Japan would have surrendered without the atomic bombs dropping or a ground invasion. Saying it was necessary to prevent a ground invasion or to finish the war early is a common argument that makes sense at first glance, but if you look into it then it’s not actually accurate.
My favorite video on the subject is Dropping the Bomb: Hiroshima & Nagasaki by Shaun. It is 2h 20m long, following the story of the relationship between America, Russia, and Japan, and the circumstances that led to the bombs ultimately being dropped. Highly recommend.
If I remember my history right, Japan would’ve surrendered conditionally without the bombs and that was only after bleeding the allies and soviets a bit. The condition here was Japan gets to keep the pacific holdings that weren’t already liberated. It doesn’t take a genius to see why that was unacceptable.
They would also still be an authoritarian imperialist state and probably would’ve never produced some of their most culturally relevant pieces of art from the 20th century.
Classic trolley problem exposed here. Nuke 2 cities or invasion level casualties.
Choose.
Japan would have surrendered without the atomic bombs dropping or a ground invasion. Saying it was necessary to prevent a ground invasion or to finish the war early is a common argument that makes sense at first glance, but if you look into it then it’s not actually accurate.
My favorite video on the subject is Dropping the Bomb: Hiroshima & Nagasaki by Shaun. It is 2h 20m long, following the story of the relationship between America, Russia, and Japan, and the circumstances that led to the bombs ultimately being dropped. Highly recommend.
Please. Use your words and summarize the important points if you want to argue.
If I remember my history right, Japan would’ve surrendered conditionally without the bombs and that was only after bleeding the allies and soviets a bit. The condition here was Japan gets to keep the pacific holdings that weren’t already liberated. It doesn’t take a genius to see why that was unacceptable.
They would also still be an authoritarian imperialist state and probably would’ve never produced some of their most culturally relevant pieces of art from the 20th century.
Don’t waste your time watching that two hour video. Everything you need to know about the situation can be summed up in this 25 hour podcast series:
https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-62-supernova-in-the-east-i/
https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-63-supernova-in-the-east-ii/
https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-64-supernova-in-the-east-iii/
https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-65-supernova-in-the-east-iv/
https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-66-supernova-in-the-east-v/
https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-67-supernova-in-the-east-vi/
I choose a secret third option:
https://youtu.be/RCRTgtpC-Go
I choose an infamous fourth option:
https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ
Sometimes (aka almost always) there is actually a third (or fourth) solution to a trolley problem.