08-08-2017, 08:21 AM
(08-07-2017, 10:33 PM)Millhouse Wrote: I dont understand why there are differing opinions on using the a-bombs to end WW2, or people feeling sympathetic towards "innocent" German cities that got leveled.
Would it have been nice for Japan to unconditionally surrender after Okinawa was won? Yes, it would have. Would it have been better to simply have invaded the mainland of Japan, to avoid dropping two a-bombs on the two cities? No. Not at all, even if Russia invaded Japan with us.
The loss of life from conventional means would have been immeasurably worse for the Japanese with far more destruction. Not only that, the amount of American life lost would have been horrific, which ultimately was more important back then and rightfully so. The a-bombs, as destructive as they were, saved far more lives and ruin than what they delivered, and in the process the ultimate goal of the war was achieved. Japan was left with much of it's infrastructure intact while not being occupied by the Soviets as well.
Any other nation in that circumstance probably would have. Call it stubbornness if you will.
So ingrained in this culture was the belief that suicide or death at the hands of the enemy was preferred over surrender.
Surrender not an option.
As to why it was necessary to drop a second A-bomb was the fact that Japan refused to surrender after the first.
