The bombing on Nagasaki and Hiroshima brought the world in shock, it was the first ever atomic bomb to be dropped in world history. During the war, America and Japan collided causing millions of civilians and armies to die. Due to Japan not wanting to surrender led America to drop two atomic bombs on Japan, Nagasaki and Hiroshima. America was justified in dropping the atomic bomb on Japan in view of the fact that the war would be a never ending battle. Therefore, dropping the bomb was necessary because it stopped the war quickly and saved both Japanese and American lives.
Due to the dropping of the atomic bomb, many Japanese civilians died, it also destroyed the land and many of its resources. Giving the rights to let America drop an atomic bomb on Japan, was presumably the most in justice way to end the war. Many innocent lives were taken and some civilians were not immune to the war. Henry Lewis Stimson, a secretary in President Herbert Hoover's Cabinet, was one of the central supporters of the bombing, who was not even sure if an attack on Japan would be necessary.1 The outcome of this attack created radiation which killed numerous people even after the attack, that was a whole out turn because of the reasoning that the bombing was necessary because it would stop the death toll from rising.
The atomic bomb was an essential way to put a stop to the war. Before even dropping the two bombs, America tried making a way for Japan to surrender, however they failed to do so. American had already spoken to Japan, and Japan refused to surrender, in which Japan's emperor, Hirohito rarely spoke about.2 General Douglas Mac Arthur prompted that an attack would result
1 Immediate Media company, History Extra, Immediate Media Co. July 2014, historyextra.com/period/second-world-war/was-the-us-justified-in-dropping-atomic-bombs-on-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-during-the-second-world-war-you-debate/
2 David Powers, Japan: No Surrender in World War Two, BBC, Feb. 17, 2011, bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/japan_no_surrender_01.shtml
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in one million more losses, so in order to avoid that, Truman decided that an atomic bomb would put the war to a quick end, in which he says, "The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians."3 The first atomic bomb dropped was on Hiroshima, this bomb was called the "Little boy," Japan still continued the fight with America and which they dropped a second bomb called the "Fat Man", this was a more powerful bomb which killed about 237,000 people. Some causes of this death rate were due to the radiation from the bomb which caused cancer and also burns. George Evans Hulme, a university student who was involved in a debate on U.S. being justified on dropping the bombs agreed that, "The US was, like the rest of the world, soldiering on towards the end of a dark period of human history that had seen the single most costly conflict (in terms of life) in history, and they chose to adopt a stance that seemed to limit the number of casualties in the war, by significantly shortening it with the use of atomic weapons"4 In the end, Hirohito announced their official surrender in World War II, stating that it was the new and most cruel bomb. A Japanese Army official in Yokohama shared his views on the attack after being asked about what would have Japan done if America had not drop the bomb? The officer replied, "We would have kept on fighting until all Japanese
3 Ralph, Raico, Harry Truman and the Atomic Bomb, November 11, 2010, mises.org/library/harry-truman-and-atomic-bomb,
4 Immediate Company Limited, Was the US justified in dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the Second World War? You debate, Immediate Company Limited, July 2014, https://www.historyextra.com/period/second-world-war/was-the-us-justified-in-dropping-atomic-bombs-on-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-during-the-second-world-war-you-debate/
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were killed, but we would have not been defeated,"5 Unfortunately, Japan would have not surrendered at all, in which making it a never ending battle between America and Japan.
By all means, putting an end to the war would mean saving many peoples lives, in consideration of both Japanese and American citizens. According to George Evans he agreed that America was justified in dropping the bomb, his reason behind this was that the death toll of 135 000 was a reasonable amount to put the war to an end, “many thousands of American troops [that] would be killed in invading Japan," this states that if America had not drop the bomb, then a whole number of American allies would be killed otherwise. In an article it wrote, "not using the atomic bomb would have forced the U.S. to launch a full invasion of Japan's home islands, and this would have killed far more people than Hiroshima and Nagasaki."6 Without the atomic bomb being a justification or a reason to end the war, the Japanese leaders would have still declared that the military continue to fight despite the soviet's declaration of war against Tokyo. If the atomic bomb had not been dropped the death toll would have been higher than the death rate of the casualties that died in the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A scholar that studied the U.S. invasion stated that "depending on the degree to whom Japanese civilians resisted the invasion, estimates ran into the millions for Allied casualties and tens of millions for Japanese casualties."7 Based on an Asian article, the number of casualties from the Tokyo fire bombing,
5 Karl T. Kompton, If the Atomic Bomb Had Not Been Used, The Atlantic, December 1946, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1946/12/if-the-atomic-bomb-had-not-been-used/376238/
6 Zachary, Keck, The Diplomat, August 7, 2014. https://thediplomat.com/2014/08/how-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-saved-millions-of-lives/
7 Zachary Keck, How Hiroshima and Nagasaki Saved Millions of Lives, The Diplomat, August 7, 2014, https://thediplomat.com/2014/08/how-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-saved-millions-of-lives/
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which was also planned by the U.S. Allies. The firebombing alone caused way more casualties to die than the atomic bombing, which makes it proven that Nagasaki and Hiroshima saved the lives of many people. Regardless of the many lives that were lost during the war, the war created a greater potential of less lives being taken away.
The atomic bombs were a fundamental way to end the war. It successfully got Japan to surrender, putting a stop to the war, meaning it stopped the death tolls from rising. The attack on Japan has its advantages which greatly shaped awareness in people's lives, making America justified in dropping the atomic bomb on Japan.