On the 6th of August, 1945, a nuclear bomb exploded in the heart of Hiroshima and, then three days later, Nagasaki, Japan. This was the first ever nuclear bomb to explode in the entire history of the world.
It is said that some of the Americans behind this apparent “Solution to the end of World War two” (Harry Trueman, President of the United States), had no idea of the size, destruction and impacts of this bomb. The Americans, supposedly, spent a torturing $2 billion on the bomb.
One of the most obvious reasons for the Americans to drop the atomic bomb on Japan was to save lives. When newspapers in 1945 spoke to Harry Trueman, he clearly stated: “The main reason for my decision is because I wanted to end the war and
therefore prevent anymore lives from being taken.” However, many believed that there were also some other key elements to the dropping of the bomb: getting revenge on Japan and intimidating the Russians.
On the 7th of December 1941, aircraft and midget submarines from the Imperial Japanese Navy began an attack on the U.S military base, Pearl Harbour. Overall, nine ships of the U.S. fleet were sunk and 21 ships were severely damaged. Three of the 21 ships were irreparable. The overall death toll reached 2,350 and 1,178 injured. This was devastating and infuriating for America, which obviously provoked them further to drop the bomb on Japan, even though it was four years before the actual event took place.
America and Russia were to major super powers yet with completely different views and beliefs on life: the Americans believed in Democracy and the Russians were communists. Communism is a belief that everyone is equal, no matter what occupation you have, everyone has the same salary. This made America and Russia fierce rivals. Harry Trueman has said: “We will scare the world.” So when the U.S dropped the nuclear bomb, it could have been to make the Russia (or perhaps other countries) live in fear of what America might do for power. However, others doubt this because it could have turned Russia the other way; it may have made them worried about the United State’s future actions and try to prepare themselves (by testing and creating new bombs) for such an event as the bomb dropping on Japan.
Just under fifty years ago, on the 3rd of October, Great Britain tested its own nuclear bomb. Due to the small size and high population density of Britain, no suitable sites for testing such powerful weapons existed. So Britain sought sites in other countries to test its weapons, finally settling on the Monte Bello Islands just off the west coast of Australia. The nuclear bomb was detonated in a lagoon off the western shore of Trimouille Island. This is evidence that even Britain feared the future happenings of conflict between certain countries.
There were many good and bad impacts of the nuclear bomb. A good, and one of the most effective impacts, was the ending of World War Two. Although Hitler had killed himself a few months before, and so forced the Germans to surrender on the 7th of May which enabled western European countries to finish the war, America and Japan were still fighting, so even when the countries that sparked the war were no longer involved, World War two was still continuing.
Bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki meant that World War Two had actually ended.
However, the Americans had carefully chosen heaving cities: “Hiroshima was a city at work. The streets were filled. Children had reported to schools; it was a time when direct exposure in the open was at its peak.” So when the bomb did explode at 08:14 hours, the majority was awake and outside. Because of the placement of the bombs, there was a higher death toll: a total of over 170,000 people were killed and the bomb triggered serious medical implications on both the survivors and future generations. For months after the explosions, in addition to the severe burns covering most of the victims’ bodies, survivors developed symptoms that puzzled doctors, such as blood cell abnormalities, high fevers, chronic fatigue, diaorrhea, vomiting, hair loss, and depression.
I think that America was almost teaching the world that it is acceptable to kill hundreds of thousands of people for the right reason (but who is to choose that reason?), and sound almost hypocritical when they despise and fear terrorism acts. I think they are teaching the world that, when the going gets tough, violence is the way to go. Personally, I feel that their actions were appalling, especially as America is one of the leading countries in the world, to drop the bombs because sixty five years ago is not a very long time ago and I think they’d given up on any other possibilities before even discussing them; it was a lazy decision. If America had not had dropped the nuclear bomb, I think they would have found another way to end the war without killing anywhere near as many.
By exploding the bombs, it also led the world into a whirlwind of paranoia: the cold war. The cold war lasted around forty-five years and countries became competitive with their new technology. Many feared a nuclear war would break out.
Although in one way America was right to drop the bomb on Japan to end the war, I don’t think the paranoia, overall health problems, destruction and devastation impacted on Japan are acceptable.
