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I find the phrasing of the question annoying and left the article without having my curiosity satisfied. The question phrased as "Why Nagasaki?" is actually "W

I find the phrasing of the question annoying and left the article without having my curiosity satisfied. The question phrased as "Why Nagasaki?" is actually "Why a second nuclear bomb?" But why was it Nagasaki? The closest to an answer the article seems to give is "Because Kokura was clouded" or "Because they wanted to spare Kyoto", neither of which really satisfies why Nagasaki (or Kokura, or Hiroshima for that matter) made the list in the first place. I largely only know of Hiroshima and Nagasaki because of the nuclear bombings. So why wasn't it Tokyo or Osaka? Annoyingly, the author does this phrasing again when linking to a page that he purports answers the question "Why Hiroshima", but in facts discuss "Why throwing a nuclear bomb at all"

glandium 4y ago
> So why wasn't it Tokyo or Osaka? Presumably because of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_(10_March_1945) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_(10_March_1... and ... can't find the corresponding wikipedia page, but Osaka, Nagoya and Kobe were fire-bombed shortly after. The fire-bombing of Kobe is probably what wad depicted in the animation movie Grave of the fireflies. This is not talked about much, but led to more deaths than both Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined...
pydry 4y ago
IIRC the imperial palace in Tokyo was nuclear target #3 assuming Japan didnt surrender.
SiempreViernes 4y ago
Here's the list of why, but I doubt it'll make you any happier: """ (1) they be important targets in a large urban area of more than three miles in diameter, (2) they be capable of being damaged effectively by a blast, and (3) they are unlikely to be attacked by next August. Dr. Stearns had a list of five targets which the Air Force would be willing to reserve for our use unless unforeseen circumstances arise. """ http://www.dannen.com/decision/targets.html#d http://www.dannen.com/decision/targets.html#d The answer really does boil down to the USAF hadn't bombed it by the 10th of August and the more preferred target had bad weather.

glandium 4y ago

> So why wasn't it Tokyo or Osaka? Presumably because of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_(10_March_1945) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_(10_March_1... and ... can't find the corresponding wikipedia page, but Osaka, Nagoya and Kobe were fire-bombed shortly after. The fire-bombing of Kobe is probably what wad depicted in the animation movie Grave of the fireflies. This is not talked about much, but led to more deaths than both Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined...

pydry 4y ago

IIRC the imperial palace in Tokyo was nuclear target #3 assuming Japan didnt surrender.

SiempreViernes 4y ago

Here's the list of why, but I doubt it'll make you any happier: """ (1) they be important targets in a large urban area of more than three miles in diameter, (2) they be capable of being damaged effectively by a blast, and (3) they are unlikely to be attacked by next August. Dr. Stearns had a list of five targets which the Air Force would be willing to reserve for our use unless unforeseen circumstances arise. """ http://www.dannen.com/decision/targets.html#d http://www.dannen.com/decision/targets.html#d The answer really does boil down to the USAF hadn't bombed it by the 10th of August and the more preferred target had bad weather.