Atomic Bomb Essay, Research Paper

Now imagine yourself for a while being in one of the following Japanese cities, Hiroshima or Nagasaki. You are having a normal day like always when suddenly you look up at the sky and see an airplane drop millions of papers warning you to get out of your city. The paper fliers tell you to leave your city because you are about to be bombed by a single bomb capable of destroying the entire city. You think it a joke so you do nothing as everyone else does. Three days pass and you are still thinking about what the paper said. Suddenly you hear the expected plane, your heart starts pumping faster, then you see the plane deploy a large object from the sky, you start thinking about what the paper said but now its too late. You see the object hit the ground. There is a large flash, people are running and screaming down the street. Then you realize it really was a bomb. This event took place in World War II when the United States dropped the atomic bomb in Japan. I am going to be speculating about speculation about the cause and effect of the atomic bomb.

In 1939, the German born scientist Albert Einstein had informed President Roosevelt about the possibility of creating a powerful bomb. It would produce an extremely powerful explosion by splitting the atom. Einstein and other scientist feared that Germany might develop such a bomb first. In 1942, the United States set up a secret project called the Manhattan Project, to develop the first atomic bomb. The first test explosion of an atomic bomb occurred in the New Mexico Desert in July 1945.

Roosevelt died in April 1945, and Vice President Harry S. Truman became President of the United States. Truman met with the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin the Russian dictator in Potsdam, Germany, in July 1945.

At the Potsdam Conference, a conference between the Allied forces to discuss war options, Truman learned of the successful test explosion of the atomic bomb and informed the other Allied leaders, that the atomic bomb was complete and ready. The United States, Britain, and China then issued a statement threatening to destroy Japan unless it surrendered unconditionally. In spite of the warning, Japan kept on fighting. Japan also did more than continue fighting. Japan knowing that an Allied invasion was inevitable began to train its civilians to defend the Japanese homeland. Civilians learned how to attack and kill Allied soldiers using sharpened bamboo sticks. Not only did Japan continue fighting but it began to train its civilians to fight to the death using sharpened bamboo sticks to defend its homeland.

On August 6, 1945, an American B-29 Bomber called the Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb used on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. After Japanese leaders failed to respond to the bombing, the United States dropped a larger bomb on Nagasaki on August 9. World War II ended shortly after United States Warplanes dropped atomic bombs on Japanese cities. Some Japanese military leaders committed suicide. The bombs killed between 120,000 and 140,000 people, largely destroyed both cities, and helped end the war.

These were some of the causes of World War II. One of the causes of World War II that made the United States join the war was the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Another thing that started World War II was Hitler prosecuting the Jews. It is widely believed that he use of the atomic bomb on Japan was to stop their hunger for power and to save millions of soldiers’ lives from being killed in the possible invasion of Japan.

These were the effects of using the atomic bomb. Thousands of people killed and injured in the two Japanese cities. American POW’s in those cities were also killed. Massive destruction in the two Japanese cities after the bomb went off. After the second bomb, there was almost immediate surrender by Japan. Thousands, maybe millions, of allied soldiers saved by not having to invade Japan. The Russians were sent a clear message that we were not afraid to use this new weapon to stop aggression. This also started the beginning of the atomic age. And the beginning of the arms build-up in the cold war.

Here are some of the speculations about cause and effect of the usage of the atomic bomb. Due to the atomic bombs hastening the end of World War II, the lives countless Japanese soldiers and civilians were spared. The thousands of Allies soldiers expected to die in the invasion and victory over Japan would have died. The two Japanese cities would not have been destroyed, left with radiation, and causing cancer clusters if we did not drop the bomb. Japan did not gain an opportunity to rebuild its arsenal and continue war production goods. Japan was essentially stopped from its mission of world conquest. The Axis powers would have made their own atomic bomb and used it. Japan would have won the war, if they would have destroyed the four American airplane carriers in Pearl Harbor. By the American forces using the atomic bomb Japan was forced to surrender to the American forces and under American terms. By using the atomic bomb, American forces were able to demonstrate to their potential foe, Russia, their destructive power and military capability.

All of this happened in World War II when we dropped the atomic bomb on Japan. I hope that I have proven that the atomic bomb was part of the turning point in history and is what started the cold war. That if we had not used the atomic bomb we would have lost millions of lives. The creation and usage of the atomic bomb created a new type of warfare and officially started the Cold War. I have discovered that the atomic bomb was a mistake and that we should not have used it. Japan was already being destroyed with other kind of bombs that were destroying their towns; it was only a matter of time before they would have had to surrender.

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