Paper Summary:

This paper examines the process that lead to the decision to drop the atomic bomb in Japan in the Second World War. It discusses the historical context of the time of the decision making, the military considerations, and the predicted consequences of such a decision.

From the Paper:

"World War II in the Pacific ended in 1945 when the United States dropped the atomic bomb on two cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thus showing at once the power that the nation then possessed and its willingness to use it in its own defense or to stop a war that had claimed many thousands of lives. The war in Europe at the time was ending, with Berlin over-run by Allied troops and with what was left of the Third Reich in disarray. The war with Japan was also reaching an endgame period and would have been over in a few months in any case. Still, President Truman decided that it was necessary to end the war with one bold stroke by dropping the most terrible weapon yet devised on Japanese cities to show what could happen to the whole country if it did not capitulate. This act has been seen in various ways since, with some accepting that it was the only way to end the war and save lives, while others believe it such an action was not justified and killed more people than it saved, doing so in a particularly horrible and frightening fashion that has had a detrimental effect on international relations ever since. An examination of the historical record and the comments of various historians on the matter should produce a better understanding of why the atomic bomb was used, how this decision was made, what the consequences were, and what they might have been had the bomb not been dropped when it was."

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