Quote Originally Posted by edyzmedieval
Do you think an atomic bomb was really necessary to stop the war?
Obviously not necessary to end war. The allied had already defeated Germany and the Japanese navy and air force were defeated as well. The Japanese troops on the continent were isolated and the allied controlled all the supply routes to and from the motherland. The Japanese industry was not able to produce any more. Hadn't the Japanese government offered ceasefire anyway?

There had been several options for the allies. An invasion was one of them. The bomb was another. However, the allies could have easily, at least in my opinion, cut off Japan completly and defeat the troops outside the islands. Japan had to capitulate anyway.

Did you know that the Americans had problems to find targets even for the two bombs. All the other towns were so badly damaged that they were just no worth to drop a bomb on them. I wonder what the US would have done if Japan would not have surrendered. There was nothing to destroy left.

By the way, if memory serves the US used Pultonium as well as Uranium bombs. They would have been able to produce more than just the two.

I think there are some other aspects of the nuclear attacks:

1) The Americans did not know exactly what the effect of a nuclear explosion in a town would be. They had run tests in a dessert, but a dessert is not like a town. I red that they even discussed the option to bomb a channel throught the southern territory of the US to have an alternative to the Panama.

2) They were shocked and tired of the resistance of the Japanese. That made their attidute more brutal.

3) They invested a lot of money in the bomb. In fact the resources were so huge that Germany and Japan stopped their nuclear programs, not because it was not feasible from a technology point of view, but because they did not have the industril resources. Both countries were major industrial nations. The US could spend this resources without loosing the war. Now they had to prove that the money was well spent.

4) The military doctrine of the US during WW2 was the strategic bombing. It remained the focus during the cold war. The bomb fit perfectly to that and gave the US the superority for decades (at least that was what they thought!). However, they had to show the world what they had.

5) Of course there is also an ethical aspect. Compared to the axis the allied where the good ones. However, the massive bombing of civilians made their moral position shady. The nuclear bombing was just another step forward.
Some once wrote that WW2 showed that menkind was able to destroy our planet from a technical point of view (Hiroshima) and from a ethical point of view (Ausschwitz).