The Atomic Bombs used on
Japan
There
are some people who think that it was not right for the United States to drop
two atomic bombs on Japan in 1945. First, let’s see what happened:
In the Manhattan Project (started in 1941), work was
undertaken to develop a fission reaction in uranium. First the U-238 had to be
converted to U-235 with gaseous diffusion. The neutrons shot at the U-235 would
pass through a moderator of Carbon or Beryllium. On December 2, 1942, the first
nuclear fission reaction was started in Chicago in secret. Meanwhile, fission
was also successfully done with plutonium-239. On July 16, 1945 the first atomic bomb was exploded in New
Mexico. There is a diagram of
a nuclear bomb here.
At that time, Truman was president.
On July 26, he issued the Potsdam Declaration, which called for Japan’s
unconditional surrender and listed peace terms. When Japan refused, American
bomb squadrons were sent to Japan. The B-29s destroyed nearly all of Japan’s
cities, leaving Japan in ruins. They used incendiary bombs to start giant
firestorms as in the movie Independence Day. After Japan rejected more
compromises, Truman authorized the use of the bomb. Kokura, Hiroshima, Niigata,
and Kyoto were nominated as targets. Later, Kyoto was replaced by Nagasaki
because of its cultural antiquities and Niigata was ruled out because it was
too far away. The 509th Group stationed at Tinian Island would deliver the
bombs as soon after August 3, 1945 as the sky cleared up. The strike mission
included one atomic B-29 and two observer B-29s.
Hiroshima was bombed on August 6th.
Japan claims that 61,500 died and the US Bombing Survey concluded 140,000
casualties.
The Soviet Union saw this and
declared war on Japan. Ten minutes after the declaration of war, 1,500,000
Russian troops with 5,500 tanks and 4,000 aircraft invaded Manchuria and Korea
in the last great offensive of the war.
On August 9th, Kokura
was supposed to be bombed, but the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki
because of clouds over Kokura. Japan’s estimate is 24,000 killed and the US’s
is 35,000. In total, the deaths that the atomic bomb caused are between 85,500
and 175,000.
Now I will examine what would
probably have happened if the bombs were not dropped. It was evident that Japan
would fight for a long time. Even 30 years after the war ended, fanatical
patriots of Japan were still found to be fighting in the Pacific jungles
against anyone not Japanese. Even after most of their cities had at least 40%
of the city area leveled with ordinary bombs, they refused to surrender. The
destruction of Tokyo,
Yokohama, Osaka, Kobe, Nagoya didn’t sway their decision. Only when faced with the
complete extermination of Japan did the Emperor agree to a capitulation.
Without the atom bombs, the war would have proceeded for a few more years. What
are the consequences of this? Firstly, it has been approximately estimated by
serious historians that, in the invasion of Japan, 15,000,000 Russians,
1,500,000 Americans, and 20,000,000 Japanese would die. Surely it was better
for Japan to have 150,000 killed rather than many million. It is laughable to
suggest that Japan could be captured without more than 150,000 Japanese
civilians dying. In addition, Japan
spent many years researching how to kill masses of people with biological
weapons. It had plans to use these weapons on American bases and West coast cities.
This factor would have made the war much more gruesome if America hesitated to
use nuclear force to subdue Japan.
This is only the first consequence.
The second is the Russians, led by Marshal Zhukov, would keep half of Japan
after they meet the Americans in Tokyo. Tokyo would become another Berlin.
Japan would either become another Vietnam (where the communist north captured
the south), another Korea (where the communist north repeatedly invaded the
south), or another Germany (which only reunited in the 90s). There is a high
chance that some of Japan (or the whole thing) would remain communist to the
present day. It is likely that there would be wars over Japan, just like in
Vietnam and Korea.
The dropping of the atom bomb saved
many millions of lives and was the only way of keeping the Soviet Union out of
Japan.