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What led the united States to use atomic weapons against Japan?
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
Japan refused to surrender after her cities were burned to the ground and the bloody battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Dropping the Atomic Bombs was the ONLY way to get the Japanese people to surrender. It was either drop the Atomic Bombs and end the war in 1945, OR, INVADE Japan and lose hundreds of thousands or millions of people and prolong the war for another Year.
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
Wiki User
∙ 7y agoIn a 1986 study, historian and journalist Edwin P. Hoyt nailed the "great myth, perpetuated by well-meaning people throughout the world," that "the atomic bomb caused the surrender of Japan." In Japan's War: The Great Pacific Conflict(p. 420), he explained:
"The fact is that as far as the Japanese militarists were concerned, the atomic bomb was just another weapon. The two atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were icing on the cake, and did not do as much damage as the firebombings of Japanese cities. The B-29 firebombing campaign had brought the destruction of 3,100,000 homes, leaving 15 million people homeless, and killing about a million of them. It was the ruthless firebombing, and Hirohito's realization that if necessary the Allies would completely destroy Japan and kill every Japanese to achieve "unconditional surrender" that persuaded him to the decision to end the war. The atomic bomb is indeed a fearsome weapon, but it was not the cause of Japan's surrender, even though the myth persists even to this day."
In a trenchant new book, The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb (Praeger, 1996), historian Dennis D. Wainstock concludes that the bombings were not only unnecessary, but were based on a vengeful policy that actually harmed American interests. He writes (pp. 124, 132):
... By April 1945, Japan's leaders realized that the war was lost. Their main stumbling block to surrender was the United States' insistence on unconditional surrender. They specifically needed to know whether the United States would allow Hirohito to remain on the throne. They feared that the United States would depose him, try him as a war criminal, or even execute him ... Unconditional surrender was a policy of revenge, and it hurt America's national self-interest. It prolonged the war in both Europe and East Asia, and it helped to expand Soviet power in those areas. General Douglas MacArthur, Commander of US Army forces in the Pacific, stated on numerous occasions before his death that the atomic bomb was completely unnecessary from a military point of view: "My staff was unanimous in believing that Japan was on the point of collapse and surrender." General Curtis LeMay, who had pioneered precision bombing of Germany and Japan (and who later headed the Strategic Air Command and served as Air Force chief of staff), put it most succinctly: "The atomic bomb had nothing to do with the end of the war.
Source: Weber, Mark "Was Hiroshima Necessary? Why the Atomic Bombings could have been avoided" The Journal of Historical Review, May-June 1997 (Vol. 16, No. 3), pages 4-11.
Wiki User
∙ 11y agowell o whoever wrot the last answer you are the stupidest person ever lived because you don't know the answer that's why you come up with stupid answers!
Wiki User
∙ 11y agoEverything they did in the war.
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Who uses atomic weapons?
The United States has used atomic bombs as weapons .
Where did the United States drop the atomic bombs?
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
What is the only nation to ever have used nuclear weapons against another country?
The United States of America against the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima
Which best describes the US' policy toward Iraq in the 1980's?
The United States suppported the fight against IranThe United States sold Iraq a huge arsenal of weapons.
Does America still have Atomic bombs?
Yes the United States still as nuclear weapons other countries with nuclear capability include Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and possibly Israel.
Who uses atomic weapons?
The United States has used atomic bombs as weapons .
The US dropped atomic bombs on hiroshima and what other country?
The United States dropped atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki both being cities of Japan. There was no other country were atomic weapons had been used against mankind.
Where did the United States drop the atomic bombs?
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
What country used nuclear weapons offensively?
The United States used the atomic bomb offensively during WWII. That is pretty close to nuclear weapons.
What was the only country to use nuclear weapons in a war?
Actually, the United States used atomic bombs to end WWII against Japan. Two bombs were dropped in 1945, one on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki.
Which best describes how the US interacted with Iraq in the 1980s?
The United States supported its fight against Iran. They were trade partners. The United States sold Iraq a huge arsenal of weapons. The United States supported its fight against Iran.
What has the author John P Rose written?
John P. Rose has written: 'The evolution of U.S. Army nuclear doctrine, 1945-1980' -- subject(s): Atomic warfare, History, Military policy, Nuclear warfare, Tactical Atomic weapons, Tactical nuclear weapons, United States, United States. Army
What role did atomic weapons play in cold war?
Atomic weapons played a major role in fear, but were never actually used in the Cold War. There were multiple instances in which the Soviet Union and United States threatened each other with atomic weapons, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, but overall no Atomic weapons were ever used on enemy countries which is how the Cold War stayed cold.
Who would win in an war against the US and India?
The United States, though both have nuclear weapons.
Who was the third country to have the atomic bomb?
The third country to be legally accused of having nuclear weapons was the United Kingdom, right after the United States and the Former Soviet Union.
What was the only nation to ever use atomic nuclear weapons?
The United States of America, when they dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
Why is hiroshima historically significant to japan and the world?
It was the first place that atomic weapons were used in wartime, when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city, destroying it, on 6 August 1945.
