Not sure though if most of the people would find ethically acceptable to actively murder 250000 random people in order save some from cruelties.
You already mentioned the US and Japanese military deaths had we had to invade the island. It's also likely that more than 250,000 civilians would have died during that invasion. Largely different people would have died, and Truman had to "play God" but I believe that millions of lives were saved. His options sucked.
>Largely different people would have died, and Truman had to "play God" but I believe that millions of lives were saved. His options sucked.
Truman's options sucked? That's just official US propaganda. Actual history says that the Japanese were in dire condition, have had pretty much surrendered and only asked for some very inconsequential counter-demands in order to officiallly sign their surrender [1].
The US dropped the bomb anyway, and then another, because they were eager to test in on real conditions, and wanted to sent a message to the USSR as the war was coming to an end and the new era of "cold war" began.
[1] Not to mention that they were literally forced to attack the US (in Pearl Harbor) in the first place, by very careful manoeuvring of the US part, that wanted an excuse to enter the war.
>I see, even Pearl Harbor wasn't really their aggression. Was the brutal torture of POW their fault or did we force them to do it?
Their brutal torture of POW and the unbelievable atrocities they did against the Chinese were THEIR (the Japanese's) fault. Their imperialistic ambitions and their treatment of Korea was also THEIR fault.
Why would you expect me to say otherwise?
I guess because then I would just be a pro-Japanese US-hater crazy guy to be easily dismissed.
Only I don't take sides, I just call it as it is (well, at least to my knowledge).
So, yes, the Japanese did awful things in the war. But dropping A-bombs on civilians was also awful, and it was not even justified because of any "he had to do it to end the war" situation.
According to Admiral William Daniel Leahy, he highest ranking member of the U.S. military at the time, "the use of [nuclear weapons] at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender".
The nukes were used not to beat the Japanese, but to intimidate the Russians, who had advanced as an industrial force as part of their fight against Germany.
The only ones who could tell if the Japanese were actually ready to surrender were the Japanese.
They refused to surrender after Hiroshima.
They refused to surrender after the U.S.S.R. declared war.
Finally after Nagasaki their cabinet deadlocked 2-2 on the decision to surrender. The Emperor himself broke the tie by deciding for peace (a decision which brought a minor coup of its own).
Adm. Leahy was correct if he was using Western logic and ideals. In fact it was clear since 1943 that Japan would be defeated and had to surrender or eventually lose the war.
He's also correct that it was of no material assistance compared to conventional weaponry. There were only so many atomic bombs available and the B-17s rampaging across Japan were certainly doing a fine job as well.
The part I don't understand is why he thought atomic bombing a city was barbarous, but firebombing Tokyo was how gentlemen conducted warfare. More Japanese died in a single firebombing raid than died in Dresden, Hiroshima, or Nagasaki.
This raid I mention occurred in March 1945 by the way, not August. In light of that it's hard to claim with a straight face that conventional weapons were forcing Japan to surrender before invasion of the Home Islands. They had every reason to surrender in March if that was their only tripwire to decide to do so.
You already mentioned the US and Japanese military deaths had we had to invade the island. It's also likely that more than 250,000 civilians would have died during that invasion. Largely different people would have died, and Truman had to "play God" but I believe that millions of lives were saved. His options sucked.