In 1945, atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Why did the Americans decide to carry out these attacks? Explain your answer.
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
Why did relations between the USA and the USSR change in the peroid from the end of the Second World War to the begginning of the Berlin Blockade?
Relations changed between the USA and the USSR between 1945-1948, mainly because the USA was capitalist while the USSR was communist, this created a mutual but potentially fatal feud between the two. In may 1945 the victorious allies got on well because they had just defeated Nazi Germany. This was great for the rest of the world because the two most powerful states at the time were on each other's side. However, by 1948 the situation was completely different, the allies were close to war due to the debate of Germany, Berlin, and also the Berlin blockade. Relations between the USA and the USSR had never been good. This can be seen as far back as the agreements at Potsdam. However this was a time of good friendship and mutual agreement. These agreements occurred in the summer of 1945. This meeting was mainly to discuss the future of Germany and Berlin, which was inevitably divided into 4 sectors, one for the USSR, France, Britain and the USA. This also included many other agreements such as the dissolving of the Nazi party and even more dramatic the change of Germany into being a democracy. Also which had stirred the bad relations was that Stalin dictator of the USSR had been slowly but efficiently obtaining small satellite countries thanks to Stalin's Red Army, which were situated on the Eastern side of Europe. This in turn meant that Stalin now occupied
There has been a significant Palestinian refugee problem for the last fifty years. Do these sources allow you to come to a firm conclusion about who or what is responsible for this problem?
There has been a significant Palestinian refugee problem for the last fifty years. Do these sources allow you to come to a firm conclusion about who or what is responsible for this problem? Since the formation of the state of Israel, Palestinians have left their homes and villages in order to escape, what they believe is, a corrupt and illegal Government. The Palestinian refugee problem has come in waves, with Arabs initially leaving after the Deir Yassin massacre, and then more leaving after the Six Day War in 1967. This was because as Israel extended its borders Arabs, who had previously been living in the South of Syria or Sinai, did not want to live under Jewish command and so fled the country. This means that a lot of people have been born and grown up in refugee camps and also hate the Jews, even though they were not directly involved in the original crisis. As the Palestinian refugee population has grown, so has its power and military strength. Many refugees are now recruited into guerrilla groups and attack Israel in various ways as they want the wider world to remember their fight for their homeland. At the 1978 peace talks at Camp David, Israeli and Egyptian Presidents agreed that Israel would withdraw from Sinai. Though this helped the refugees who were in Egypt, the refugees and other Arab fundamentalists assassinated President Sadat, of Egypt, for recognising
What was the nature of the Apartheid State?
History Essay: What was the nature of the Apartheid State? The following piece of work will examine Apartheid which was a policy followed by the Afrikaner “National Party” between 1948 and 1994. Apartheid was invoked in 1948 when the National Party got into power. Apartheid is derived for the Afrikaans word and its direct translation is ‘apartness’. This was the racial segregation of Blacks and Whites. This was also when Black South African life’s started taking a downturn. Racism towards the Blacks had already been an issue that was fairly common amongst the Boers and Afrikaners even before 1948. The Afrikaners already had a superiority complex towards Blacks but as the apartheid starting taking place, it increased. The Afrikaners were given two choices, apartheid or integration. ‘ The choice before us is one of these two courses: either integration, which would in the long run amount to national suicide on the part of the whites; or ‘apartheid ‘, which claims to preserve the identity and safeguard the future of every race.’ The White Afrikaners were economically uncertain; the worried about things such as work, towns and money. The Blacks were already taking over the skilled jobs and congregating around towns. This concerned the White Afrikaners greatly. The United Party who offered integration would keep things going this way but the National Party who
Castro, Independent Participant or Soviet Pawn?
Internal Assessment Castro, Independent Participant or Soviet Pawn Key Participants: Fidel Castro (Cuba) Nikita Khrushchev (USSR) John F. Kennedy (United States of America) Plan of Investigation The Cuban Missile Crisis took place between the United States of America, Cuba and the Soviet Union in 1962, during the Cold War. The crisis became public knowledge when President John F. Kennedy appeared on a televised announcement to the American people, declaring that " large, long range, clearly offensive weapons of sudden mass destruction" had been stored in recently built missile storage installations on the island of Cuba. President Kennedy also stated that their suspicions indicate that these missiles had been placed there by the Soviet Union and that these were not regular stinger missiles but nuclear missiles and that the number of nuclear missiles was quickly growing. Were these missiles placed in Cuba under Soviet orders or had Castro requested their presence? Throughout this thesis I will present facts and details that will provide an answer to this lingering question. This is where the Cuban Missile Crisis begins. Summary of Evidence There is much controversy over the subject of whether Fidel Castro was in fact being manipulated by Soviet Union officials, such as Nikita Khrushchev. It has never been possible to prove this theory in light of conflicting opinions
To what extent did the decade of the 1960s launch a process of fundamental change in relation to the United States of America?
To what extent did the decade of the 1960s launch a process of fundamental change in relation to the United States of America? The first thing that needs to be done in order to answer this question is to find out what events occurred within the decade of the 1960s that may have started a process of change. After this has been done, the events should be assessed as to their importance in the future development of the United States of America and whether they started a 'process of fundamental change'. The decade of the 1960s were definitely eventful, to say the least, with many major events occurring that not only effected America but the rest of the world. The sixties were the age of youth, as 70 million children from the post-war baby boom became teenagers and young adults. Many people feel that this decade was a major move from the social ideology of the fifties to a way of life similar to that of the late 20th century. There were evolutionary ways of thinking and there was a real change in the cultural fabric of American life. The youth were no longer happy to be images of previous generations but young people wanted change. The changes that did occur affected education, values, lifestyles, laws, and entertainment and these 'revolutionary' changes are still occurring today. There were many events that caused change within America and these not only affected the obvious
Were contemporaries correct in regarding President Kennedy as the saviour of the Western World after the Cuban missile crisis?
Were contemporaries correct in regarding President Kennedy as the saviour of the Western World after the Cuban missile crisis? Between the years of 1945 and 1990 there was a period we now call the 'Cold War'. This 'war' was between the two 'Superpowers' namely the USA and the USSR. These two countries were involved in various confrontations, very few of which were deadly. An atmosphere of tension and mistrust lay between them, as each country wanted power over the other, whether it is through weapons of mass destruction or through space travel. The two countries were involved in a 'space race' where each country tried to be the first into space, and on the moon. The USSR were successful in carrying the first man into space in 1961, but the USA were the first to carry man to the moon, some eight years later, in 1969. There was also a more deadly race between the two countries, called the 'arms race'. This was a race to see who could produce the most destructive nuclear weapons. Both countries tried to keep an eye on each other by using a network of spies. One incident involving spies was in 1960 where an American pilot, Gary Powers, was caught taking aerial photographs of Russian military sites in a U2 spy plane. He was shot down and kept prisoner for two years. He was released in 1962 in return for the release of Russian spies over in the USA. Although some of these
The USSR under Khrushchev and Brezhnev
The USSR under Khrushchev and Brezhnev Stalin died in 1953 after having transformed the USSR. Stalin made big changes to the USSR, he started in 1928 with the first Five Year Plan. He set a planned economy in which GOSPLAN, the state planning organisation created in 1921 by Lenin, set targets for each factory with the objective of increasing the production in heavy industries and of modernizing the USSR. The Communist leader did also put lots effort into industrialising remote areas of the USSR with the aim of exploiting the resources found in inhospitable areas like the Urals and Western Siberia. An example of a city created by Stalin through his Five Year Plan was Magnitogorsk. Workers were sent to these cities to start the production of the raw materials found in those areas, most of these were Kulaks who had been forced from their homes. However, Stalin did not only change the economical and industrial system in the USSR, he also changed the agricultural methods. Stalin wanted to develop the USSR, and he believed that to do this he has to modernise agriculture. As a result of the increasing population in big industrial cities the USSR was short of grain to feed its population and Stalin even had plans of exporting grain to finance industrialisation. For this reason Stalin decided to increase the production of grain in Russia. To do this he first ended the New Economical
Discussing Hiroshima.
Shawna Danielson Modern World Civilizations II April 14th, 2008 Hiroshima by John Hersey provides the reader with a front row seat to the devastation that atomic power can cause. This book tells the story of the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan on that fateful day in August, 1945, through the eyes of various survivors. Through the eyes of those survivors, we are able to see a glimpse of the horror that occurred on August 6th, 1945. We are able to see how devastating atomic power can be, not only structurally and physically, but also the long term repercussions as well. The force of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945 was absolutely devastating. The pressure from the explosion "varied from 5.3 to 8.0 tons per square yard", and "had more power than 20,000 tons of TNT." The bombs blast was forceful enough to move gravestones, knock over railroad cars, and move concrete bridges. The heat of the bomb at its center "must have been 6,000° Celsius." The bomb caused concrete to become discolored to a "light, reddish tint, had scaled off the surface of granite. . . and left prints of the shadows left by its light." Over 2,500 yards away from the center, a shadow was found that had been "projected by the handle of a gas pump." There were also a few "vague human silhouettes" found near the center. Over 62,000 buildings were destroyed, and
What steps did Castro take to ensure he remain in power?
What steps did Castro take to ensure he remain in power? This year Fidel Castro, the ruler of Cuba, will be 80 years old. He has had the power of Cuba for 48 years but is since 2006 suffering from an illness which forced Fidel to temporarily hand over the power to his brother Raoul. It would be interesting to investigate in what methods Castro has used and uses to remain in power for this long, although perhaps all methods are not yet known. In 1959, Fidel Castro came to power after a guerrilla war against the Batista regime, during which the USA had had a great influence in Cuba. One of Castro's first actions when in power was to eliminate his enemies and rivals. Batista's men were rounded up along with for instance speculators and corrupt officials. Castro's former guerrilla army was also a possible future threat, so it was given positions in the army, land for farming, education, positions in the government and in the newly formed secret police (which might have meant a double protection against opposition as violent and radical people were given a suitable occupation with repression of opposition). These actions may have prevented a future organised rising against him both through giving benefits to or intimidate those who might have joined it and the elimination of those who might have organised it. Another method to stay in power was to control the media through