https://padlet.com/jswiech4/oo3bpa9g2sdu7kcq Should the United States have dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? en-us 2022-05-26 18:22:55 UTC 2025-11-24 10:54:22 UTC hello@padlet.com jswiech4 https://padlet.com/jswiech4/oo3bpa9g2sdu7kcq/wish/2201230310  The use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II was a controversial choice that remains a topic of debate today. It brought an end to the bloody war in the Pacific but also ushered in a new and frightening era of warfare. Mankind was now capable of destroying itself. The existence of massive nuclear arsenals defined the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union for the next fifty years. 

The development of the bombs began in 1939 with the Manhattan Project, a collaboration between the United States, Canada and Great Britain. The designers knew they were in a race with both Germany and Japan, who had their own programs. There was a test deployment in New Mexico on July 16th, 1945, before the eventual bombing of Hiroshima (August 6th, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9th, 1945). 

The casualty figures are also contested, but most estimate them to be approximately 135,000 for Hiroshima and 64,000 for Nagasaki. This contrasts with the estimates of the lives saved, (both Allied and Japanese) if the bombs had not been used and the invasion of the Japanese homeland had gone on as planned.

The decision to drop the bomb was opposed by some during the war, people who wanted to seek another way to end the war that did not involve such a large civilian death toll. But, after a long war, the vast majority of Americans supported Truman’s decision to use the bomb, based on the very high casualty estimates for the invasion of Japan. Planners predicted that both American and Japanese lives would be saved if the atomic bomb did indeed force the Japanese to surrender. ]]> 2022-05-26 18:28:24 UTC https://padlet.com/jswiech4/oo3bpa9g2sdu7kcq/wish/2201230310 jswiech4 https://padlet.com/jswiech4/oo3bpa9g2sdu7kcq/wish/2201235318 2022-05-26 18:33:47 UTC https://padlet.com/jswiech4/oo3bpa9g2sdu7kcq/wish/2201235318