In 1945, atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Why did the Americans decide to carry out these attacks? Explain your answer.

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In 1945, atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Why did the Americans decide to carry out these attacks? Explain your answer.         The Americans decided to carry out these attacks for a variety of interrelated factors; the conglomeration of these factors led to the deployment of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. No one factor was entirely responsible for the dropping of the bombs, however some factors are more significant than others.        One significant factor is that the tension between the USA and USSR was building, for various reasons. One reason for this tension was a misunderstanding, a disagreement, related to the Polish government; Hitler had been defeated, allegedly committing suicide on the 30th April 1945, and Poland was liberated, meaning it needed a government. The Russians wanted to impose a Communist, Russia-orientated government in Poland, whereas the Americans had wanted a more balanced approach to government. This misunderstanding led to American contempt for Russia, seeing them as liars and deal-breakers, although this was never voiced by President Roosevelt.        President Roosevelt died unexpectedly on the 12th April 1945, leaving President Truman in charge, worsening American relations with Russia. This is because Roosevelt, familiar to Molotov and Russian diplomats, was no longer there, leaving them with an unfamiliar entity, Truman. Truman had a rude and abrasive attitude towards Molotov, calling him a liar and a deal breaker (over Poland). This attitude was shocking to Molotov, who had never been spoken to in such an undiplomatic way before. This meant that tensions were high between Russia and the USA.        The USA were also concerned over what the Russian post-war ambitions would be; they feared and hated communism and were concerned that the Russians may have expansionist ideas. Due to these factors over the tension with Russia, the Americans had more reason to want drop the bomb: they wanted to open up the idea of technology trading with the Russians, to build
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up a trade partnership; they wanted to demonstrate their power to cause the Russians to fear the Americans for holding such potent technology; they wanted to hasten the (almost inevitable) victory against Japan so that the Russians could not claim any credit for the victory, because the Russians had began to invade Japanese territory. All of these factors are Russia-related reasons for the Americans to drop the bomb, showing that diplomacy with Russia was important to America; they were spurred towards dropping an experimental, dangerous weapon partially due to their attitude towards Russia.        Russia was of course not the only ...

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