Another military justification for use of the A’ bombs were Japanese Kamikaze pilots. These were suicide bombers whose only aim was to cause damage to American ships (30 American ships sunk and 200 damaged). The fact that the Japanese were willing to commit suicide simply made the Americans believe they were insane and the Japanese had over 5000 of them. The Americans were psychologically disturbed by these kamikaze pilots with a supposed no regard for human life. The A’ bomb would have forced Japan to surrender and would save American lives and ships, thus, it was militarily and morally justified.
Truman was a much stronger character than Roosevelt and was much more anti communist, he decided that American influence in Europe had to be strengthened. The Yalta agreement caused problems for America, they did not agree over Stalin’s demand for Polish land, but they did agree on the general point that Eastern Europe would be a ‘soviet sphere of influence’ but what was meant by this lead to disagreements and encouraged Truman to use the Atom Bomb. Russia’s actions had the most significant influence on President Truman's deliberations on whether or not to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. If America did not drop the bomb in order to demonstrate its military superiority, America had concerns that the Soviet Union would occupy Manchuria and would share the occupation of Japan with the U.S. So perhaps the dropping of the bomb prevented a greater war with Russia, this meant the bomb was politically justified.
The Japanese captured 14,000 P.O.W’s in the first few months of the war and had completely disregarded the guidelines set by the Geneva convention in their treatment of the prisoners. POW’s that were returned to America after the war averagely weighed less than 100 pounds and the conditions they had to live in were disgraceful. This kind of action towards POW’s by the Japanese only gave America more of an insight in to how ‘inhuman’ they were and so the dropping of the bomb of these ‘animals’ who have killed allied and American soldiers is morally justified.
Despite realising there military situation the Japanese showed no sign of giving up. In fact all the evidence indicates that they were preparing for a massive and stubborn defence of there islands. Also, the invasion of Japan would have had big effects of America’s economy because it was feared an invasion of Japan may cost too much.
If it is possible then the logical conclusion is to keep all your infantry in their barracks and annihilate your enemy ‘en masse’. That way any war could be reduced to a day or two and allied casualties eliminated all together.
Truman stated in his diary about the warning to be given ("we will have given them a chance") shows his decency, absent in those who chose the attack on Pearl Harbour without warning. He wanted people to see that Americans are honourable and noble and the Japanese, who will later be bombed, are nothing but animals because of the unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbour. Truman said if the dropping of the bomb saved one American life then so be it. The USA had not started the war but they would finish it with the smallest possible cost to U.S or allied troops.
However justified it may have seemed there were still reasons to believe it was unjustified.
A reason to why the dropping of the bombs was militarily and morally unjustified was mounting Japanese Casualties. In the battle of Midway in 1942 the US fleet sank four Japanese aircraft carriers, the Japanese position in the pacific was seriously weakened. Other battles which prove it was militarily unjustified was the battle of El Alamein in North Africa and the defeat of the German army at Stalingrad. By may of 1945 Japan virtually had no planes, ships or any form of attack and they certainly had no oil and so the Japanese military system came to a halt. These two factors proves the dropping of the bomb to be militarily and morally unjustified because it was clear Japan was losing the war and that America could have won the war easily using normal artillery, especially once they had control over the island Iwa Jima which they turned into a military base.
Another reason why it was morally and militarily unjustified was the balance of air power between Japan and America. Once America had taken over Iwa Jima it put there bombers in range of Japan and enabled America to use that island as a base. American bombers were practically unchallenged while in the sky, because of Japans lack of artillery and oil because America had stopped shipping oil in 1938. Also Japanese houses were made of wood and so fire bombs were devastating. Therefore it was painfully apparent to Japanese politicians that Japan were definitely losing the war , so from this evidence we can see it is militarily and morally unjustified to drop the bomb.
The Suzuki Cabinet, 1944, realised they were going to lose the war and asked the Russians to intercede for them. The Japanese were willing to accept nearly everything, accept a surrender that would include removing the Emperor as the seat of all power. When America dropped the first bomb they gave Japan no chance to surrender and proceeded to drop the second bomb. Japan would almost have certainly surrendered after assessing the damage of the first bomb, this proves to dropping of the bomb to be seriously morally unjustified because the Suzuki cabinet were seeking to surrender when it was dropped.
Racism towards the Japanese was profound. Americans totally de-humanised them. This makes one wonder if America, under equivalent circumstances, would have been able to use the bomb on the Germans.
The deliberate targeting of a civilian population is always a war crime. It is not permitted even if it is believed to bring victory nearer. If allied troops had systematically made their way through the streets of Hiroshima with flamethrowers and incinerated every man, woman and child in sight, who would attempt to justify such a war crime? But because the bomb makes a distance, literally, between cause and effect, agent and action, guilt is denied.
If you have a terrible weapon in your hand, the morality of using it should demand that you not consider using it until you are in extremis. Was America in Extremis? In my opinion they were not. They had one the European war, were ahead of the game in men and material and Russia was ready to enter the war against Japan
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