How Do You Understand The Decision To Bomb Hiroshima And Nagasaki?
On August 6, 1945, the U.S. Air Force detonated an atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan-and three days later, it dropped another bomb on Nagasaki, precipitating Japan’s unconditional surrender. These only two instances of atomic warfare (to date) have been hugely controversial ever since, as historians wonder if this show of force was necessary, or if the U.S. would have dared to bomb a less racially “alien” nation such as Germany. Here’s the current historical consensus about these world-shattering events. Step 1 Civilians had long since become “fair game.” As horrific as the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were, it bears remembering that so-called “conventional” bombing had produced similar casualties during World War II-for example, the Allied firebombing of Tokyo on February 6, 1945 killed about 75,000 civilians. In other words, it was the method of destruction-not the human result of the destruction-that marked out Hiroshima and Nagasaki as special. Step 2 The Japanese had refused
On August 6, 1945, the U.S. Air Force detonated an atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan-and three days later, it dropped another bomb on Nagasaki, precipitating Japan’s unconditional surrender. These only two instances of atomic warfare (to date) have been hugely controversial ever since, as historians wonder if this show of force was necessary, or if the U.S. would have dared to bomb a less racially “alien” nation such as Germany. Here’s the current historical consensus about these world-shattering events. Civilians had long since become “fair game.” As horrific as the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were, it bears remembering that so-called “conventional” bombing had produced similar casualties during World War II-for example, the Allied firebombing of Tokyo on February 6, 1945 killed about 75,000 civilians. In other words, it was the method of destruction-not the human result of the destruction-that marked out Hiroshima and Nagasaki as special. The Japanese had refused to surrender.
