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Some people have suggested that the United States should not have used the atomic bombs for this reason and should have instead carried out smaller bombing raids which could more easily target specific military targets. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not military targets and as such, many innocent children and women were killed from the powerful blast of the bombs. In addition to the destruction of the city, some historians have argued that the two atomic bombs should not have been used because they caused the deaths of largely innocent civilians who lived in the two cities. Some historians have argued that this widespread destruction of the cities was immoral and therefore the United States was not justified in its use of the atomic bombs. Crew members of the Enola Gay commented after about seeing much of the city on fire as they flew away from the city. It was made worse by the fact that many of the buildings in the city were constructed out of wood and paper. The initial blast and the resulting fires ravaged the city. For instance, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945 ended in the destruction of 90% of the city. Beyond killing many people the atomic bombs also caused massive destruction in both cities. The atomic bombs on Japan were the single deadliest weapons in all of human history and remains so still today.
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The bombing of Nagasaki would kill another 40,000 people. Three days later on August 9th, the United States dropped another atomic bomb, named the Fat Man, on the city of Nagasaki. The bombing instantly killed 70,000 to 80,000 Japanese in the city and tens of thousands more due to radiation exposure.
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On August 6th, 1945, the American B-29 plane, Enola Gay, dropped the atomic bomb Little Boy on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Therefore, it has been argued that the bombs were inhumane and should not have been used.įurther to the idea that the bombs were inhumane because of the injuries they caused, others have suggested that the United States was unjustified in using the two atomic bombs to end World War II because they caused excessive destruction of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some people have argued that the burns and toxic radiation caused by the atomic blasts were beyond what is acceptable in a war. There is about 10,000,000,000 times as much toxic material initially in the bomb itself as is needed for a single lethal dose.” This level of radiation caused the immediate death of any person close enough to the initial blast, but more importantly it caused severe and painful burns on others that were just outside of the blast radius. In the memo he stated “The active material of the bomb itself is toxic. For example, Robert Oppenheimer, who was an American physicist and is sometimes referred to as the “father of the atomic bomb” for his role in the Manhattan Project, comment on the dangers of the atomic bombs in a top secret memo from May of 1945. However, some historians have argued that the toxic radiation present in atomic bombs made them fundamentally immoral. For example, in World War II, the German city of Dresden was famously fire-bombed to near total destruction by the Allied nations. In general, bombs of any sort are devastating and can cause widespread damage and death. Alternatively, click to read about the main reasons in favor of the use of the bombs and why some historians believe the United States was justified.įirst, some historians argue that the atomic bombing of Japan was not justified because they consider the use of the bombs to be inhumane. Read below to learn more specific information about the main reasons against the use of the atomic bombs by the United States. Still others argue that perhaps the first bomb used against Hiroshima was justified but that the second used against Nagasaki was not. Others have argued against the use of the bombs, with evidence such as: it was not needed, it was inhumane and it led to the modern atomic age and threat of nuclear war. Some have argued in favor of the use of the bombs for a range of reasons, including: it ended the war, it saved the lives of millions, and it was necessary for the emerging Cold War with the Soviet Union. Since the bombing in 1945, historians have debated whether or not the United States was justified in using the two atomic bombs to end the war. The atomic bombing of Japan at the end of World War II by the United States is one of the most debated and controversial topics in all of history.