WWII began in 1941 and ended in 1945. Today I would like to focus on the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States. Many Americans believe the bombings to be a black chapter in our military history; others consent that it was the only way to merit surrender by the Japanese. I would like to know what your thoughts are. Could you see the United States using a nuclear weapon in this day and age? Would they ever even consider it since so many nations have the capacity to attack with nuclear weapons themselves?
When you start thinking about Nuclear Warfare, it is quite easy to get your mind in a quandary. It is an ominous topic that needs to be discussed because of all the social and moral dilemmas nuclear warfare presents. I would like to know what you, the reader, thinks about the United States use of the atomic bomb in 1945. It is estimated that the bomb dropped over Hiroshima killed over 140,000 people while the bombing of Nagasaki killed 80,000 people three days later. Such numbers are difficult to comprehend and place into a perspective of human lives. Often, people just look at deaths and casualties of war as a number, rather than truly trying to understand how many people were killed or affected.
The bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were clearly in response to Pear Harbor. However, do you believe that it was a justified attack considering the magnitude and the scope of lives that it affected? Some people argue that World War II would not have ended had America failed to use the atomic bomb. Which position do you tend to agree with? Was America simply providing a means to an end or was it a travesty that should have been avoided? No one person can say definitively what should or should not have transpired in regard to the atomic bombings of Japan. It is a complex situation that needs to be thought through because of the modern day relevance on the topic of Nuclear Warfare. We averted nuclear war with the soviets, could we have done so with the Japanese?
