Dropping Of The Atomic Bomb On Hiroshima example essay topic

Was America justified in dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima? With the war in Europe ending shortly after Adolf Hitler committing suicide in his office, America is under pressure to end the war in Asia but Japan is still putting up fierce resistance. On August 6, around 8: 00 AM, an American B-29 flew over Hiroshima, Japan carrying the world's most feared weapons, a weapon which can flatten a whole city in seconds, Equivalent to 13 kilotons of TNT. This new technology is called an atomic bomb.

The primary target of "Little Boy" (the atomic bomb) was Hiroshima, Japan. Hiroshima was of industrial and military significance. A number of military camps were located nearby, including the headquarters of the Fifth Division and Field Marshal Shun roku Hata's 2nd General Army Headquarters, which commanded the defense of all of southern Japan. Hiroshima was a strategic military position and it was critical that America captured it. Hiroshima was one of several Japanese cities left deliberately untouched by American fire-bombing, so America could measure the damage caused by the atomic bomb. As the pressure is building up in the war in Asia, the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was more necessary because it will bring the war in Asia to an end so American troops can go home along with troops from Europe.

America had calculated that 500,000 to 1,000,000 American troops would be killed in order to mount a successful full scale invasion of Japan. Those figures do not include Japanese troops and civilians which could be killed during the fighting in Japan. Also, America wanted revenge from the Japanese for the surprise bombing at Pearl Harbor. Immediate use of the atomic bomb after it being invented convinced the world of its horror and prevented future use when nuclear stockpiles were far larger. Along side with that reason, the two target cities would have been firebombed anyway and it was only a matter of time that Hiroshima would be destroyed entirely.

With only two bombs ready and one under construction by late August 1945, it was too risky to "waste" one in a demonstration over an unpopulated area. The final and most important is that America had to keep the USSR military forces out of Asia incase of the USSR spreads communism throughout China, Manchuria and Korea whilst moving towards Japan. America should not have dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima because the bomb had killed millions of innocent Japanese civilians and just instantly turned them into ash, only a shadow was left of them. If children had went into bomb shelters and survived, they would not live for long because of the radiation scattered throughout the blast radius.

Radiation scattered throughout Hiroshima will kill a further billion as a result. Also, they would be made orphans because their parents have been turned into nothing. The atomic bomb was very harsh, flattening all property in blast radius and people will be burnt alive. Japan was already seeking peace to many countries and more than 60 of its cities had been destroyed by conventional bombing, the home islands were being blockaded by the American navy, and the USSR entered the war in Asia by attacking Japanese troops occupying Manchuria. American refusal to modify its "unconditional surrender" demand made the Japanese even put up more resistance. If America demonstrated an explosion over Tokyo harbor would have convinced Japan's leaders to quit without killing many people and cause them to suffer immense pain.

The bomb was very expensive to make and develop. It used 2 billion US dollars to invent and make the atomic bomb. The conventional firebombing would have caused just as much damage to the city without making America the first nation to use nuclear weapons. The second bomb was totally unnecessary; America did not give enough time for the word to filter out before bombing Nagasaki. The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was totally unnecessary.

In conclusion, I believe that America was not justified in dropping the Atomic bombs on Japan. I believe in this because of several factors, millions of innocent people died from this atomic bomb. Innocent children suffering from diseases, radiation effects and more lethal consequences they were not supposed to suffer. Even though America had several points to drop the atomic bomb, there was still more points for not dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Consequently, I conclude that America was not justified in the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.