Japanese To End the War

“It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power...loosed against those who brought war to the Far East…” Radios throughout America broadcasted these famous words spoken by President Harry S. Truman in his press release, just sixteen hours after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Though often portrayed as a rushed and unneeded decision, the use of the atomic bomb on Japan was necessary for the maintenance of world peace and in the best interest of the United States. Japan attacked the United States first, bombing Pearl Harbor without warning, causing American entry in World War II. The atomic bombs caused Japan to surrender and ended the war earlier than it might have, saving thousands of American soldiers from having to invade Japan to force surrender. The early surrender stopped the Japanese soldiers from committing further atrocities in the places they conquered such as Nanking and Bataan, where they brutally violated the international laws of warfare. The difficult decision to use the atomic bomb was made with much deliberation and its use was in the long run for the greater good for the country and the world.

The Japanese were the first to make an offensive by bombing Pearl Harbor. Up until December 7, 1941, the United States had been peaceably uninvolved in the Second World War raging in Europe and the Pacific between the Allies and the Axis Powers. However, on December 7, Japanese kamikaze pilots launched an unexpected assault on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, prior to declaring war – leaving 2,403 dead and severely damaging 188 planes and 8 battleships. A naval officer who was stationed aboard the Arizona that day remembered leaving his breakfast table when the ship’s siren for defense sounded unexpectedly and how sudden explosions followed – “the ship’s fragments whistled past me…and everything seemed aflame” (EyeWitness to History). It was this hostile aggression from Japan that drove the United States to join in on the side of the Allies. Though the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor without prior notice, before bombing Hiroshima, President Truman made it clear in the Potsdam Declaration that the Japanese government was to surrender or suffer “prompt and utter destruction.” However, the Japanese refused to admit defeat. Moreover, they proved to be unresponsive after the first bomb was unleashed in Hiroshima. After giving the Japanese government days to reconsider the offers of peace set before them, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. It was only then, after two atomic bombs were dropped, that Japan finally surrendered (Gosling). Pearl Harbor was attacked first, while Hiroshima and Nagasaki were in response and their consequences warned in advance.

By early August 1945, World War II had already raged on for over five years, eventually causing a death toll of over 60 million worldwide. Though Japan’s allies, Germany and Italy, were already defeated by May 1945, the Japanese continued hostilities, refusing the terms of peace that were offered to them by the Allies in the Potsdam Declaration. They kept up a heated resistance, fighting to almost the last man standing in Saipan and Okinawa. Moreover, the firebombing at Tokyo, which had killed 100,000, proved to be futile in swaying the Japanese government to surrender (Dietrich). As conventional weaponry had no apparent political effect, other means were needed to force Japan out of war. The only option that guaranteed a quick Japanese surrender, besides the use of the atomic bomb over a Japanese city, was an all-out invasion of Japan (Gosling). However, the recent Allied invasion of the small Japanese island of Okinawa on April 1, 1945, created uncertainty to the possibility of an invasion of the mainland, since fighting at Okinawa had prolonged to over ten weeks with massive losses on both sides – 12,000 Americans, 100,000 Japanese, and 100,000 native civilians (Columbia University). Thus, Truman’s advisors were apprehensive of what the casualties for a mainland attack would be. American intelligence reports showed that though Japan could no longer maintain its control overseas, it still kept an army of two million soldiers and about 10,000 aircraft – including 5,000 kamikaze planes – solely for the final defense of their homeland. Moreover, it was estimated that, had an all-out invasion proceeded, hundreds of thousands on both sides were at risk – American soldiers as well as Japanese civilians, who were devoted to their emperor and undoubtedly willing to die for him (Gosling). The atomic bomb was decided to be the best option, as it was originally intended to fall only on military targets; Hiroshima was selected because of its military values as the “2nd Army Headquarters, which commanded the defense of all of southern Japan” and “a communications center, a storage point, and an assembly area for troops” (World War 2). Thus, overall the atomic bombs caused less destruction than an Allied invasion of Japan would have in due course.

The dropping of the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki prevented the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians and prisoners of war who would have otherwise suffered cruelly at the hands of the occupying Japanese soldiers. As previously demonstrated by the Nanking massacres and the Bataan Death March, the Japanese military committed a series of unforgivable acts, even by wartime standards. In the Nanking massacres, over a quarter million Chinese civilians were brutally killed. Men were bayoneted, machine-gunned, or set on fire, while the women and young girls were raped and repeatedly assaulted. As a trial of courage, new Japanese officers were trained by beheading Chinese captives and bayoneting living humans while they were blindfolded and tied to poles. Japanese medical corps practiced amputations on the Chinese civilians, regardless whether they needed the amputation in the first place. They even tested anthrax bombs and plague on the civilians (Bauer). In 1942, a Japanese troop forced 76,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war on a sixty-mile “death march” to a prisoner camp at San Fernando. The Japanese forbid the stronger to help the weaker and shot the prisoners who were too weak and fell behind. As one American escapee recalled, “I never can forget their groans and strangled breathing as they tried to get up. There was a sharp crackle of pistol and rifle fire behind us.” Along the way, about two out of every seven prisoners of war died, due to excessive exposure to the scorching sun without clean food and water. While “many prisoners were bayoneted, shot, beheaded or just left to die on the side of the road,” countless others died of dehydration, malnourishment, and disease (EyeWitness to History). The dropping of the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which finally forced the militant Japanese government to surrender, thus aimed to prevent the cruel massacres of civilians and prisoners of war.

The use of the atomic bomb on Japan was needed in keeping world peace and in the best interest of the United States. The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 was without warning, killing over two thousand American soldiers, while the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were warned beforehand. The atomic bombs were finally what caused Japan to surrender, sparing thousands of American and Japanese lives had an invasion taken place to force Japanese surrender. Moreover, the quick surrender caused by the bombs prevented the Japanese soldiers from causing more bloodshed as in the Nanking massacre and the Bataan Death March. As President Truman stated in a later press release, the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was for the best of the country and the world – to “shorten the agony of war” and “save the lives of thousands.”

Works Cited

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Dietrich, Bill. “Pro and Con on Dropping the Atom Bomb.” Seattle Times. Seattle Times Company. Web. 11 Dec. 2009. .

Gosling, F. G. “The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, August 6, 1945.” U.S. Department of Energy. U.S. Department of Energy. Web. 18 Dec. 2009. .

“Statement by the President of the United States.” Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. Web. 18 Dec. 2009.

“The Atomic Bomb.” Columbia University. Columbia University. Web. 18 Dec. 2009. .

“The Bataan Death March, 1942.” EyeWitness to History. Ibis Communications, Inc, 2009. Web. 19 Dec. 2009. .

“Pearl Harbor.” EyeWitness to History. Ibis Communications, Inc, 2009. Web. 18 Dec. 2009. .

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