The US invasion of Japan through atomic bombing after World War II (WWII) is hotly debated. Since 1945, historians have argued in favor of and against using atomic bombing to stop WWII. Those opposing the act describe it as being inhumane and unmerited, besides culminating in the modern atomic age and standing as a threat to the launching of the nuclear war.
Historians state that the Japan-based atomic bombing was unjustified and unnecessary because it was inhumane. Regardless of nature, bombs are devastating, alongside having the potential to cause death and damage. As noted by some historians, atomic bombs have toxic radiations with the ability to penetrate human tissues and cause harm or death. For example, Robert Oppenheimer, through introspecting the role of atomic bombs in his Manhattan project, discovered that the bomb contained active materials, which were also toxic (Beck, 2016). Indeed, the bomb contains 10 billion times as many poisonous materials as needed for a lethal dose. Due to its harmful content, the bomb was inhumane and should have been avoided.
According to historians, atomic bombs are inhumane due to their associated injuries and destruction. Ideally, these bombs destroyed Nagasaki and Hiroshima, as outlined by P.M.S. Blackett (Brinkley, 1993). On 6th August 1945, the American B-29 plane dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima—the so-called Enola Gay (Beck, 2016). It led to the mass killing of 70-80K Japanese, and tens of thousands of people were exposed to the radiation’s harmful effects. Beck (2016) noted that on 9th August 1945, another US plane dropped the second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, culminating in the killing of 40K people. Therefore, atomic bombs were part of the deadliest weapons that should not have been used to stop WWII because they caused more destruction and injuries valued way above the gain.
Japan was on the verge of conceding defeat, as argued by some historians. Deploying the deadliest weapons against arch-rivals on a war-exit door is unjustified and unnecessary. Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbour was more potent at the beginning of Pacific Theatre in 1941 (Zachmann, 2016). Nonetheless, by employing Island-hopping strategy in 1945, the US managed to calm Japan and successfully push the Japanese back to the south pacific, the main homeland island. As such, during the launch of atomic bombs, Japan’s power was limited, and it could not fight back in a meaningful way.
References
Beck, E. (2016). Reasons against the atomic bombing of Japan. Research Paper. Web.
Brinkley, A. (1993). The Unfinished Nation: A concise history of the American people, Volume II (Vol. 12, p. 7229). McGraw-Hill.
Zachmann, U., M. (2016). From Nanking to Hiroshima to Seoul: (post-)transitional justice, juridical forms and the construction of wartime memory. Journal of Modern European History, 14(4), 568-588. Web.