was it necessary to drop two bombs on nagasaki in world war two?

Question

im doing a debate in class soon on if it was necessary to drop the bombs on nagasaki. im on the pro side and in the 8th grade.

Answer 1

Yes, and though they killed a lot of people, it ended w/ unconditional surrender by the Japanese. Not dropping the bombs would have resulted in a longer war killing many more civilians as well as military personal.

Answer 2

Only one bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, the second of two; the first was dropped on Hiroshima. It was absolutely necessary to use the two weapons to bring about the immediate surrender of the Japanese nation without the invasion of the home Islands.

The planned invasion of the Japanese home islands consisted of two operation plans, Operation Olympic and Operation Coronet, and the projected US military casualties extended into the millions. So high were the expected casualties of those two operations that Purple Hearts minted for the operations in 1945 are still being awarded - there remain more than 120,000 of the medals still in stock.

Because of the Japanese counter plan, Ketsu-Go, in which every Japanese would have fought back against the US invasion, the complete extermination of the Japanese race was a possibility.

When people decry the civilian casualties inflicted by the bombs, it is important to note that both cities targeted had valuable military targets that were knocked out by the bombings. Also, the atomic attacks inflicted far fewer civilian casualties than the fire bombing campaigns previously conducted against Japanese cities.

Answer 3

This debate comes around about every ten years. Yes, it was necessary. Japan was given a certain amount of time to surrender after the first bomb was dropped. They did not. So the second bomb was dropped. Then came the surrender. The US only had two bombs but had to give the impression there were many.



Future generations tend to rewrite history to suit the current cultures. Many think of the US as a kid in an alley with a big firecracker, who can not wait to blow something up. This was not the case at all. The atomic bomb debate before it was used was a lengthy one and all consequences and aspects were considered.



The US also considered demonstrating the bomb in a remote location, but knew that those who did not witness it would never believe it.



Japan was very brutal to its POWs held in camps around Japan. Of the 95,000 prisoners of war the Japanese held, only 35,000 lived. These 35,000 were scheduled to be executed once the Americans began the land invasion of Japan. The bombs threw Japan into chaos and many military orders were lost or never carried out. This saved those POWs.

Answer 4

This will be argued for the rest of history.



The US military estimated casualties in excess of 1,000,000.



The Japanese government was telling it's civilians that they expected them to defend the nation to the last person, and going so far as to arm them with sharpened bamboo poles in some instances.



So, both sides honestly expected that there would be millions of dead.



From that point of view, the bombs probably saved a couple million lives. Remember that this was the information that was available to the people making the decisions at the time, so that is the information that they acted on.



The reason given for the second bomb was that the Japanese had to know that the atomic bomb wasn't a one time "trick",that the US possessed more than one.



One argument is that it was racist because we chose not to drop it on Europeans. Maybe, but Germany was pretty much defeated by the time the bomb was available for use, so it's a somewhat moot argument.



Another thing to remember is that the actual long term results of the bomb wasn't fully known at the time. There were plenty of theories, but no hard knowledge.



Hindsight changes our view of motives and ethics involved in the decisions made by leaders in our past. It is very difficult to put ourselves in the mindset of those at the time.

Answer 5

You probably will fail the debate class and be a laughing stock if you don't know that only one bomb was dropped on Nagasaki (hydrogen) and one on Hiroshima (atomic).

Answer 6

Was it necessary to drop two (A) bombs on Nagasaki ?



Nope...One did the job...

Answer 7

It was one bomb on Hiroshima, and one on Nagasaki.



Necessary because:

-forced Japan to surrender unconditionally (they already wanted to surrender, but wanted conditions)

-avoided a standard land invasion that would have likely cost over a million American lives and many more Japanese lives than were killed by the bombs

-showed the Soviet Union that the US had unimaginable power (this was preparation for the Cold War), and prevented the Soviets from spreading communism to Japan

Answer 8

It was absolutely necessary. The Japanese were for their emperor, whom they considered to be a god. They were bent for Pacific conquest and likely would have loved to pursued global conquest. Not only did the bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima stop the Japanese, but it helped mark the U.S. as a global power.

Answer 9

They didn't drop 2 bombs on nagasaki.

They dropped one on nagasaki and one on Hiroshima

Answer 10

Absolutely. The invasion plan of Japan planned for whole companies, whole battalions of marines to be destroyed. The battle for Japan would've doubled the casualties of American soldiers in World War 2. Personally if those two bombs didn't drop there's a chance that i wouldn't be here today, so why not. They started it, why shouldn't we end it.

Answer 11

Only one atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, one dropped on Hiroshima.

Answer 12

No. And that is why only one was dropped on Nagasaki.

Answer 13

yes it was necessary. japan would not quit. the bombs shortened the war and save countless lives on both sides.

Answer 14

They only dropped one. The first one was dropped on Hiroshima. If you can't get that straight you are going to lose that debate.

Answer 15

Yes, because if we had to invade mainland Japan many servicemen would die, because it would have been a strong hold, plus the Jappanese refused to surrender.

Answer 16

they droped it on Nagaski And Hiroshima and it was necessary because we were loosing the battle and all the american soldiers were dieing, or getting injured, and Japan was sending alot more people. plus it was a surprise attack so it was worth it



watch the movie Pearl Harber

Answer 17

No.



We dropped the 2nd bomb to demonstrate to Russia that we had more than one. Nagasake nothing personal nor did it have anything to do with the war with Japan -- they were just colateral damage.