Your reflections on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

[4Corners]

Why not attempt to approach it from the perspective that I laid out, which is much more fact based.

An invasion of the main islands would have been very tough. It also would have surely involved a Russian invasion of Japan from the North, and a partitioned Japan.

Anything that you make of this?

And this isn't to mention other potential scenarios which could've potentially played out. For simplicity, let's just focus on your dichotomy of invasion or bombing, which is a bit of a false dichotomy, but no matter. My question has to do with the prospect of invasion. What do you have to say about the Russian invasion from the north, which absolutely would've happened, and the partitioning of Japan, which most likely would've happened? Just curious of your thoughts and what you make of that.

It would have made things easier, but fighting Japan on their own turf would have been no easy task. A lot of Americans died in Korea and Vietnam, way more would have died by invading Japan, according to most historical estimates from the time. You have to put yourself in the Presidents shoes, and I think he made the right call. It sucks it had to be that way, but Japan's government is every bit as much to blame for their people dying like that.

They chose to randomly attack us and start a war with us. We told them we had nuclear capability, their government didn't believe us. They got bombed, still didn't surrender, got bombed again, the finally then surrendered.

I think in terms of keeping American lives safe, which is the ultimate goal of the President of the United States, the right call was absolutely made.

I also think we had to send the Soviet Union a message at the time as well, that probably played a part too.

And as far as TS goes, he gets a hard on when trying to diss Americans. It's pretty amusing though.

[arraamis]

Yeah, but a natural human reaction afterwards is to go "I feel sorry for them poor Mini Japs though, it's hard not to feel guilt".

As opposed to "****k yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! USA USA USA!"

Truth but also

[Drunken Cat]

It would have made things easier, but fighting Japan on their own turf would have been no easy task. A lot of Americans died in Korea and Vietnam, way more would have died by invading Japan, according to most historical estimates from the time. You have to put yourself in the Presidents shoes, and I think he made the right call. It sucks it had to be that way, but Japan's government is every bit as much to blame for their people dying like that.

They chose to randomly attack us and start a war with us. We told them we had nuclear capability, their government didn't believe us. They got bombed, still didn't surrender, got bombed again, the finally then surrendered.

I think in terms of keeping American lives safe, which is the ultimate goal of the President of the United States, the right call was absolutely made.

I also think we had to send the Soviet Union a message at the time as well, that probably played a part too.

And as far as TS goes, he gets a hard on when trying to diss Americans. It's pretty amusing though.

I really question the notion that the US warned Japan that they were going to nuke them before they did. There is no truth whatsoever to this as far as I am concerned.

The Japanese leadership certainly shared a lot of responsibility for the slaughter of their citizens however. And I don't mean simply because they went to war.

[controlmachete]

I really question the notion that the US warned Japan that they were going to nuke them before they did. There is no truth whatsoever to this as far as I am concerned.

The Japanese leadership certainly shared a lot of responsibility for the slaughter of their citizens however. And I don't mean simply because they went to war.

google it, its there... ive read it in several books... btw read "Death on the Hellships" ... youll see how your boys treated prisoners, they deserved those 2 nukes..

[Drunken Cat]

google it, its there... ive read it in several books... btw read "Death on the Hellships" ... youll see how your boys treated prisoners, they deserved those 2 nukes..

Why don't you instead attempt to back up what seems like an outlandish claim.

I could say that I pissed to the moon, put it on a blog, and have it googled. That doesn't mean it's true.

[Drunken Cat]

google it, its there... ive read it in several books... btw read "Death on the Hellships" ... youll see how your boys treated prisoners, they deserved those 2 nukes..

And they aren't "my boys."

I am an American ex-patriot (I'm sure you are familiar with the phrase as I'm assuming you are in some way connected with the US military, although I am not and have never been) living in Japan.

[Cállate!]

Why don't you instead attempt to back up what seems like an outlandish claim.

I could say that I pissed to the moon, put it on a blog, and have it googled. That doesn't mean it's true.

U PISS'D ON THE MOON?? How unpatriotic of you....

[BattlingNelson]

Not at all. After the first bomb was dropped, the end of the war was imminent. Russia had to move immediately. It was a land grab, nothing else. Shows that they were waiting in the wings.

Do you not think that the military strategists were aware of these realities on the ground? A US invasion from the South would have absolutely been accompanied by a Russian invasion from the North, just like in Korea and Germany. Japan would've been a tough nut to crack, none the least because it is an island nation. That is also a factor. But the impending Russian invasion, and post-war partitioning of Japan between the US and Russia was also a factor.

To note, I am seeking to enhance clarity, not provide a 'moral' judgement. But the facts need to be put out there, and these were the facts on the ground. A divided Japan may have been a worse result.

I was in Hiroshima for the memorial last August, and I had a Hiroshima bus driver tell me that dropping the bomb was the right thing to do. He wasn't an historical scholar, and approached it more so from the angle that he believed it in fact saved lives. I personally don't know, although I do think that it unleashed some major political consequences, which also have to be taken into account, and which essentially informed the politics of the Cold War. To me, it is a complex issue and I don't have an answer for it.

All I am saying is that your notion of the nukes being dropped to prevent a sovjet invasion is faulty. The nukes was dropped to end the war as swiftly and with as few yank casualties as possible.

[mokmokv2]

If any lesson can be learned from Nagasaki and Hiroshima, it's the lesson that war's outcome is very unpredictable. And one can only imagine if it was done in reverse which in today's geopolitical scene is very much a frightening reality.

I've read in a book years back that while Japan fired the first shot it was the US who really initiated the first steps into war by preemptively crippling Japan's supply of oil. When the Japanese supply of oil dwindled to a mere 3 weeks supply they were then forced into taking the first shot.

Now put it into perspective.

This is the very exact same thing that the US government is doing in Iran.

The very thought of WW3 is nothing but oblivion but the parallels are very similar.

[Drunken Cat]

All I am saying is that your notion of the nukes being dropped to prevent a sovjet invasion is faulty. The nukes was dropped to end the war as swiftly and with as few yank casualties as possible.

The impending Soviet invasion was among the considerations. You have to learn to recognize the complexities implicit in real events and not just see things in terms of black and white.