Hiroshima/Nagasaki Would you have dropped the bomb?

Set up a poll there @Rocko

My answer is No.

Fuck no

Yep, I would have. Not using the bomb would have meant an equivalent, probably higher, number of civilian casualties through conventional bombing of Japan. Seriously increased numbers of Allied casualties and possibly the necessity for an invasion, which wouldn’t have been pretty. An immediate end to a war that had raged for nearly 6 years.
The long term effects on the population and issues such as radiation are the most immediate side effects, but I think outweighed by the short term goal.

Stop trying to play the hard man here @Fitzy. Everyone knows even if the bomb was necessary, which it wasn’t, you wouldn’t have the balls to do it

I’ve just set out why the bomb was necessary and yes, I would have had the balls to do it. Though the likelihood of me being elected President of the United States at the time was low.

The line you set out is routine State Department spin. The unspeakable horror of the action itself is something I doubt you’ve dwelt on for too long to be honest. I wonder if the victims were Irish and not Japanese would you be so gung-ho about it?

I have read extenisvely about it over a period of about 30 years Laz, so yes, I have actually given it some serious consideration and I could do without your lazy assumptions. If you want to talk about unspeakable horror, then look at the suffering inflicted by Japan on the peoples of Asia and on Allied prisoners. Look at the suffering Japan imposed on its own people, with every sign that their fanaticism would just prolong the suffering. There’s a reason the line I take is seen as a standard response, because it’s the logical one. Anything to fucking stop it was neecessary. The question you ask is so bizarre it doesn’t warrant an answer.

Hope this doesn’t affect our Forest friendship mate.

I agree with Fitzy here, white people’s lives aren’t as important as Japanese people’s lives.

The Soviets coming towards Japan from Siberia was a large part of the Japanese deciding to surrender according to Oliver Stone’s secret history of the United States.

That’s not actually correct TUM. The Battle of Khalkin Gol in May-August 1939, before the war in Europe even kicked off was the decisive one in Soviet / Japanese conflict. Zhukov’s army defeated the Japanese Sixth Army and this along with the Soviet / Nazi non aggression pact (which of course worked wonderfully well) convinced the Japanese not to attack Russia throughout the war. This has the added effect of turning the Japanese command’s attention to the pacific and Asia, rather than northern expansion from their invasion of Mongolia. The Japanese didn’t really go near Russia for the rest of the war.

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Scumbag.

no surprise that an australian is calling for the mass murder of the “yellow peril”

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The dropping of the bomb had nothing to do with ending war. Supposedly the Japanese were already in negotiations to surrender.
It was all about after the war. The Soviets had to be checked.

The real wonder was that no more were dropped after.

I like to go with the aliens explanation.

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That may all be true but in 1945 with war in Europe won the soviets started to move troops East towards China and Japan was on their sights. According to documentary anyway.

I don’t really know anything about any of this. I would have assumed no, But I watched a little of Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States recently and was quite surprised by the level of Japanese aggression and have since concluded they were as bad as the Germans, if not worse.

We delivered the bomb.

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The notion that there was a morally clear answer is pretty naive but it’s an interesting question.

One consequence of the bomb being dropped is it probably prevented a war (possibly nuclear war) between the Soviets and the USA. With the bomb dropped the entire world could see the devastating consequences of nuclear weapons and that probably was enough to prevent an all-out renewed WW3 in the 50’s-80’s.

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Definitely would have dropped the bomb. Would’ve hit arklow, athlone and new Ross too

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It is a great show.

Even if you accepted everything @fitzy has said, why the need to drop two?

Also, the Soviets launched a major offensive against Japan at the exact same time. This removed any out Japan might have had through a Russian alliance or mediation, and some argue this was a greater factor in ending the war.