There were many other military options, which could have been carried out other than bombing Japan. The decision was not merely a yes or no answer. Japan may have surrendered unconditionally without the use of force. Both the United States and Japan were already aware that Japan was near defeat. The United States had offered a very strict ultimatum to the Japanese government issued from Potsdam in July 1945. It had referred to the retention of the emperor as a constitutional monarch, and a quick surrender. Japan’s religion and belief system was now at steak by changing the status of

To date, the total number of people killed in both cities from the two atomic bombs is estimated at 200,000 for Hiroshima and 110,000 people in Nagasaki. If the United States were to have looked into what the future might have held, it would have been obvious that dropping the atomic bomb was a mistake. The bomb would have massive results affecting the economy, cause death, and would be the first step leading into the cold war. The mushroom cloud over Nagasaki reached 40,000 feet within four minutes of the explosion. The expanding fireball caused a shock wave of compressed air and wind as it continued to expand, bringing immediate destruction. The superheated air and winds fan the fires started by the thermal pulse leaving a wide area of destruction. The atomic bomb over Nagasaki caused earth-leveling devastation to approximately 42.9 square miles. (5) Initially, radiation was less of a concern for affecting the number of casualties from a nuclear explosion, but soon Japan felt the lethal after effects of the atomic bomb’s radioactive fallout. It became a primary concern. The fallout takes place post-detonation when the radioactive materials released drifts down to earth. It covers a greater area than the initial destruction caused by the blast. The ramification of this fallout would deliver yet another crushing blow to Japan. The radiation released from the explosion intoxicated the bomb’s survivors and caused Leukemia and other forms of genetic damage. Even generations later, people would still see the after affects in premature birth, slow growth development, metal retardation, and deformities. (6) People born after World War II had not seen the war but they experienced the affects. They would grow up wondering what they did wrong to deserve that punishment. The United States should have taken some compassion for the innocent lives that were lost. Japan’s economy would take a massive blow where the fallout of the explosion occurred. Japan’s water supply became contaminated and would be toxic to drink. Farmer’s crops would have been out of business, because their soil was too dangerous to grow food. Cattle, sheep and other animals would also carry high levels of radiation and would be hazardous to the community. The economy would fall into a horrible depression. There is no way that a country should have to suffer this way for so long. This destruction is why a bomb is considered more horrendous than thousands of people dying on t

Some topics in this essay:
Nagasaki United, Hiroshima Nagasaki, War II, War Stimson, Soviet Union, Potsdam July, United Americans, United Japan, War Truman, Carl Spaatz, atomic bomb, soviet union, world war, innocent lives, bomb dropped, hiroshima nagasaki, cold war, lives lost, dropping atomic bomb, dropping atomic, world war ii, force united, innocent lives lost,