Position C:
The bombings were irrelevant. We had inflicted far more death and destruction with the massive fire bomb raids beginning in March of 1945.
Combined with the near total sea blockade by the submarine force and the series of carrier-based air raids on Japan in July of 1945 which finished off the IJN, Japan was finished as a major power. MacArthur aside, the hardships of the coming winter would have forced the Japs to surrender, without landing on Japan proper.
The problem was Russia. At Potsdam Stalin had promised to enter the war 3 months after the surrender of Germany. Germany surrendered on May 7. 90 days later was August 7. Truman and the Joint Chiefs were not prepared to allow Stalin to run roughshod over Asia for an entire winter while the Japs starved to death. Hiroshima was bombed on August 6. Coincidence? Really?
Looking back in retrospect probably far fewer Japanese died in the atomic bombings than would have died in the famine which was barely averted by the surrender. But I suspect that the Japanese were not the decisive factor in making the decision. The Russians were.
The bombings were irrelevant. We had inflicted far more death and destruction with the massive fire bomb raids beginning in March of 1945.
Combined with the near total sea blockade by the submarine force and the series of carrier-based air raids on Japan in July of 1945 which finished off the IJN, Japan was finished as a major power. MacArthur aside, the hardships of the coming winter would have forced the Japs to surrender, without landing on Japan proper.
The problem was Russia. At Potsdam Stalin had promised to enter the war 3 months after the surrender of Germany. Germany surrendered on May 7. 90 days later was August 7. Truman and the Joint Chiefs were not prepared to allow Stalin to run roughshod over Asia for an entire winter while the Japs starved to death. Hiroshima was bombed on August 6. Coincidence? Really?
Looking back in retrospect probably far fewer Japanese died in the atomic bombings than would have died in the famine which was barely averted by the surrender. But I suspect that the Japanese were not the decisive factor in making the decision. The Russians were.
