The decision by America to use two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II was an intense topic of discussion for years after the incident. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings are one of history's best-known historic events, but at the same time provoke ongoing, fervently heated reactions. This research paper aims to examine the Hiroshima and Nagasaki incidents and investigate the causes, implications, and effects of the bombings.
History of Hiroshima
Hiroshima's early history goes back to the 6th century when some of the first Shinto shrines on Hiroshima Bay were erected (Cÿ, 2005). Modern Hiroshima was founded in 1589, which means 'big island' (Cikan, 2005). The city's many canals and wharves made importing goods from the countryside simple while its bridges linked all parts of the expanding metropolis. Hiroshima had been such a major center for the Japanese military that the Imperial Headquarters was briefly moved there.
Summer 1945
The summer of 1945 was the moment, the U.S. and its allies were at war against Germany and had just ended peace (Mishler 2008). And the US has been in conflict with Imperial Japan since the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 (Mishler, 2008). During the Japanese War America had a very critical decision to make. One choice was to drop a newly tested bomb on the Japanese, aiming to get them to quickly surrender. The latter alternative was to have a mass land invasion of Japan and plan to fight it with full force. It was understood that there would be a significant number of fatalities, no matter what choice was selected.
On 12 April 1945, after the death of President Roosevelt, Vice President Harry S. Truman became President (Foundation for Constitutional Rights). At this time, President Truman was seeking to occupy the position twelve years vacated by President Roosevelt. Truman was pushed into a position that he was not prepared for and into an administration that operated successfully without his input (Kort, 2007). Sadly, Roosevelt never included his vice president in the discussions on atomic bombs. Two weeks after becoming president, he was finally extensively briefed on 'the tool,' as General Groves called the Bomb (Civil Rights Foundation). War Secretary Stimson undertook the primary purpose of filling the details of the Manhattan Project President Truman, about which Truman had not known (Kort, 2007).
According to Kort (2007), a variety of scientific discoveries in the 1920s and 1930s led to the Manhattan Project. During this time of scientific innovation, Hitler had steadily risen to power in Germany and the physicist Leo Szilard and fellow Hungarian Eugene Wigner and Edward Teller had long been worried (Kort, 2007). They have agreed the U.S. President would be told of the latest fission technologies that had been developed that could produce bombs, they claimed. The three physicists enlisted the help of the then-leading scientist, Albert Einstein, and together they drew up a letter to President Roosevelt (Kort 2007). Albert Einstein's famous 1939 letter, drafted by physicist Leo Szilard (who's been called Humanist of the Year some twenty years later), convinced President Roosevelt to begin the Manhattan Project, explaining their conviction that nuclear power 'would lead to the development of explosives, and it is plausible that extremely powerful new type bombs might be designed in this way' (Milam 2010).
The combination of France's 1940 fall to Germany, the assumption that Germany was leading in the atomic bomb race, and the Pearl Harbor bombing soon convinced Roosevelt that more needed to be achieved with this atomic work (Kort, 2007). Roosevelt instructed his top security advisors to rapidly set up commissions on this initiative and to decide what to do and how to do it. Even by the end of 1942 bomb studies had become a bomb configuration, and the Manhattan Project was now managed by the military (Milam, 2010).
The Bombing
The war secretary from 1940 to 1945, Henry L. Stimson, would influence President Truman's critical decision on whether to invade or attack Japan (Sherwin, 1995). On the morning of 6 August 1945, the U.S. Army Air Forces B-29 Enola Gay dropped a weapon-style uranium gun code called 'Little Boy' on the city of Hiroshima (Military History 2009). Some 350,000 people had been living in Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945. That day, around 140,000 died, and in the next five months (Military History, 2009).In the Kyuohotagawa and Motoyasugawa rivers, masses of blackened, bloodied, skinless bodies drifted in macabre places. Long lines of shuffling figures – clothes burning right off the body; hair hanging on the end or singing off the scalp; skin peeling and dripping off arms, legs, back; hands spread out, zombie-like – were all desperately wandering after the bombing (Military History, 2009). This hellish scenario was performed in utter darkness because the mushroom cloud, the black rain carrier, and everlasting death, had turned day into night and modern technology into mankind's greatest nemesis (Military History, 2009).
According to Cameron (2005), President Truman released this statement after the Hiroshima Bombing about the use of a new weapon and pledging the following:
'If they don't accept our terms now, they should expect a storm of destruction from the clouds that have never been seen on this planet. Behind this airstrike will join sea and land powers with the numbers and strength they haven't seen yet and with the combat skills that they're already well aware of and ability that they haven't seen yet and with the combat skills that they already learned.'
The Emperor did not respond and three days later, the B-29 Bockscar scored most of Nagasaki with a device-type plutonium implosion code-named 'Fat Man' (Military History, 2009). The second attack on the Japanese city of Nagasaki on August 9, is believed to have claimed another 80,000 lives (Military History, 2009). The Soviet Union declared war on Japan on the very same day. 'Continuing the war can only mean ruin for the country,' Hirohito said. He then announced Japan must accept surrender (Constitutional Rights Foundation).
Interpretations
There are different views regarding the use and rationalization of atomic bombs. The nuclear attacks on Japan were warranted to win the war with the fewest possible casualties. Some claim that since Japanese soldiers were known for their brutal combat styles, Japan's invasion would have led to hundreds of thousands, or maybe even millions, of American casualties (O'Connor, 2010). Specific reasons include that the US invested almost $2 billion to build the weapons, and the expenses needed to justify them (O'Connor, 2010).
Even the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs were extremely inefficient for their swift demolition. In 'Little Boy' only one of the fifty kilograms of uranium present exploded the affectionate nickname provided by those responsible for that weapon of mass destruction (Milam, 2010). Hiroshima may have been much more terrifying than one would have expected if one dares. After all, those programs were performed feverishly by the 'best minds in the world' (Milam, 2010). Ironically, Einstein later became a peace activist, and days before his death, along with ten other respected scientists and intellectuals, signed the 1955 Russell-Einstein Manifesto by Bertrand Russell (Milam 2010). It starts with words:
'In the terrible situation facing mankind, we believe that scientists will come together in a conference to discuss the dangers resulting from the creation of nuclear weapons.' This concludes with the often-repeated phrase: 'We speak to human beings as human beings: consider your dignity, and forget the rest (Milam, 2010).'
Secretary of War Stimson later revealed that the decision to use the atomic bomb was intended in part to satisfy the doubts of that rather difficult class of community that will be in charge of next-generation education, namely educators and historians (Sherwin, 1995). He also wrote that saving American lives by stopping the war as soon as possible was the main motive (Sherwin, 1995). The Japanese communications captured by U.S. military intelligence revealed that the Japanese had been attempting to surrender 'conditionally' since June 1945 (Sherwin, 1945) were what he wanted to mention.
Consequences
The effects of the bombings on all levels were massive. The Japanese's lives were forever affected. Tsutomu Yamaguchi, then a 29-year-old ship engineer with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, was heading to the Hiroshima shipyard when Little Boy, the world's first strategic atomic bomb, exploded less than 2 miles away in midair (Military History, 2009). He was knocked unconscious by the explosion, his left eardrum exploded, and his upper torso burned. Three days later, back home in Nagasaki, Yamaguchi told a skeptical boss about his story when Fat Man, the second strategic atomic bomb, exploded over that area, just less than 2 miles away (Military History, 2009). The shock wave knocked both men to the ground and ripped off bandages from Yamaguchi (Military History, 2009). The man spent over a decade recovering from his injuries. His wife and infant son survived with minor wounds from the Nagasaki blast but poor health ravaged the household. His son died at age 59 from cancer in 2005 (Military History, 2009). Yamaguchi is now officially recognized as a double-hibakusha ('person affected by the explosion'), and has become a strong supporter of nuclear disarmament (Military History, 2009).'The reason I dislike the atomic bomb is because of what it is doing to people's integrity,' Yamaguchi explained to The Times. 'I must pass on the facts, having been given this miracle' (Military History, 2009).
In Japan today, 226,598 formally registered survivors of the atomic bombings are still alive, according to Cameron (2005). The real number of hibakusha is much higher, as many have not been able to fulfill the stringent and often arbitrary certification standards, whereas others have left Japan. And the average age of these respondents is now 73. Some have struggled with radiation-related diseases for much of their lives, and death will surely have silenced most of them by the 2015 bombing's seventieth anniversary (Cameron, 2005).
Then Akihiro Takahashi, 14, recalls waiting to reach his classroom and then waking up with burns all over his body. He made his way to the river to extinguish his burning flesh (Cÿ, 2005). His physical pain has just begun; he now has to visit a hospital regularly for hour-long liver cancer treatments and the realization that he worries about his health every day (Cameroon, 2005).
In addition to endured health-related effects, the atomic bombings have also had international effects. World War II ended and the United States, Japan, and forty-eight nations formed a peace treaty (O'Connor, 2010). The bomb designers had not earned the feelings they expected against the bomb and the scientists quickly concluded that this device shouldn't be used (Cameron, 2005).
Conclusion
One of the more controversial issues of the twentieth century was the decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan. In many years to come the bombings will continue to remain a lively discussion. The precise strength of mind for using the atomic bombs will never be completely understood and the same question will be posted time and time again, 'Does this have to happen?