4 ms·
I'm pretty sure the US thought that every man between 16 and 65 was going to be given a weapon and fight for every inch of Japanese soil. That at the time it wa
by HWR_14 5y ago
I'm pretty sure the US thought that every man between 16 and 65 was going to be given a weapon and fight for every inch of Japanese soil. That at the time it was considered likely that we would have to fight a long war of attrition across the island losing hundreds of thousands of Americans and being forced to kill uncountable Japanese conscripts.
- SamReidHughes 5y agoWe never had to do that. We could have simply not invaded the main islands. Furthermore, we could have offered a peace agreement that ends the war without occupation of Japan.
- HWR_14 5y agoI don't know if we could have just offered peace. The Japanese forces on various islands were refusing to surrender, even when vastly outnumbered. Japan may not have recognized a peace treaty without an occupation. Further, if the US didn't occupy Japan, the USSR could and the Japanese people could have been absorbed as another soviet state.
- SamReidHughes 5y agoWe know the Japanese forces outside of Japan would have surrendered if there was a peace treaty, because that's what happened. That would be the purpose of a peace treaty (and exchange of prisoners, etc.). If the USSR decided to invade Japan on its own, who cares? We could let them fight. Or we could ally with Japan.