Abraham Lopez

World History
Mr.Dewaele
7 June 2013
Would We Have Lost or Won Without the Bomb
On August 6, 1945 the first atomic bomb was dropped by The United States on
Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later August 9, 1945 the second atomic bomb was dropped on
Nagasaki, Japan. But let me take you back to where it all started, The Manhattan Project. . Two
of the main contributors to this project were Albert Einstein, and Enrico Fermi. They are the ones
who warned the United States President that German Physicist had learned the secret to splitting
a uranium atom. In doing so they set the wheel in motion to start The Manhattan Project. The
project was given the ok to start on May 12, 1942. The bomb was finally completed by the
summer of 1945 and was first tested on July 16, 1945 at the Trinity Site near Alamogordo, New
Mexico. The atomic bomb was ready to be used, but it was late in the war and was completely
unnecessary.
Japan had already surrendered before any of the atomic bombs were dropped but they
wanted to stay imperial and The United States did not want that. The US wanted unconditional
surrender but the Japanese were not ready to do that because they wanted to keep their emperor
as their leader. If the US had only agreed to their terms all of this could have been avoided, but
instead they had to have unconditional surrender and there was no other alternative. There were a
few ways The United States could have beat Japan without the atomic bomb. A couple ways
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were: just to agree with Japan and let them be imperial, Invade Japan, or wait it out and let Japan
run out of all their recourses.
In the weeks before the bomb was dropped the allies had a naval blockade around Japan
and did not allow resources in or out. This divested both their economy and their military
because with no new recourses coming into Japan they were eventually going to run out of
ammo and food to feed their soldiers. The Japanese air force eventually ran out of bombs and
bullets and thats when they started to crash them into allied ship, hoping to destroy them. These
suicide airplanes are known as Kamikazes. Not having the recourses is not the only reason Japan
couldnt supply their military with ammo, allied forces had been bombing their factories for days
and without factories they couldnt make weapons, ammo, or any other needed item. So if Japan
was quickly running out of recourses why didnt the allies just wait it out and let the Japanese
run out of ammo? If The United States had waiting and let Japan run out of ammo, instead of
dropping two atomic bombs about 160,000 innocent lives would have been saved. But instead of
waiting it out, the bombs were dropped.
When the first bomb was dropped by a B-29 bomber on Hiroshima it instantly vaporized
70,000 people, by the end of the week another 100,000 people died due to burns and radiation
sickness.(Johnstonarchive.net) The second bomb did as much damage by killing another 80,000
civilians in Nagasaki.(Johnstonarchive.net) Even so there was no reason to drop the bombs on
these two cities because they had little or no military value citizens outnumbered soldiers greatly.
In Hiroshima out of the estimated 348,000 people living in Hiroshima the day the atomic bomb
was dropped only about 110,000 people dies and only 12,000 soldiers dies.( Johnstonarchive.net)
In Nagasaki out of the estimated 263,000 people living in Nagasaki the day the second atomic
bomb was dropped an estimate of 70,000 people dies but only 9,000 were soldiers.
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( Johnstonarchive.net) By dropping the two atomic bombs The United States on killed about
21,000 soldiers and about 160,000 civilians.
Dropping these bombs was not about winning the war, it was about making a point that
the US was a superpower and should not be taken lightly. The two cities they bomb had little or
no military value. The United States did not want to kill soldiers they wanted to hurt Japanese
civilians because they thought that would be the only way to end the war. This has to be one of
the shadiest things the US has ever done, they killed thousands of innocent people just to end a
war. They could have done other things to end the war but no they had to drop two atomic bombs
because they felt that would have fewer dead casualties than a full on evasion. But in reality if
the United States did invade Japan they would have marched right through and all the Japanese
would have had to defend themselves would have been nuts and bolts because they didnt have
the resources or the money to defend them. But instead the US tested their resilience by dropping
the bombs.
Another reason the bombs were dropped was to show something for the 2 billion dollars
spent on The Manhattan Project. Truman knew that if the citizens of the US would be outraged if
they found out he had spent 2 billion dollars to make the atomic bombs and not even use them. It
would have been a total waste of money and the only way to show the people that it was
necessary to make the bombs was to use them to end the war. Other than that the bombs didnt
make much of a difference in the outcome of the war because with or without them the allies
would have won.
President Truman gave the order to drop the atomic bomb. But before the bomb was even
dropped some people had already disagreed with his order. The bombs were dropped anyway,
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after the bombs were dropped people came out and said that the bomb was unnecessary and that
the war could have ended differently. One person to disagree with the dropping of not one but
two atomic bombs was Dwight D. Eisenhower he said "During his recitation of the relevant
facts, I had been conscious of a feeling of depression and so I voiced to him my grave
misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the
bomb was completely unnecessary.(MandateforChangepg.380) This man was the Supreme
Commander of the Allied armies, he wasnt just anyone, he was someone who played a major
part in the war and later became President. So this was not just normal citizens thinking that
dropping the atomic bomb was unnecessary it was also some of the most important people
during the war. Eisenhower didnt just say dropping the bomb once he said it in different number
of occasions. During an interview Eisenhower stated that "...the Japanese were ready to surrender
and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing."(IkeonIkeNewsweek) Eisenhower had
to strongly believe that the use of the atomic bomb was unnecessary to announce it more than a
few times.
Hundreds of thousands of lives taken away by one decision. On decision that was
completely unnecessary and that was dropping not one but two atomic bombs one on Hiroshima
Japan and the other on Nagasaki Japan. There was another way to end the war, a smarter way and
that was waiting out until Japan didnt have ammo left. That would have been the smart thing to
do because Japan was so close to the breaking point, all The United States had to do was to sit
and wait. But instead they dropped the bombs, bombs that even some of the high ranking officers
of WWII said were unnecessary. Officers that were in the middle of the war and wanted to come
back home alive and as soon as possible said it was unnecessary. Trumans own officers thought
it was unnecessary to drop the bombs, he should have listened. If Truman would have listened
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US would have still defeated Japan and everything would have been the same. The only
difference would be the date VJ-Day is because by choosing a different alternative to end the
war, the war would have gone on a little longer but still would have had the same results as
dropping the atomic bomb. Anyway you look at it the allies would have won with or without the
use of the atomic bombs. These bombs were a waste of time, money, and were completely
unnecessary to use against an already defeated Japan.

Works Cited
1. "Japan's Surrender Made Public." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d.

Web. 07 June 2013.

2. "51g. The Decision to Drop the Bomb." The Decision to Drop the Bomb
[ushistory.org]. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 June 2013.
3. "American Bomber Drops Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima." History.com. A&E
Television Networks, n.d. Web. 07 June 2013.
4. Eisenhower, Dwight D. Mandate For Change. New York: DoubleDay, 1963.
Print
5. "Seattle Times Trinity Web: Dropping the Bomb." Seattle Times Trinity Web:
Dropping the Bomb. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 June 2013.
6. "Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima." History.com. A&E Television Networks,
n.d. Web. 07 June 2013.
7. "The Manhattan Project: Making the Atomic Bomb." The Manhattan Project.
N.p., n.d. Web. 07 June 2013.
8. "Were the Atomic Bombings Necessary?" Were the Atomic Bombings
Necessary? N.p., n.d. Web. 07 June 2013.
9. "Democratic Underground Forums - Request Error." Democratic Underground
Forums - Request Error. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 June 2013.
10.Johnston, Robert. "Hiroshima Atomic Bombing, 1945." Hiroshima Atomic
Bombing, 1945. N.p., 16 Oct. 2005. Web. 07 June 2013.