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Since nuclear weapons were developed during World War II, they have been used
on only two occasions. On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped a 13-kiloton "gun-type"
uranium bomb on the Japanese city of
Hiroshima, killing an estimated 100,000 people. The second detonation
came three days later on August 9, 1945, when a 20-kiloton "implosion-type" plutonium bomb was used on
Nagasaki, killing 70,000 people. Since then, debate has surrounded the
question of whether the use of nuclear weapons was necessary for ending the war
between the United States and Japan.
Arguments supporting the use of the bombs.
Many believe that the
dropping of the two atomic bombs was necessary to bring about the end of the
Second World War in the Pacific. Allied forces had planned a two-phased
invasion of the Japanese home islands. The invasion was to begin with the
capture of the western island of Kyushu in the fall of 1945. An invasion
of the main island of Honshu would follow in spring of 1946. Allied
commanders anticipated friendly casualties to approach one million men, with
Japanese military and civilian losses to be even greater. The dropping of
the atomic bombs, some argue, made these invasions unnecessary, and saved the
lives of hundreds of thousands of American and allied servicemen. In
President Truman's address to the American people, in which he announced the
bombing of Hiroshima, President Truman justified the bombing saying that it had brought retribution for
the Japanese sneak attack at Pearl Harbor. Supporters of Truman's decision
believe that Japan surrendered only because of the atomic bombings. As a
result, a war that
had claimed millions of lives across Asia and the Pacific finally came to an
end.
Arguments against the use of the bombs. Opponents of the decision to
use the atomic bombs claim that Japan had already been militarily defeated by
the summer of 1945, and could no longer effectively wage war. The Japanese
Imperial Navy no longer possessed a single battleship, and Japan's air defenses
could not prevent American heavy bombers from making daily air raids against
Japanese cities. Some also refer to the fact that Japanese diplomats had
contacted the Soviet Union months before the bombings, seeking help in reaching
peace with the Allies. The only condition that the Japanese placed upon
complete surrender was that Emperor Hirohito retain his title. This would allow the
Japanese Imperial Dynasty, which had served as the cultural and spiritual
leaders of Japan for 124 generations, to continue. The bombings, opponents
argue, were therefore not primarily intended to force Japan to surrender, as
Japan's surrender was imminent. More likely, opponents argue, the bombings were intended to serve as a demonstration of
U.S. power to the Soviet
Union and to enhance the United States' position after the war had ended. Another common
argument notes that, necessary or not, the bombings were a crime against
humanity. The vast majority of the victims were non-combatants—women,
children, and elderly men. Opponents of the decision to use the bombs claim that the
attacks
escalated a policy of targeting civilians during wartime, and ushered in a new
era in which technology could bring unspeakable horrors to civilian populations,
and in fact threaten all of mankind with extinction. |
