Why were two atomic bombs dropped in 1945?
• On the 8th of May 1945, the allies accepted Germany’s surrender, which came a week after Adolf Hitler’s suicide. This “officially” 1 ended the WW2, however, in the far east the war continued to rage as Japan still hadn’t surrendered. Unfortunately, the American president, Harry S. Truman, was warned by his advisors that attempting to invade Japan would result in “horrific American casualties”1 with them instead suggesting that the atomic bombs should be used to bring the war to a speedy end. The United States had been developing an atomic weapon since 1940, when Albert Einstein warned them that Nazi Germany had conducted research into nuclear weapons. The decision to employ the second bomb was made on the 7th of August 1945 and was made on the basis that a second bomb was “necessary”3 to prove that the bombing of Hiroshima wasn’t just a “one-time thing”3 .Truman also argued that the bomb would assist in saving more than “half a million soldiers”8 as it would prevent them from having to go to war. However, the justification appeared as unconvincing to critics, who have noted that the Japanese were prepared to ask for peace before the bombs were dropped. Both Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed in the span of three days as senior American military figures – General Groves and Admiral Purnell – were “convinced”4 that two atomic bombs being dropped within days of each other would create an “overwhelming impact on the Japanese government”.4 In Truman’s presidential statement announcing the utilization of the atomic bomb he describes it to be “the greatest scientific gamble in history”.23
Who were the key people involved?
• The Manhattan Project, the code name for the research and development of the atomic bomb, was established by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1941. However due to his death Harry S. Truman was made the 33rd president of the United States and was therefore in charge of deciding whether or not to deploy the atomic bombs. With Truman remarking that“[d]espite their heavy losses ….. the Japanese refused to surrender”10 he and his advisors came to the conclusion that conventional bombing wasn’t proving effective. The decision to drop the first bomb, Little Boy, was authorised by General Thomas Hardy and General Carl Spaatz. The “dropper”9 of Little Boy was Brigadier General Paul W. Tibbets. Tibbets was originally tasked with “ironing out the logistical and technical kinks” of the weapon however he was soon chosen to drop the atomic bomb himself. Three days later, Major General Charles Sweeney dropped the bomb on Nagasaki.
What impact did the dropping of the bombs have on Japan and on World War Two?
• The atomic bomb erupted over Hiroshima on the 6th of August 1945, with an explosive produced that’s equivalent to “20,000 tonnes of TNT”23 with there being a total of “192,020”16 deaths . Three days later “an implosion-model plutonium bomb code-named ‘Fat Man,’”16 was detonated over Nagasaki. More than “70,000”16 died instantly. “Ground temperatures reached 4,000*C”15 with incidence of leukaemia among survivors increasing at higher than normal rates. Pregnant woman whom were exposed to the bombings experienced higher rates of “miscarriage and deaths among their infants,”15 with the children who survived having intellectual disability’s and impaired growth as well as the increased risk of developing cancer. The bombing of the two cities came to symbolize the end of WW2, with Japan surrendering soon after.
What impact did it have on the world?
• The employment of the atomic bomb helped redefine the world with the Manhattan Project creating a powerful impact on “politics, war, environmental policy, scientific research and popular culture”.19 The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki opened the world to the possibility of atomic weapons being used in war, with countries now aware of a nuclear war being feasible. This created a rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union with it fabricating a “period of strained relations”19 which is now known as the Cold War. The distrust and hostility between the two countries, suggested that a “devastating conflict”,19 could break out at any time with it involving nuclear weapons.
To what extent was the act of dropping them right or wrong and why?
• It can be argued that to some extent the bombing of Hiroshima was an ingenious military strategy which was able to warn Japan of the consequences they’d face if deciding not to surrender. It can also be justified that the number of soldiers that would’ve been lost if trying to invade Japan were larger than the number of deaths caused by the atomic bomb. However, Japan was on the verge of surrendering with the President of Truman’s Chief of Staff stating that “[t]he Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender.” This declaration proves that even if Hiroshima was a strategic military decision there was no need for Nagasaki, which killed an approximate of 75,000 people.