UNIT 3 WORLD WAR II
UNIT 3 WORLD WAR IIJapan Surrenders EvidenceQuestion: Was the use of the atomic bomb on Japan by the U.S. to end the war in the Pacific justified?Chart #1JustifiedNot JustifiedEvidenceEvidenceinvading Japan would result in high casualtiesthe atomic bomb shortened the war and saved thousands of American livesJapan had no intention of surrendering as they were preparing for the U.S. invasionthe atomic bomb convinced Japanese Emperor Hirohito to surrender the Battle of Okinawa in April provided a preview of the possible deaths if the Americans invaded which was estimated at 2 million JapaneseAmericans know Japanese do not give up as many Japanese soldiers fought until they were killed or committed suicide Japanese demonstrated their willing to die for the Emperor with the kamikaze pilot (suicide plane)Japanese soldiers subscribed to a code of ethics known as “bushido” that obligated them to fight and not surrenderJapanese wanted to negotiate surrender and the Americans were aware of it Americans used the atomic bomb to intimidate the USSR as they were becoming rivals and show the Soviets they had a powerful new weaponthe use of the atomic bomb was immoral because civilians are the targetAmericans had been bombing Japanese cities for two years and caused widespread destruction and weakened Japanese so the atomic bomb was not necessaryAmerican navy had surrounded Japan with a blockade weaking Japan and would have eventually forced a surrenderU.S. refused to guarantee Emperor Hirohito’s safety even though Americans knew it was the most important point for the JapaneseAmericans demanded unconditional surrender (no negotiations) which the Japanese could not acceptUSSR declaration of war on Japan August 9 (after both atomic bombs) was the critical factor that convinced the Japanese the surrender Chart #2JustifiedNot JustifiedEvidenceEvidenceThe American military were anxious to avoid the invasion of Japan which they knew would be a costly and bloody campaign.Once Japan surrendered there. was agreement that the use of the bomb had speeded up the conclusion of the war by days, weeks, or even months.The bomb shortened the war and saved thousands of American lives.Source: Atom BombJapan had no intention of surrendering. It had husbanded over 8,000 aircraft, many of them Kamikazes, hundreds of explosive-packed suicide boats, and over two million well equipped soldiers, backed by a huge citizen's militia.What broke Hirohito's will was the terrible new weapon, a single bomb which could kill a hundred thousand at a time. Suddenly Japan was no longer fighting other men, but the very forces of the universe. The most important target the bombs hit was Hirohito's mind - it shocked him into acknowledging that he could not win the final battle.But what is usually overlooked in this numbers game, is the number of Japanese killed on Okinawa, which amounts to a staggering 250,000 military and civilian, about 20 Japanese killed for every dead American. If we conduct the same calculation for an invasion of the Japanese Home Islands, we arrive at a figure of at least two million Japanese dead.Source: Nuclear Power: The End of the War Against JapanAlthough some Japanese were taken prisoner, most fought until they were killed or committed suicide. In the last, desperate months of the war, this image was also applied to Japanese civilians. To the horror of American troops advancing on Saipan, they saw mothers clutching their babies hurling themselves over the cliffs rather than be taken prisoner.The other enduring image of total sacrifice is that of the kamikaze pilot, ploughing his plane packed with high explosives into an enemy warship. They were indoctrinated from an early age to revere the Emperor as a living deity, and to see war as an act that could purify the self, the nation, and ultimately the whole world. Within this framework, the supreme sacrifice of life itself was regarded as the purest of accomplishments.Japan's samurai heritage and the samurai code of ethics known as 'bushido' have a seductive appeal when searching for explanations for the wartime image of no surrender.Source: Japan: No Surrender in World War TwoThe Americans knew from decoded messages that the Japanese were negotiating with the Russians to act as intermediaries for a peace short of unconditional surrender.The United States used the bomb as soon as possible in order to impress the Soviets, and thus were largely, or in some versions entirely, responsible for the onset of the cold war.… since the bomb was not necessary for victory, its use was immoral, and the postwar political consequences of the use of the bomb were disastrous.Source: Atom Bomb… the United States Army Air Force published a survey of the effects of strategic bombing on Japan. The Air Force argued that conventional B-29 attacks had all but brought Japan to its knees, and concluded…“ ... it is the Survey's opinion that certainly prior to 31 December 1945, and in all probability prior to 1 November 1945 (well before the date of the invasion) Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped.”… the United States Navy produced its own assessment, stating that its submarine campaign had also brought Japan to its knees, that the Home Islands were on the verge of starvation, and that this alone would have produced surrender, thereby obviating the need for an atomic bomb, or an invasion.When the successful test firing of the first atomic bomb took place on 16 July 1945, Truman, negotiating with the Russians at Potsdam, decided to demonstrate America's new power to the Soviets by bombing Japanese cities, even though he knew the Japanese were trying to surrender. To ensure the Japanese would not capitulate before the bombs could be used, he deliberately refused to guarantee the emperor's safety, the only condition which, (Gus) Alperovitz and others argued, was a sticking-point for the Japanese.Source: Nuclear Power: The End of the War Against JapanThe first was the rapid deterioration of the Japanese war economy and military situation, that their navy was at the bottom of the sea, their air force was nonexistent, arid that she was reduced to crashing kamikaze planes into ships. Their fighters were gone, the American planes were going over Japan unopposed.Another point was unconditional surrender, that the Allied war aim of unconditional surrender was interpreted by the Japanese to mean the execution of the emperor, that he would be prosecuted and perhaps hung as a war criminal, and the Japanese regarded him as a deity (God).A third point was the Russian entry into the war. The Soviet Union was neutral throughout this period, and was going to declare war on Japan in mid-August by common agreement with the United States and Great Britain. This was the secret agreement made at Yalta.Source: The Japanese Were Already Defeated and Were Seeking Peace ................
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