Hiroshima 70 years ago

[abaris]

That's not considering that the B29 was virtually impervious to Japanese air defenses. It simply flew too high. Also the possibilitiy of a demonstration has been brought up by the scientists developing the nuke. It wouldn't have been carried to be dropped somewhere, but the idea was to invite japanese officials to observe a ground test. One of the reasons this hasn't been done - apart from political power play - was that it might have failed, thereby turning it into a joke.

Last but not least, it's always a good thing to remember the political framework. The Japanese opposed an unconditional surrender because they feared for their emperor. As it turned out the emperor got his immunity anyway. If the allies had granted it beforehand, there would have been no need to drop the bomb. Newer research claims that is had been as much a demostration to the soviets as it had been an effort to end the war.

The soviets were officially excluded from the research right from the get go. That they already had an efficiennt spy network established is a different matter. That's also the reason why Stalin was less than impressed when Truman mentioned the successful test at Potsdam. Stalin's own scientists were already busy recreating the bomb, using the materials gathered by their agents.