This is only a brief outline into some of the reasons why America dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.
I will explore some of these main reasons in more depth throughout the essay.
The rise of Japan and the growing tension between
The USA and Japan.
The rise of Japan
In the beginning of the twentieth century Japan had won a war with Russia which gave them control of Korea.
Japan was becoming a major trading nation, and their industries were expanding.
Though Europe were fighting this did not bother Japan in war so this left room for exporting industry to prosper.
Although Japan had a strong industry, their country was not rich in raw materials it needed, such as coal and oil. These raw materials were mainly imported and 80%of there oil cam from America.
Because the country’s growing industry, the general population expanded also, and as Japan is only a group of islands, there was not enough land to live on. Many of these Japanese people immigrated to America although America limited the number of Japanese immigrants in 1924.The lack of land for there people and also the short supply of raw materials were a problem that Japan needed to address.
The Wall Street crash of 1924 caused a world depression this hit Japan the hardest as their wealth came from the exporting of goods that nobody could now afford to buy. Japan became desperate and their answer to these problems was to create an empire. This involved invading neighbours surrounding Japan for their land and raw materials. This is all shown in source A1 this is a secondary source and cannot be biast as it is factual not opinion.
Also source A2 is a good source because it is a map to show all the land Japan had conquered by 1941.
Democracy was a new thing in Japan , much of the power was still controlled by old aristocratic families , who had close ties with the army. The most powerful officers were part of these families
In 1930 these officer planed to overthrow the democratic government.
The army without informing the government attacked a country called Manchuria, the Japanese army said that the Manchurians attacked the south Manchurian railway this was not true. Manchuria was a part of China and bordered Korea which Japan controlled. Manchuria was rich in land and raw materials but this meant that Japan was at war with china.
Like above this shown in source a2 this is a reliable source as it is a map and cannot be biast.
People were now supporting the Japanese army following the success of Manchuria.
The Japanese governments were now controlled by the army and were forced to spend vast sums to increase the army’s strength from 250,000 people in 1932 to 950,000 in 1937.
Meanwhile America was becoming worried about these events in Japan as they had important trade links with china. America felt that japans attempts to dominate East Asia were as important as the war in Europe.
America was also concerned about the size of japans army and began to see them as a threat.
The Japanese army admired the strength and power of the dictators in Europe like Hitler and Mussolini and in 1936 Japan signed an alliance with Germany.
In 1936 went on to invade china their success was because of surprise attacks good equipment and well trained pilots and a very large army.
The newspapers started to praise the Japanese army. all this is shown in source a3 this is indeed a reliable source as it is secondary and factual not opinion so it cannot be biast.
And in 1940 Japan signs a defensive treaty with Germany and Italy this is also shown in source a3.
Japan then went on to invade indo-china in July 1941 and this was the final straw for America so it banned trade with Japan this was bad as before Japan relied on 80% of its oil from America.
October 1941 general Tojo becomes prime minister of Japan it is now governed completely by the army.
In the same year America tries to negotiate a new trade agreement with Japan if they pull out of china and indo-china they also want them to leave the alliance with Germany.
Japan sees this as a sign either to give in or go to war with America.
Japan declines the agreement.
Next America announces that it is going to expand its navy, probably a sign of defense against Japan.
But Japan decides to a little secret attack on the naval base of Pearl Harbor before Americas navy can expand.
On the 8th of December 1941 japans mobilizes its aircraft carriers and attacks pearl harbor this attack was effective because it was very early and most of the sailors were still asleep also this was the first time Japan used a series of kamikaze pilots this attack killed 2400 sailors and sunk 8 battleships. All this is shown in source a4 this shows the effectiveness of the attack on Pearl Harbor this is a picture so it cannot be biast.This then caused America to declare war on Japan the world was now at war!!
These events forced also Britain to declare war on Japan and on the 11th of December Germany declares war on America!!
The events that occurred led up to some of the reasons why America dropped the bomb on Japan.
- Japanese had been very cruel to prisoners of war America was angered by this and felt that dropping the bomb only then will they get justice.
This is shown in the bottom paragraph of source b1 this source is fairly reliable as it was an eyewitness account but because the man was a British solider it could be very biast.
- Another reason for dropping the bomb was that America had spent so much money on it ($2000 million) and if they did not use it would not only be a waste of money but show that the Americans were afraid to use it. It was called the Manhattan project.
This is shown partly In source d7 this is an account from a scientist explaining the costs of the bombs this is a good source as it is secondary and is not biast.
- Another reason was that president Harry s Truman wanted to show off this new weapon to the rest of the especially to the Russians.
This is shown in source d8 it is the director of the Manhattan project saying that the president wanted to say something to the Russians about this bomb it is a secondary source and cannot be biast.
- America wanted the revenge for Pearl Harbor.
There is no source to suggest this.
- And possibly the main reason for dropping the bomb was that japan would never surrender and many more ally lives would be lost this is because the Japanese fighters were probably the fiercest of the war
This is shown in the top two paragraphs in source b1 like above this source is written by an English soldier and might be biast but there are a number of other sources to back me up.
e.g:b4 this is a very good source as it comes from the Japanese army manual and is not biast. Also source b6 it says that there was no weakening the Japanese defense. and is written by the secretary for war.
All these led to the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima
In 1945 but the Japanese did not surrender after this first bomb only when another was dropped on Nagasaki 3 days later did Japan finally give up.
THE WORLD WAR WAS NOW OVER AFTER 5 YEARS OF FIGHTING!!!
Nearly 5,000 nuclear weapons in the U.S. and Russia are still pointed at each other, ready to be launched and reach their targets in minutes. As recently as 1998 India and Pakistan were initiated into the nuclear "club" by completing nuclear weapons tests. Today, tens of thousands of nuclear weapons still inhabit the world.
