4. Reasons for, and significance of, US use of atomic weapons against Japan(PDF Chapter 8)
Maddie Carney -- A & B
On August 6th, 1945, The bombing of Japan was a very significant event in World War 2.The USA ended WW2 by dropping two bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This killed about 120,000 people immediately, and tens of thousands afterwards from radiation exposure. But this wasn’t all of a sudden, these deaths had been coming on for years. The Manhattan Project was initiated in 1939, when the USA was concerned by the nuclear research that Nazi Germany was conducting. Therefore, America started conducting their own atomic weapons research in preparation to defend against Nazi weaponry that could be developed. The first bomb, The Trinity, was successfully activated in the New Mexico research base on July 16th, 1945. By this point, Germany had been defeated by the Allied powers after D-Day and had already surrendered. However, Japan still wouldn’t accept defeat and was ready to continue the war. President Truman had a very hard decision to make; whether to continue bombing Japan and then sending in a large invasion codenamed “Operation Downfall”, or choosing to drop Little Boy and Fat Man on major cities in Japan. The first choice had an estimated 1 million casualties making the atomic bombing on Japan favorable. But bombing Japan would be more significant than merely ending WW2. Truman and the US Secretary were in favor of bombing because it showed the scientific and military power that the US possessed. It was an opportunity to flex their power and make a statement to the world. Furthermore, this course of action helped establish The United States as a dominant world power and leader.
(http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/3a.pdf). This document is an official report that was written by the executives of the Manhattan Project on April 23rd, 1945; to clarify what it specifically was and its implications. It is an actual photocopy of the official report of the Manhattan Project, therefore, this is an incredible source that shows, first hand, what the organization was thinking and doing. Unfortunately, since this was meant for the public the way the information is presented defends the decision that the US made. Furthermore, it doesn’t look at the harm their bomb did to the Japanese, just the victory that it claimed for the US. This document proves a few things. Firstly, it openly claims that ending the war by bombing Japan was its original and primary purpose. However, it mentions something interesting about the control of atomic energy. It says, “but it is evident that the United States must maintain the leadership in the field”. This claims that the US must keep researching atomic energy and remain on top. Basically, as I said earlier, the US becomes a world leader. America really does take advantage of this show of power, they don’t just drop one, but two bombs. The US only had 3 atomic bombs at the time. So they dropped the 1st bomb to end the war, but they dropped the 2nd to prove that they had more than one. This second bomb was a strategic move on the US’s part, establishing their international military standings.
(http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bombing-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki)
The only atomic bombing incident in history had major effects on the Japanese in the exposed areas. Since this was the first time using a weapon of this magnitude, scientists had a lot to learn from the effects of the bomb. Many after effects of the atomic bombs were observed by scientists. One which is demonstrated through this picture is Black Rain. This is a mix of water and carbon residue after the bombs went off. It is extremely radioactive, therefore, everything it touched, skin, food, clothes, etc. was affected.(http://atomicbombmuseum.org/3_radioactivity.shtml)
This picture from the Atomic Bomb organization is a picture taken shortly after the bombs were set off by survivors of the blast. It was taken to publicize what was going on in Japan and to document the effects that the bomb had. This picture doesn’t represent the economic and social effects of the bomb, but only shows the physical effects. It demonstrates how powerful the weapon was, but also shows how little we actually knew about what technology we were dealing with. This was the first and only atomic bombing in history, making this a very significant event because it showed the world how harmful this weaponry was. Therefore, it sparked this interest in atomic weaponry, which lead to the Cold War. After World War 2, the USSR and the US competed for superior atomic technology. Furthermore, this lead to the immense spending of money during the Cold War all because of the bombing of Japan.
Maddie Carney -- A & B
On August 6th, 1945, The bombing of Japan was a very significant event in World War 2.The USA ended WW2 by dropping two bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This killed about 120,000 people immediately, and tens of thousands afterwards from radiation exposure. But this wasn’t all of a sudden, these deaths had been coming on for years. The Manhattan Project was initiated in 1939, when the USA was concerned by the nuclear research that Nazi Germany was conducting. Therefore, America started conducting their own atomic weapons research in preparation to defend against Nazi weaponry that could be developed. The first bomb, The Trinity, was successfully activated in the New Mexico research base on July 16th, 1945. By this point, Germany had been defeated by the Allied powers after D-Day and had already surrendered. However, Japan still wouldn’t accept defeat and was ready to continue the war. President Truman had a very hard decision to make; whether to continue bombing Japan and then sending in a large invasion codenamed “Operation Downfall”, or choosing to drop Little Boy and Fat Man on major cities in Japan. The first choice had an estimated 1 million casualties making the atomic bombing on Japan favorable. But bombing Japan would be more significant than merely ending WW2. Truman and the US Secretary were in favor of bombing because it showed the scientific and military power that the US possessed. It was an opportunity to flex their power and make a statement to the world. Furthermore, this course of action helped establish The United States as a dominant world power and leader.
(http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/3a.pdf). This document is an official report that was written by the executives of the Manhattan Project on April 23rd, 1945; to clarify what it specifically was and its implications. It is an actual photocopy of the official report of the Manhattan Project, therefore, this is an incredible source that shows, first hand, what the organization was thinking and doing. Unfortunately, since this was meant for the public the way the information is presented defends the decision that the US made. Furthermore, it doesn’t look at the harm their bomb did to the Japanese, just the victory that it claimed for the US. This document proves a few things. Firstly, it openly claims that ending the war by bombing Japan was its original and primary purpose. However, it mentions something interesting about the control of atomic energy. It says, “but it is evident that the United States must maintain the leadership in the field”. This claims that the US must keep researching atomic energy and remain on top. Basically, as I said earlier, the US becomes a world leader. America really does take advantage of this show of power, they don’t just drop one, but two bombs. The US only had 3 atomic bombs at the time. So they dropped the 1st bomb to end the war, but they dropped the 2nd to prove that they had more than one. This second bomb was a strategic move on the US’s part, establishing their international military standings.
(http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bombing-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki)
The only atomic bombing incident in history had major effects on the Japanese in the exposed areas. Since this was the first time using a weapon of this magnitude, scientists had a lot to learn from the effects of the bomb. Many after effects of the atomic bombs were observed by scientists. One which is demonstrated through this picture is Black Rain. This is a mix of water and carbon residue after the bombs went off. It is extremely radioactive, therefore, everything it touched, skin, food, clothes, etc. was affected.(http://atomicbombmuseum.org/3_radioactivity.shtml)
This picture from the Atomic Bomb organization is a picture taken shortly after the bombs were set off by survivors of the blast. It was taken to publicize what was going on in Japan and to document the effects that the bomb had. This picture doesn’t represent the economic and social effects of the bomb, but only shows the physical effects. It demonstrates how powerful the weapon was, but also shows how little we actually knew about what technology we were dealing with. This was the first and only atomic bombing in history, making this a very significant event because it showed the world how harmful this weaponry was. Therefore, it sparked this interest in atomic weaponry, which lead to the Cold War. After World War 2, the USSR and the US competed for superior atomic technology. Furthermore, this lead to the immense spending of money during the Cold War all because of the bombing of Japan.