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By that point, Japan was already on its way out and resorted to flying manned bombs and airplanes into american warships. Nuking Japan wasn't for Japan, it was
by chakintosh 2y ago
By that point, Japan was already on its way out and resorted to flying manned bombs and airplanes into american warships. Nuking Japan wasn't for Japan, it was a show of force for the soviets who were developing their own nukes.
- lazide 2y agoNeutralizing Japan the rest of the way would have cost millions of additional American lives, at a minimum. Japan was never going to surrender unless they saw the axe swinging for their neck, and knew they couldn’t dodge. They didn’t care about their own civilians. As made quite apparent by, as you note, kamikaze tactics and more. The Bomb was a cleaner, sharper, and faster Axe than invading the main island. That it also sent a message to the rest of the world was a bonus. But do you think they would have not used it, if for example the USSR wasn’t waiting? Of course not, they’d still have nuked the hell out of the Japanese.