Atomic Bomb Attacks On Hiroshima And Nagasaki example essay topic

The Atomic Choice The atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been at the heart of a heated debate. The United States should have chosen an alternate path to end their conflict with Japan during World War II, saving hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilian lives. The Spokesmen of the United States Air Force said the atomic bomb wasn't needed for the victory of this war, that the war was already won and the use of the atomic bomb was unnecessary. Our country has created a negative impression on the rest of the world by stretching the margin for other countries to build and use weapons of mass destruction. The Truman administration is responsible for misusing this atomic weapon. This weapon has taken the lives of more then 100,000 people during the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima using "Little Boy" and "Fat man", nicknames of atomic bombs used on these 2 cities.

After the first atomic bomb, "Fat man", was dropped on Hiroshima, fires were sparked and many burned to death and others died due to radiation. Many survivors had symptoms of epilating that caused hair loss due to the radiation. Some had serious burns from the atomic precipitation, which deeply got into the skin causing Keloid's, which are heat burns. Even after 10 years of the bombings studies show that there has been an increase of diagnosed cancers from thyroid to breast to stomach cancer, which are all after effects of the bombings of this atomic invention. Differences between the United States and Japan surfaced in the early 1930's. Main reasons for their differences came from the nation of China.

Japan conquered a city of china called Manchuria in 1931 and began trying. The next action Japan took was joining the Axis Powers, which consisted of fascist Germany and Italy, automatically making Japan an official enemy of the United States. The U.S. increased its military presence in China and brought aid to China. The U.S. strengthened its force in the Pacific Ocean therefore leading to the cutting of oil and natural resources to Japan. Japan saw this as a threat to it's country and survival, so they then tried to gain back some natural resources from their conquered neighboring lands of the pacific.

All these actions going back and forth from Japan and the U.S. increased their dissimilarities to a level of war. In the early months of 1941 Japan started developing n air force and initiated training for their sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Japanese admiral Iso roku Yamamoto was the individual who devised the plan to carry out the sneak attack on the United States. When Japan first launched their attack at six in the morning some U.S. officials in the surrounding area reported suspicious activity. The U.S. Navy spotted an unrecognized submarine and sunk it the early morning hours before Pearl Harbor was attacked. At this time it was acknowledged that an attack was designate to occur and it was too late for the United States to have a strong enough response to challenge the Japanese at this point.

As a result of this attack the United States had no choice but to enter World War II. Germany was the first country heard of, running development of the atomic bomb. The United States then followed and started a Project called "The Manhattan Project" with scientist who managed to escape from Germany's grasp. The U.S. felt they needed to develop this kind of weapon of mass destruction before Germany or Japan did. General Leslie R. Groves was appointed the responsibility of running this exclusive top-secret operation.

A Hungarian physicist by the name of Leo Szilard helped convince Albert Einstein to sign a document, informing president Roosevelt to create the Manhattan Project. This project was lead by German scientists scared that Germany and fascism would use the atomic technology to control the world, so they fled Germany with their discoveries and brought their findings to Washington. 3 Albert Einstein played a major role in the development of the atomic bomb and also passed judgments towards war strategies and thoughts on usage of the atomic bomb. He felt "If president Roosevelt had still been there, none of that would have been possible.

He would have forbidden such an act". 4 Yet he also stated "A desire to end the war in the Pacific by any means before Russia's participation". This leads me to believe that there were many mixed feelings and reactions on the atomic bomb, its creation and its use. The atomic bomb all started with a man called James Chadwick.

Chadwick was the first scientist to discover the neutron. After a couple of years, a scientist by the name of Enrico Fermi furthered Chadwick's early discoveries. Fermi added neutrons to uranium hoping to have a new element on the periodic table. He achieved this and made neutrons which have a higher energy potential.

Later on German scientist discovered that Fermi in fact did not make a new element, instead he split the uranium in two. During this discovery they knew they had found something of powerful proportions. The U.S. then started designing and building uranium and plutonium bombs in New Mexico. These group of scientist included American scientist and European refugees. Shortly after, the first nuclear bomb was tested, taking place on July 16, 1945 in New Mexico.

This bomb was made out of plutonium and was named "Trinity". The first uranium bomb was never tested and just given to the U.S. Army. This uranium bomb was "Little Boy", the first atomic bomb that the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima Japan on August 6, 1945. The bomb that destroyed Hiroshima killed at least 70,000 inhabitants and the second bomb dropped on Nagasaki killed at least 35,000 inhabitants, not including the civilians who died of health reasons due to the radiation, the debris and fires that polluted the city. These two isolated incidents led to Japans final surrender, although some U.S. officials claim Japan already planned on surrendering weeks prior to those 2 attacks. 5 In World War II, the U.S. launched several varieties of guerilla and commando campaigns that were there to annoy Axis Forces while they gained intelligence and support to the rest of the U.S. armed forces.

The U.S. invaded France and began the attack while other American forces were moving into deep German territory. Americans were in the Philippines penetrating through the country at the same time battles were erupting on European soil. "Tokyo rocks under the weight of our bombs... I want the entire world to know that this direction must and will remain - unchanged and unhampered, Our demand has been and it remains - unconditional surrender". 6 This is just one example of the barbaric side of Harry Truman and how his gun hoe mentality brought about the dropping of the atomic bombs. During World War II the United States lost 500,000 men, all which were armed forces.

Japan on the other hand lost 2 million people in general. Many were women, children, as well as military forces. USSR lost the most lives with the toll at 21,300,000 lives and China in second place with 11,234,000 lives. The United States already had gained momentum and power over Japan and if they didn't decide to drop those 2 bombs.

The States Department of the U.S. wanted the President to release a statement that would be issued as a warning, which could have been used and depending on Japan's reaction it could have very well saved hundreds of thousands of lives. .".. That certainly prior to 31 December 1945, and in all probability prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated". 7 This position was backed by many throughout the world and mentioned even by United States army men and some air force officials. Lots of Americans also opposed this kind of attack. Which brings us to the bombing of Nagasaki, which is the second Atomic Attack that occurred 3 days after the Hiroshima assault.

"It has since been contended, and with perseverance, that even if the drop on Hiroshima was justified by its purpose and results, that the second drop on Nagasaki was not. For the exponent of this opinion think that if right after Hiroshima the American government had made it clear, as they did later, that the Japanese authorities could retain the Emperor, they would have surrendered; and hence the destruction of Nagasaki was unnecessary". 8 This is the view of many service men and critics of the attacks. These attacks did indeed destroy the dynasty that Japan had boomed. Some say if the U.S. did not resort to these attacks we could still have won the war, but the Japanese dynasty would still exist, which is one reason why many feel the first bombing on Hiroshima can be justified. To drop the second atomic bomb "Fat man" was truly unnecessary and the world started to view the U.S. in a different way.

"The decision to use the atomic bombs, then, reflected a complex of domestic and international political forces affecting the U.S. government. It was based on political rather then moral grounds, although the action was described sincerely, perhaps in moral terms". 9 Had this decision been made strictly under moral grounds, things would have been done differently. One strong argument pertaining the attack on Japan was the underlying Russian, U.S. tensions that existed during WWII. It is said that the alternate decision to the bomb could have been the Soviet declaration of war on Japan". 10 The Internal War Departments report concluded the Atomic Bomb had not been needed to end the war".

The reason for this is "Had the Atomic Bomb not been available or not been used, it is almost a certainty that the Japanese would have capitulated upon the entry of Russia into the war". 10 It is said that Japan was not able to fight Russia as easily as it did the U.S. and Britain because of the fact that their Red Army had been very dominant and with these three powers teaming up, Japan had no way of winning. Even the Ambassador Sato of Japan reinstated this argument in June 8, 1945 with a message to Foreign Minister Togo that stated "If Russia by some chance should suddenly decide to take advantage of our weakness and intervene against us with force of arms, we would be in a completely hopeless situation. It is clear as day that the Imperial Army in Manchukuo would be completely unable to oppose the Red Army which has won a great victory and is superior to us on all points". 11 Japan understood that Russia's entrance in war against them would have obviously ended in absolute defeat. In addition, a Russian entry in the war with Japan would give Russia the right to engage itself to the redevelopment of Japan, which is a threat to the United States because Russia would be in the position to influence communism in Japan and neighboring countries.

So the attacks and "possession of the bomb would enable the United States, and not the USSR, to control postwar policy". 12 Other surfacing documentation was Truman's journal entries after World War II. "We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. It may be the fire destruction prophesied in the Euphrates Valley Era... It seems to be the most terrible thing ever discovered" Truman shows a major change in thought with feelings of regret and resentment after the attacks occur.

Even after a Cabinet discussion that took place one day after Nagasaki, Truman declared there would be no more atomic bombing, that the idea of killing another 100,000 people was too horrible". This quotation does not need any elaboration. It speaks for itself. Truman definitely regrets the use of the bombs. To top it off, six months later Truman had a conversation with the Atomic Energy Commission chairman and in this conversation Truman states, "It is a terrible weapon and it should not be used on innocent men, women and children who have nothing to do with this military aggression -that happens when it is used".

13 This statement shows Truman's agreement that the atomic weapons were used in criminal way and should not be used in the future. Many documents had been hidden for decades about the decision to drop the Atomic Bombs and the facts plus documents give more leeway to the truth of the final decision to drop the bombs. Even though the United States thought the atomic bomb would be the answer to all of their war problems, it turned out to cause mass destruction, more than they had planned. Many innocent Japanese civilians died and were injured due to the attacks. A more ethical decision could have been made besides the dropping of the atomic bombs. Not much of an effort was made to come up with another solution.

These attacks seemed to be for more of more spontaneous and vengefully rather than thought out clearly and rationally. To destroy as many people as was in Hiroshima and Nagasaki is not appropriate and not justified by any means. The Japanese government was at fault, so why should innocent civilians suffer? This goes for any country were many civilians do not have a say in what actions are taken in political and military power. End Notes 1. Health and Welfare Office for Atomic Bomb Victims and Persons with Poison Gas Disabilities, Hiroshima Prefectural Government web 2.

Health and Welfare Office for Atomic Bomb Victims and Persons with Poison Gas Disabilities, Hiroshima Prefectural Government web 3. Walter Schoenberger, Decision of Destiny, National Graphics, Columbus, Ohio, 1969 pgs. 6-9 4. Ronald W Clark, Einstein: The Life and Times, Mass Market, 1999 pg. 32 5.

Bryan McNulty, The great atomic bomb debate web 6. Walter Schoenberger, Decision of Destiny, National Graphics, Columbus, Ohio, 1969 pg. 109 7. Herbert Feis, The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II, Princeton University Press, Princeton New Jersey, 1966, pg. 191 8. Herbert Feis, The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II, Princeton University Press, Princeton New Jersey, 1966, pg. 199 9. Walter Schoenberger, Decision of Destiny, National Graphics, Columbus, Ohio, 1969 pg. 307 10.

Gar Alperrovitz, The Decision to Use The Atomic Bomb and the Architecture of an American Myth, Alfred A Knopf Inc, New York, 1995, pg. 83 11. Gar Alperrovitz, The Decision to Use The Atomic Bomb and the Architecture of an American Myth, Alfred A Knopf Inc, New York, 1995, pg. 85 12. American Institute of Physics, The Manhattan Project, 2003 web 13. Gar Alperrovitz, The Decision to Use The Atomic Bomb and the Architecture of an American Myth, Alfred A Knopf Inc, New York, 1995, pgs. 566-567

Bibliography

Alperrovitz Gar, The Decision to Use The Atomic Bomb and the Architecture of an American Myth. Alfred A. Knopf Inc. New York, 1995 American Institute of Physics, The Manhattan Project, 2003 web American Institute of Physics, Image and Impact.
1996-2003 web Clark, Ronald W, Einstein: The Life and Times.
Mass Market, 1999 Feis Herbert, The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II.
Princeton University Press, Princeton New Jersey, 1966 HiC are, Major Effects of Atomic Bomb, Health and Welfare Office for Atomic Bomb Victims and Persons with Poison Gas Disabilities, Hiroshima Prefectural Government web McNulty Bryan, The Great Atomic Bomb Debate web.