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Few people know that the USSR was invading Japan from the north at the time. If we had just pressed on a bit longer, the Allies would have won anyway. However,
by transfire 11y ago
Few people know that the USSR was invading Japan from the north at the time. If we had just pressed on a bit longer, the Allies would have won anyway. However, we would have had to split the spoils with the USSR. So dropping the bomb served two purposes 1) it ended the war a bit earlier so the Soviets were not needed, and 2) it sent a message to the world that we would do whatever it took (in this way it is just like the fictitious Star Wars event). Wonder why we bombed civilian targets? B/c we only had two bombs. If they didn't do the job it would have been too late (per point #1).
- n0us 11y agoWe also bombed civilian targets because the destructive power of the bomb was still relatively unknown and Hiroshima and Nagasaki had not yet been bombed as they were non military targets. If we had bombed an area that had already been attacked it would have been more difficult to assess the damage that the bomb was capable of and those two cities were "clean slates" so to speak. I can search for citations on this if you like but it's been quite a while since I read up on this so it might require some digging through my notes.
- iSnow 11y agoI believe it also was a weapons test on real targets, that's why the bombs were dropped over two major cities, not over the sea in the vicinity of Tokyo.