Why did the us bomb hiroshima
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In the small hours of a warm summer day, the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay flew from a US base on Tinian over the Japanese mainland. In the hold was an experimental bomb, codenamed Little Boy. The target: Hiroshima. In Hiroshima the air raid sirens had sounded twice that morning already. On both occasions the all clear followed swiftly. Enola Gay faced no resistance as it dropped the bomb. Forty five seconds later the city was destroyed in a blinding instant. Eighty thousand men, women and children were killed and tens of thousands wounded, disfigured
and poisoned by radiation from the bomb. Three days later, another nuclear bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. A week later, Japan surrendered. The bomb brought World War Two to a sudden end, but was it right to use it? The bomb was dropped to force a quick Japanese surrender. American commanders said it would save money and the lives of American servicemen and Japanese soldiers and civilians too. They said that to continue the war for weeks or months with conventional bombing and a US land invasion could have caused millions of Japanese deaths. President Truman justified his decision by pointing to the unprovoked Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and the murder of American
prisoners. A few days after the bombing he wrote: “When you have to deal with a beast you have to treat him as a beast.” The development
of the bomb cost billions of dollars, and American leaders wanted to justify the expense. They wanted to demonstrate to the Japanese that they faced overwhelmingly superior forces. They also wanted their new rivals, the Soviet Union, to see their powerful new weapon in action. In 1945, the idea of just war was firmly established in international law. In a just war, only combatants may be specifically targeted. Harm caused to civilians must be proportional to military ends and any harm caused must be necessary for the achievement of military goals. However, some argue that all citizens contribute to the war effort
and can be a legitimate target in some cases. General Curtis Le May (US Air Force), Toshikazu Kase (Japanese Foreign Ministry) and Averell Harriman (US
Ambassador to Russia) discuss their opinions on the bomb. Clip: World at War (Fremantle Media). Click or tap each of the icons below to discover some of the surprising things key people thought at the time. In this video, photographer Yoshito Matsushige describes what it felt like to be in Hiroshima immediately after the explosion. His photographs are the only known images taken in the city on the day of the bombing. Clip: Days that Shook the World: Hiroshima (BBC Two, 2003) Learn more about this topic:A New Kind of WarfareHiroshima and Nagasaki were experiments in a new kind of warfare, whose full implications were not entirely understood at the time. The bombing of these cities in August 1945 brought an end to the Second World War, but at a terrible cost to the Japanese civilian population, and signalling the dawn of the nuclear age. What had led to the fateful decision to deploy these new weapons of mass destruction? RELATED CONTENTFirst World War IWM StoriesIWM Stories tackle the big conflict questions that you want answered. From First World War tanks to Churchill's election disaster. Second World War Victory 75Commemorate 75 years since the end of the Second World War in Europe and remember the personal stories of people who stood together during a time of national crisis. World War II was fought by millions of people in all corners of the world. There were battles and military posts in surprising places. The Caribbean and Central America, Greenland, Alaska, and the Aleutian Islands, Iraq, Syria, Burma, and the Arctic
are a few of the little known places that were involved. Every major country of the time was involved in the war. Conflict in the Pacific began well before the official start of World War II. Seeking raw materials to fuel its growing industries, Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. By 1937 Japan controlled large sections of China and accusations of war crimes against the Chinese people became commonplace. At this time, several treaties were in place to limit the size of
navies in the Pacific Ocean. In 1934, Japan ended its cooperation with other major powers in the Pacific by withdrawing from the Five Power Treaty. The United States, along with other countries, criticized Japanese aggression but shied away from any economic or military punishments. Relations between the United States and Japan worsened when Japanese forces took aim at Indochina with the goal of capturing oil rich areas of the East Indies. Responding to this threat, the United States
placed an embargo on scrap metal, oil, and aviation fuel heading to Japan and froze Japanese assets in the United States. Furthermore, the United States demanded that the Japanese withdraw from conquered areas of China and Indochina. Japan, sensing conflict was inevitable, began planning for an attack on Pearl Harbor by April, 1941. The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, brought the United States officially into World War II. In the surprise attack, Japan sunk several
ships, destroyed hundreds of planes and ended thousands of lives. The Japanese goal was to cripple the U.S. Pacific fleet, and they nearly succeeded. President Franklin Roosevelt called the attack “a day which will live in infamy,” and the American people were shocked and angered. The ensuing war was costly. Years of fighting brought the US armed forces closer and closer to Japan as they “hopped” from one island to another. The Japanese were vicious fighters, however, and every victory
cost more time, material, and, sadly, lives. The last major battle, the fight for Okinawa, lasted almost three months and took more than 100,000 Japanese and American lives. After President Roosevelt died on April 12th, 1945, it became Harry Truman’s job to decide how to end the war. The thought of invading Japan gave Truman and his advisors pause. The war had shown that the Japanese were fighting for the Emperor who convinced them that it was better to die than surrender. Women and
children had been taught how to kill with basic weapons. Japanese kamikaze pilots could turn planes into guided missiles. The cost of invasion, they knew, would be high. Upon becoming president, Harry Truman learned of the Manhattan Project, a secret scientific effort to create an atomic bomb. After a successful test of the weapon, Truman issued the Potsdam Declaration demanding the unconditional surrender of the Japanese government, warning of “prompt and utter destruction.” Eleven days
later, on August 6, 1945, having received no reply, an American bomber called the Enola Gay left the Tinian Island in route toward Japan. In the belly of the bomber was “Little Boy,” an atomic bomb. At 8:15 am Hiroshima time, “Little Boy” was dropped. The result was approximately 80,000 deaths in just the first few minutes. Thousands died later from radiation sickness. On August 9, 1945, another bomber was in route to Japan, only this time they were heading for Nagasaki with “Fat Man,” another
atomic bomb. After the first minute of dropping “Fat Man,” 39,000 men, women and children were killed. 25,000 more were injured. Both cities were leveled from the bombs and this, in turn, forced Japan to surrender to the United States. The war was finally over. Today, historians continue to debate this decision. Was there another way to end the war? Key QuestionIf you were President Truman in 1945, would you have dropped the bomb? DirectionsMaterialsDocuments to be examined:
Why did the US drop the Hiroshima bomb?In order to avoid such a high casualty rate, Truman decided–over the moral reservations of Secretary of War Henry Stimson, General Dwight Eisenhower and a number of the Manhattan Project scientists–to use the atomic bomb in the hopes of bringing the war to a quick end.
What are 3 reasons why the US used the atomic bomb on Japan?Summary of Possible Reasons:. Ending the war early while minimizing casualties.. Justifying the expenses of the Manhattan Project (creating the bomb). Simply using the bomb because it existed and to test its effects.. Impressing the Soviet Union.. A response to Pearl Harbor.. Forcing Japan to surrender.. Why did the US want to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki?It is possible that U.S. President Harry Truman ordered the atomic bomb to be dropped on Nagasaki not only to further force Japan to surrender but also to keep the Soviets out of Japan by displaying American military power.
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