Atomic bomb dropping and effect on US military
Atomic bomb dropping and effect on US military. As the Second World War was coming to an end in 1945, the United States military with consent from the United Kingdom according to the Quebec agreement dropped two atomic bombs in Japan. One of the bombs was dropped on August 6th in Hiroshima and the second one three days later in Nagasaki. According to the United States, the bombs were important and necessary during this time as they saved millions of American lives but this equally led to generations wide devastation especially for the Japanese. Of the military and political decisions made in history, none has been subject to varied commentary and analysis than the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US military.
Much of the commentary revolves around the necessity of the atomic bombs at a time when the Second World War was coming to an end especially in consideration of the bombs effect. Despite this, the lead up to the bombing of the two cities was influenced by a variety of factors most of which were in advancement of the US’ self-interests and led to considerable impacts on individuals, groups, and states at large.
For any nation engaging in a conflict with another, the main goal is success through any means possible and this was no different during the Second World War that largely pitted the Allies against Japan and Germany. The war had taken its toll on nations around the world both socially and economically, thus prompting the inherent need to bring it to an end. On May 8, 1945, the first signs of the end of the war were visible with the surrender of Nazi Germany and this shifted the focus of the war to an invasion of Japan (Giangrecco, 2009).
Atomic bomb dropping
For the Japan invasion, the Allied planned to begin aggressive incursions in October 1945 but this did not stop any war related activity between Japan and the Allies. The atomic bombing of Japan led to the unconditional surrender of the country on August 9 but as some historians argue, Japan wanted to surrender even before the planned invasions that were to begin in October (Wilson, 2013). Regardless, there is acceptance of the fact that the bombings coerced Japan into surrendering to the Allied forces and thus stamped the triumph of the USA pitting it as having the world’s strongest military.