Student History Essay on World War II and Japan
The Close of World War II and the Role of Nagasaki and Hiroshima
By July of 1945, the defeat of imperial Japan was in sight and the end of The Second World War was imminent. Through six years of total war and the complete degeneration of conventional military conduct, the Allied Powers had triumphed over Axis nations within the war’s European Theatre. As all Allied Power focus shifted to the conflict with Japan, the death toll of both war machines accrued. Nonetheless, the success of American General Douglas MacArthur and his island hopping campaign allowed Allied forces to vanquish Japan’s Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. In conjunction, the successful trial of the Manhattan Project’s nuclear bomb, Trinity, on July 16th assured Harry S. Truman and the United States that victory was near. However, the means by which America reached this end were uncertain. Four main options addressed this concern: (1) A large scale troop invasion of Japan’s main island, (2) peaceful negotiation, (3) demonstration of nuclear weaponry in order to intimidate unconditional surrender, or (4) the unwarned atomic bombing of Japanese cities to force unconditional surrender. Near midnight of July 24th, 1945, President Truman signed General Leslie Groves’ directive sanctioning the deployment of two atom bombs, “Little Boy” and “Fat Man,” on Japan. On August 6th and 9th, the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were targeted and obliterated by the American warheads. The notion of more American death, terms of unconditional surrender, and emerging tension with the Soviet Union[1] were catalytic in the American decision to atomically bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki as they galvanized American military leaders to quickly end the war by the final, nuclear option.
The United States ruled out large-scale invasion of the Japanese mainlands as it would ensure the massive death toll of American soldiers. General Douglas MacArthur, the invasion force’s commander, noted the clear trend that as Americans approached Japan’s main islands, the ferocity of Japanese retaliation increased immensely. From Japan’s unannounced attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 to January of 1944, Allied advancements through Japan’s imperial stronghold in the Pacific costed the United States 106,000 casualties. However, as American troops neared Japan’s main islands, from July of 1944 to July of 1945, the United States suffered 185,000 casualties. As a result, American command predicted that Allied casualties of the massive invasion would range from 95,000 to 500,000. These numbers, coupled with the one million war casualties America had already suffered, provided strong impetus for Truman and the American military to spare American life by means of nuclear weaponry.
America’s unwavering objective to attain Japan’s unconditional surrender ruled out peaceful compromise with the country and the intimidative demonstration of the atom bomb. Furthermore, it justified the deployment of nuclear weaponry on unwarned populations. From their entry into The Second World War, the United States maintained that only unconditional surrender would be accepted from Axis Powers. This standard was upheld in an attempt to prevent the repetition of the Treaty of Versailles’ outcome[2] , to avoid creation of many separate, negotiated treaties between Allied and Axis Powers, and to manifest the paradigm that good cannot reach compromise with evil. Before his death, President Roosevelt asserted that “No compromise can end conflict.” Acknowledging his words and the template of repercussions that arose from the Treaty of Versailles[3] , President Truman and American generals revoked the method of concluding the war through peaceful compromise. Moreover, the aim to impede The First World War’s aftermath justified use of atomic weaponry as it trivialized the bomb’s death toll in comparison to that of another global conflict. With the means to end World War II narrowed down to two final nuclear options, former american ambassador to Japan, Joseph Grew, contended that the Japanese “will not crack morally or psychologically or economically, even when eventual defeat stares them in the face… Only by utter physical destruction [will they surrender unconditionally].” The unyielding nature of Japan was a direct result of the ancient samurai bushido code; An ideology which proselytizes death instead of surrender. This doctrine was exemplified by Japanese Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki’s denial of the Potsdam Declaration on July 27th, 1945. [4] While this ultimatum offered Japan a relatively soft surrender, the unintimidated Japanese command maintained their code of war. As a result, Truman ruled out ending war through intimidative atomic display and “from that moment, the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima was inevitable.”
By August 3rd, General Leslie Groves and the American military were authorized to drop nuclear warheads, Little Boy and Fat Man, on unwarned Japanese cities.[5] However, the actual deployment of the weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki within a week of their clearance was a direct result of the escalating threat of Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe and Asia. During February 4th to 11th, 1945, the Allied Power “big three” leaders, Josef Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Franklin D. Roosevelt met at the Yalta Conference. Within the convention, Russia, Britain, and The United States decided on the reconstruction and redistribution of post-war Europe. Additionally, Stalin professed that his Soviet military would join The Pacific Theatre of World War II three months following the surrender of Germany. While President Roosevelt and the American military first welcomed the promise of Soviet enforcements, it became evident by July 16th that Stalin’s involvement was no longer valuable. Furthermore, with Truman’s assumption of Presidency after Roosevelt’s death, the Soviet-American alliance deteriorated to a point of contention. Not only was Stalin’s grip on European territory a threat to post-war peace, but his entry into the war against Japan would directly precipitate imperial Soviet expansion into China’s northern province of Manchuria and the rest of East Asia. By August 3rd, the two superpowers had clashing interests; The United States desired an end to the war and Soviet Russia desired Asian territory. Such external pressure was the final straw in America’s nuclear bombing of Japan. On August 6th at 9:15 a.m., the Enola Gay’s dropping of “Little Boy” marked the first time in history that nuclear weaponry was unleashed on humankind. Three days later, on August 9th, “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki. By August 14th, Japanese leaders issued an unconditional surrender and on September 2nd, 1945, the Second World War officially ended.
The value of American life, non negotiable terms of surrender, and an escalating Stalinist threat were pivotal in The United States’ pursuit of the correct mechanism to induce Japan’s defeat. After nearly three months of debate, such a method revealed itself to be the unmerciful deployment of atomic warheads on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although the bombing brought the warm embrace of peace for many, it heralded a new epoch of human conflict and suffering. The ultimate decision of Truman and the United States to bomb Japan has continued to reverberate throughout history. From the sparking of The Cold War, nearly half a century of severe American and Soviet discord, to beginning the Atomic Age, the effects of Hiroshima and Nagasaki touch all corners of the globe. Furthermore, America surrendered the moral and humanitarian high ground it had earned throughout the World Wars. With this infraction of the very ethical ideals The United States stands to uphold, the nuclear race was commenced under the pretext that massacring the innocent is justifiable by military necessity. From 1945 until the present, more than 2,053 nuclear bombs have been activated by humankind. With this exponential increase, the world’s future is inevitabl[6] y subject to the repetition of the American actions of August of 1945. With this manifestation, economist, humanist, and politician Rodrigue Tremblay asserts, “Since that fateful month of August 1945, humanity has embarked upon a disastrous nuclear arms race and is rushing toward oblivion with its eyes open and its mind closed.”
Work Cited
- “International Day against Nuclear Tests, Test, Testing, Ban, Treaty, Verification, Inspection, UN, Day.” UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2014.
- “The Moral Legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” Global Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2014.
- “US Troops Preparing to Drop the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima — BBC.”YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2014.

