In defence of the atomic bomb

By Pedro Henrique A. (For my social studies class)

World War II was the deadliest conflict ever lived in humanity history, with in its totality, 80 million deaths, and the consequences of the war are still felt to this day. One of the biggest events that occurred in the war was it’s ending, with the Japanese forces surrendering on the 2 of september 1945, as a direct result of two atomic bombings by US forces in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in about the deaths of between 129,000 and 226,000 people, mostly civilians. These deaths, and the implication itself of the usage of a bomb designed to cause mass destruction, has resulted in extensive discussion around the brutality of such a weapon. After my analisis, there is undoubtable evidence that the advancement and usage of nuclear weapons during the World War II was a necessary evil to ensure the Japanese defeat, because it ended the Japanese reign of terror on other countries such as China and Korea (where it caused millions of civilian deaths), resulted in less overall deaths than an invasion of the Japanese mainland, and ensured a far less deadly end to the conflict.

Despite the tides of the war having turned to America even before the use of the atomic bombs, the sentiment of the Japanese population and most of the high command was different. The belief that the war was not a lost cause (fueled by government complacent propaganda campaign) and that every sacrifice should be made to ensure the winning, as well as the belief of the almost godliness of the emperor would have resulted in unnecessarily longer war, that even if won by the US in the end, would have still resulted in exponentially more casualties, of both the United States as well as Japanese forces. The Secretary of war Henry Stimson speculated, in a document directed to president Truman in 1945 a 7 million combined losses of combatant lives in an eventual invasion of the Japanese mainland, as well as the possibility of a potential guerrilla warfare after the war in hopes of reestablishing the Japanese empire would have more than positively resulted in a bigger death toll that the bombs ever could, justifying the usage of the atomic bomb

Also, we can conclude that waiting for a surrender of Japan would have led to unnecessary deaths and suffering of civilians both on mainland Japan as well as on territories Japan invaded and occupied during the war, such as Korea, China and Vietnam, for example. The early end of the war as a result of the usage of the atomic bomb helped end the Vietnamese famine of 1945 (which was caused by the Japanese forces), liberation of Allied POWs, as well as the liberation of the civilian labourers enslaved by the japanese in the Dutch East Indies, which accounted for 4 million people. Furthermore, the end of the war ended the allied forces blockage of japanese naval routes via mining of shipping routes, called Operation Starvation, which had the objective of causing food insecurity in Japan to ensure pressure to end the war, and had continued without the bombings, would have resulted in thousands of deaths from starvation from mainland japan, and even if inhumane, a quicker end to the conflict resulted in less loss of live, even to the receiving end of the atomic bombs.

Even if by a contemporary lens, the war seemed lost to japan by 1945, According to historian Richard B. Frank, the Japanese Imperial Army and Navy did not believe that the war was lost, and held a deadlier plan up their sleeves, called Operation Ketsu-go. They believed that if enough American casualties could be inflicted on American forces on an eventual invasion of the mainland, there would be enough pressure by US politicians to ensure the end of the war, giving Japan a better agreement than unconditional surrendering permitted. Therefore, the use of the atomic bombs showed itself as not only a tool to end the war, but as a way to ensure total victory.

In sum, It can be concluded that the usage of the atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagazaky was necessary to ensure a quicker end of the war, preventing both military and civilian casualties, as well as ensure a total defeat to Japan, preventing a future conflict.