With the hindsight of history, many people have argued over whether using nuclear weapons was necessary. If you want to argue that it wasn't necessary, it's important to remember the historical context in which the bomb was dropped. An Allied invasion of Japan was expected to be extremely costly. I know that every soldier, sailor, and airman who didn't have to invade Japan was happy that the US decided to use the atomic bomb.
All I have to say about dropping nuclear bombs on Japan:
Mess with the bull, get the horns.
I can't reconcile the number of innocent women and children who were killed as being justifiable. Wikipedia mentions 20,000 soldiers were killed out of 70,000 people.
ReplyDeleteDoug! Welcome!
DeleteThere's no doubt that many civilians died in the bombing. However, by comparison, the firebombing of Tokyo probably killed around 500k Japanese civilians. It wasn't nuclear, so it doesn't really get the same press that Hiroshima did.
I'm not trying to justify by comparison, I'm just illustrating there were worse things. Dresden comes to mind, as well.
Having said that, I still believe that the Japanese might have held out a little while, and there was no way of absolutely knowing whether or not they would surrender, even if signs pointed to that. Remember, we were dealing with a country that trained young men to fly planes with explosives into the sides of our ships. Death before surrender was a significant part of the Japanese culture. The war might have continued, and I think that the Commander in Chief should do everything he can with every terrible weapon of war to end the war.
I think of Sherman going through the South, destroying everything he came across.
War is terrible.
Having said all that, I hope you frequent my little corner of the internet, and I look forward to your comments, especially as they are usually from a different point of view than mine!
Several alternate history novels explored the planned invasion and Operation Downfall was sure to be horrible. If you take the casualty ratios from Okinawa and extrapolate, it was looking pretty grim. "Hell to Pay" by D. M. Giangreco is considered to be a very authoritative read.
ReplyDeleteI guess my bottom line is that if it saved one American life, it was worth it. If you don't want to get nuked, don't start a war.
ReplyDeleteA country that was responsible for Pearl Harbor, Nanking, and countless other atrocities is not a victim. You know what would have prevented the US from using nukes? Japan not embarking on a war of conquest across the Pacific.
I would also remind folks that the Japanese had put the "Kill All" policy in place for any Allied POWs upon the invasion of Japan. Allied casualties were running around 7k a week. How much longer would the war have lasted? 14K Americans dead, 21K Americans dead? Who knows?
The "Kill All" policy was in place in the Philippines also. Your wife's great uncle was one of 11 survivors of that policy on Palawan.
ReplyDelete