Huynh 1

Datricky Huynh
Ms.Ramsey
History 17B
20, November 2014
Atomic Bomb Sure
During a time where a world war is happening involving the world's most powerful
countries, and battles happening throughout the world for conquest. Many knows what happened
in World War 2, but not many will know the in depth story behind what happen between the
United States and Japan. Like what have Japan done to the United States that drove them to the
point of the dropping of the a-bombs, or was it worth killing many innocent lives just to prove a
point, and if Japan didn't surrender what would happen to them. All of this was caused by a very
ambitious German leader whose only idea was to expand his country, but how it affected many
other countries besides the European countries. Dropping the atomic bombs on Japan was the
correct thing to do.
War is a tough topic to touch upon, and every country tells a different story when it
comes to war. Before the dropping of the atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima their were
many unfortunate events that happened to the United States. For one instance in hope for
expansion during the world war Japan sent out most of their navy towards the United States
specifically Hawaii. Pearl Harbor was a notable incident that changed the tides of World War 2,
because when the Empire of Japan attacked a United States in Pearl Harbor Hawaii the United
States didn't expect an attack from anybody. From the book The Barrier and the Javelin:
Japanese and Allied Pacific Strategies by H.P. Willmott mentions Japans intentions was to stop

Huynh 2
the Americans who were the only force who can prevent Japan from taking over the East Indies
and Southeast Asia. Pearl Harbor was a pivotal moment for the Japanese, and they were very
successful on attacking the unprepared Naval troops who were stationed their. Those who don't
die for the Emperor got shot down by their own allies.
The United States had to show dominance by dropping the atomic bombs. Later other
countries would look back at what happened to Japan at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If the Japanese
didn't surrender after the dropping than the United States would have followed up with a ground
invasion called Operation Downfall which consist of Allied forces mainly Americans on the
Japaneses home island. The invasion would not be beneficial to Japan at all because they would
have suffered even more losses. It would have costed tens of thousands of lives, since the
Japanese aren't exactly know for their cowardly ways. From the article Hell to Pay: Operation
Downfall and the Invasion of Japan by Greg Kennedy mentions, A successful invasion and
defeat of the Japanese homeland was unacceptable. It was unacceptable in terms of economic
and material costs. Which mean even if the United States were to invade Japan, and come out of
it successfully it would still be costly. No battles come cheap there is always something to
sacrifice. What I see is that the invasion would have caused a lot of casualties on both sides, but
the atomic bombs would only devastate Japan with no American casualties.
Talking about the cost of war the atomic bombs were not cheap to create just to drop it
on one nation, so dropping two of them would just be redundant just to show off who is more
powerful. It costed the United States twenty billion dollars in research and developing the atomic
bombs, and we used two which cost five billion dollars each just to equalize two Japanese cities
according to the article The Cost of the Manhattan Project. I don't need to have to be an

Huynh 3
economist to tell you that it costed the United States more than just an arm and a leg. This was
around the year 1945, so you can imagine how much that would be in the present. But it was
during World War II, and the United States called for total war where any resources can be
helpful to the war effort. Total war is a term where countries are unrestricted in terms of using
whichever method they want to attain victory. One of the United States method to quicken the
war was the atomic bombs.
Even though we did drop two atomic bombs on Japan it was probably one to many.
Dropping the two a-bombs signaled the end of the the World War the last remaining Axis Power
country Japan unconditionally surrendered, but dropping the bombs was pushing it because
Germany and Italy lost meaning they can't support Japan on their endeavors of expanding their
territory. After the defeat of Germany, Japan became the only opposing force and the drive that
made the war continue. The Soviet Union broke off their Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact which
gave Japan a disadvantage because now they have one more enemy. Together the United States,
Britain, and the Soviet Union were going to go up against a crippled island nation whose navy
were destroyed at the Battle of Midway. By the end of the Battle of Midway, Japan suffered 3057
casualties, four heavily damaged carriers, so that is why dropping the atomic bombs was to much
for Japan to handle pretty much excessive. It was for a point though never to mess with the
United States, never engage an enemy until you have information on there most powerful
weapon.
After the first bomb dropped Japan didn't surrender yet. This is a sign that Japan morale
to fight was not broken yet, and they want to continue in the war. Japan adopted an aggressive
foreign policy from Germany and Italy, where they show power with actual force instead of

Huynh 4
diplomatic matters. After what happened when the Japanese invaded Manchuria it is only a
matter of time before they get hostile with the United States. The United States was still neutral,
and only sending goods over to the European countries at the time.
Not only is Japan very persistent, and will not submit to losing until the bitter end. They
had a biological weapon programs according to the article Alarm in Washington: A Wartime
Expos of Japans Biological Warfare Program by Roger B. Jeans, Jr. mentioning, the
Japanese had been hard at work for at least a decade attempting to develop feasible BW
weapons in Manchuria. The Empire of Japan are developing a biological weapon during a world
war. It is only a matter of time before the United States becomes a victim of its calamity. At the
same time according to Magdi Ragheb article Japanese Nuclear Weapons Program saying,
Japan, during World War II, lacked access to the natural resources of uranium ores needed for a
successful program. Japan had their own freaking nuclear weapon program even though the
United States was nearly done with their research, Japan was close behind. The United States I
would say fortunately used their atomic bombs on Japan halting their research of the nuclear
weapon before they used it on us.
Following up on this subject at hand with Japan having their own nuclear weapon
program and all Ragheb also mentions American bombing raids disrupted the development
process and destroyed both raw material and equipment at the Institute for Physical and
Chemical Research. An area full of science field full of researchers and of course one of their
research would be a weapon of mass destruction, but prevented by the Americans managing to
delay the inevitable. When we dropped the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki it was
a devastating moment in history Japan economy plummeted putting a complete stop on the

Huynh 5
research on Japan's nuclear weapon. An example of survival of the fittest technically because
there can only be one nuclear weapon user, and it is the United States until after World War II.
We're learning about the past and what happened in history, so that we don't repeat our
mistake. The destruction that a nuclear weapon can create is life changing, but I'm for using
another atomic bomb to quicken the end of a war rather than let it drag out for who knows how
long. Yes using the atomic bombs was a justifying act not to punish Japan for their wrong doing,
but it was to close the tides of war conflicting between countries. If you look the Britain and
France they had a war that lasted more than one hundred years thankfully the United States
relationship with Japan is not that deep yet. The next big problem is the Cold War with the USSR
since they have developed their own nuclear weapon not in the planning phase, but the ready to
aim at a country to watch it be destroyed phase. That is for another time.