Was talking to a friend of mine about the use of nukes and I was told about how it was the quicker way to save more lives. I’ve always heard this argument but still always believed that it was an extreme response that could have been avoided.
Am I naive in my thoughts here? What is everyone else’s interpretation of the events leading up to and the decision made to drop both bombs?
The dropping of the bombs had really nothing to do with getting Japan to surrender and everything to do with intimidating the Soviets who were already invading Manchuria. Multiple admirals held beliefs that the use of atomic weaponry was not necessary and that Japan was already on their way to surrendering.
to add, japan was in particular interested in surrendering to the americans to avoid soviet prosecution so long as they could keep hirohito as a figurehead. the us ostensibly made a big fuss about that, so they just had to use the nuke to avoid invading... and then of course let hirohito continue to be the figurehead anyway.
It was implied above, but adding that preventing Soviet forces getting there first by ending it sooner with mass death was also a part of the point. We can end the war sooner by blowing up entire cities, this means the “reds” cant get there first, glances at the timeline for a ground invasion, we cannot risk a west japan/east japan situation, kill em all.
Imagine a world where NE Japan had decades of being communist. The anime would be so lit.