's not much you can do about it regardless of how many people in Japan it screwed up.



The US gov't had done a lot of wrongs, but this may have been a necessary wrong. The test with the US Soldiers being exposed was definitely unnecessary, they could have done something else.

Answer 12

No.



US Casualties at Hiroshima: 0

Japanese casualties at Hiroshima: roughly 70,000



US Casualties at Nagasaki: 0

Japanese casualties at Hiroshima: roughly 40,000



Estimated for Operation Downfall (invasion of Japanese home islands)

US Casualties: 400,000-800,000

Japanese casualties: 5,000,000 - 10,000,000



You do the math. Whether they die of an atomic bomb blast, radiation sickness, or a bullet thru the brain, dead is dead.

Answer 13

There is evidence that Albert Einstein resented writing a letter to FDR.



At first I would had said no and now I say yes.



Nations fear whoever is the most powerful irregardless of their ideology.

Answer 14

No. It saved a ton of american lives that otherwise would have been wasted on a already won war.

Answer 15

No, it was not wrong. It saved tens of thousands of lives on both sides including my granddad's life who survived Pearl Harbor and fought in the Pacific Theater.

Answer 16

Yes. It was also wrong to firebomb Dresden. These were acts of mass murder.

Answer 17

No. Japan was the agressor against the US. Their servicemen brutally slaughtered and tortured many US military men. They had no sense of right or wrong in that war. It would have dragged on and on absent the bomb.

Answer 18

No one wanted this to occur, but compare it to sending 500,000 of our troops to invade Japan, and fighting an enemy that had proven itself to fighting to the death, and I can appreciate why we did what we did.



It probably saved more lives than it took

Answer 19

No complaints about firebombing Dresden?

Answer 20

Of course not. Many more people would have died had a mainland invasion taken place.



Oh! I see...you were trying to manipulate us through guilt. *bzzt* Try again.

Answer 21

Yes.

Answer 22

I wasn't at Pearl Harbor so it's hard to comprehend, but in hindsight maybe the U.S. could have used another method to defend our nation.

Answer 23

Yes it was wrong,,, as humanity evolves we might learn to communicate between cultures rather than war... greed and selfishness is the root of all wars.... normally rallied under the flag of patriotism or religion,,,,

Answer 24

No. Not if it saved one American life.



It did.

Answer 25

Of course, the only thing worse than the suffering of the people the bombs killed, was the suffering for decades after that. We (I) live in a horrible, evil nation that is completely and totally power hungry!

Answer 26

it saved a million servicemen lives. you do the math.