(August 8, 2015 at 12:02 am)Shinagami Wrote: The bomb wasn't needed. It was used to see how it would work and to intimidate the Soviets from advancing further south. The claim that more civilians would have died in a ground invasion is pure speculation. But even forgetting all that, it's disgusting that Americans can't honor the innocent people killed in Hiroshima and always launch into some lengthy defense of the bomb. Even conflating Pearl Harbor, a military target, with Hiroshima, a city with little if any strategic importance.
We didn't want to nuke the higher value cities such as Kyoto (cultural center) or Tokyo (political center) or the few remaining manufacturing centers (needed for rebuilding after the war). So we hit a couple of the out-of-the way places that weren't too heavily populated. They served their purpose well and they were rebuilt better than ever in just a couple of years.
Japan was stupid for starting the war because it didn't have the capability in manpower or in weapon systems to actually defeat the US.
