Atomic_Bomb

Atomic Bomb On the morning of August 6th, 1945, a B-29 "Flying Fortress" named the Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb called "Little Boy" on the Japanese industrial city of Hiroshima. Three days later a second bomb called "Fat Man" was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. 70,000 lives were claimed with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. This will be a time that will be infamous throughout history. Many questions have arisen dealing with the need for the atomic bomb since it was twice used in 1945 to end World War II on the Pacific Front. Did it save lives when compared to an all out invasion, or could it have been a statement to Russia in an effort to start suppressing Communism' What is it that made the United States feel that Japan would not go down by conventional bombing and invasion like we had done with Germany' Most of this idea came from the fact that Japan had instilled an attitude in their people to always fight until death. Surrender was considered a disgrace and it would be better for them to die for their country. Also the United States was having trouble fighting through the islands that Japan had taken over due to their isolation from one another and that there were so many of them. Japan, in actuality, was chosen as the target in 1943. There was a fear that if the bomb did not work on Germany that the Germans would be able to disassemble it and figure out how to make it work. There was not this fear with Japan. Also a revenge factor was set in the heart of Americans ever since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Many feel that the production of the atomic bomb brought about an arms race that cost millions of money. Others feel that the Cold War was something that was unavoidable. The American citizens were behind using the bomb because they were tired of the war. It had been five years and many had not seen their loved ones and were afraid they would not ever again if they had to invade Japan's mainland. Americans were not willing to sacrifice more lives to end this war. They felt that the developed technology should be used. After all, creating the atomic bomb had been a long and hard task. It had taken many years of planning, developing, and testing. The making of the bomb combined theories and ideas from countless chemists and physicists. Most of all it had cost large amounts of money and the project workers feared being investigated by the postwar Congress if it was discovered that funding had gone to a secret project with nothing to show for it. The Manhattan Project was the code name for the US Project during World War II to produce the worlds first atomic bomb. It was appropriately named since the Manhattan Engineer District of the US Army Corps of Engineers, was the group that helped spearhead this project. This program was slowly started after the Germans discovered nuclear fission in 1938. Many feared that Hitler would develop the bomb first, so the US was determined to create the bomb before the Germans did. A man by the name of Leo Szilard and other scientists asked Albert Einstein to use his influence and write a letter to plead to President Franklin Roosevelt to support further research on the power of nuclear fission. This letter explained that Nazi scientists were already developing a way to purify Uranium-235 to use in an atomic bomb. Einstein's influence was a success and the Manhattan Project was established. The ultimate goal of this project was to successfully separate Uranium-235 from Uranium-238 and turn this into a usable weapon. In 1942, General Leslie Groves was chosen to lead the project, and he immediately purchased a site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Groves then chose a scientific director for the bomb project, J. Robert Oppenheimer, who built on an isolated area in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Oppenheimer was the major force behind the project and worked to make sure that all of the great minds working on this project made their visions work and become realities. In 1945, the bomb purity was shipped to Los Alamos. Where it was made into a gun type weapon to achieve a chain-reaction fission called critical mass. When critical mass is achieved, a chain reaction will take place in a really short period of time, where far more energy is released then in the case of a gunpowder explosion. The Hiroshima model was long and narrow in shape and was known as a gun-barrel type. At first its was called "Thin Man" but during the manufacturing process the plans were modified. The length of the bomb was shortened and was now called "Little Boy". Energy released from the Hiroshima atomic bomb was approximately equal to 15,00 tons of TNT. The atomic bomb used in Nagasaki was larger in diameter and round. It was an implosion type bomb and thus was called "Fat Man". The energy released from this bomb was equivalent to the destructive power of about 20,000 tons of TNT. On July 16, 1945, in Alamogordo, New Mexico a test was run on the new plutonium implosion bomb to see if the plutonium would correctly fission. The Trinity test was accomplished and the explosion created a flash that was seen at least three states away. General George C. Marshall was the United States Army Chief of Staff during this period of time during World War ll. Marshall was the highest ranking US Army officer. He knew about the atomic bomb project as far back as October of 1941. Although the chain of command fell under Marshall's rule, he delegated most of the work to Leslie Groves. Marshall along with the Secretary of war, Henry Sitmson would obtain an enormous amount of money necessary for this secret project, which Congress knew little about. Marshall's main task was to get ready for the possible invasion of the Japanese mainland. He felt using the atomic bomb would introduce a new and more dangerous level of warfare and was a political rather than a military decision. Initiated by Leo Szilard, a petition was made tat the bomb should only be used if Japan refused to surrender, even after they knew about the bob and it's destructive capabilities. The military pressures came from discussions and meetings Truman had with Henry Stimson, Marshal. Chief of Staff Admiral William Leahy, Secretary of War Stimson convinced Truman to set an invasion of the island of Kyushu for November 1945. Truman knew of the costly fighting currently taking place in the pacific, and naturally had a desire to minimize what he felt would inevitably be a long, bloody struggle. Stimson, Truman and the others believed the invasion of the Japanese mainland would be extremely costly, and therefore embraced the bomb as a military weapon. He decided to use the atomic bomb until the Japanese surrendered. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought us into a war, which we tried hard to stay out of. We as a nation were compelled to do take revenge and not let those who died, die in vain. Our natural right of vengeance as well as our moral duty to defeat justified Truman's decision to wage an atomic war on Japan. Truman knew the moral issues accompanied with this attack, but he knew the only way to end bloodshed was with bloodshed. There had been four cities chosen as possible targets: Hiroshima, Kolura, Nagasaki, and Niigata. Kyoto was the first choice until it was removed from the list by Stimson. The cities were chosen because they had been otherwise relatively untouched during the war. The bomb that dropped on Hiroshima on August 6th 1945, weighed 4.5 tons. At 8:15 in the morning the bomb was dropped from the Enola Gay and missed ground zero at 1,980 feet by only 600 feet. In a flash of an instant, 66,00 people were killed and 69,000 people were injured by as ten kiloton explosion. Little Boy generated and enormous amount of energy in terms of air pressure, heat, and radiation. The strong wind generated by the bomb destroyed most of the houses and buildings within a 1.5-mile radius. The wind generated by Little Boy caused the most serious damage to the city and people. While the people of Japan were trying to comprehend the devastation in Hiroshima, the United States was preparing a second bombing mission. The second run was scheduled to give Japan time to surrender. Three days later on August 9th, 1945, Nagasaki fell victim to Japanese stubbornness. The bomb was dropped on the city, missing the target by over one and a half miles. The energy generated by the bomb was larger than that of Little Boy, but damage done by it was lighter because of the geographical structure of the city. In one split second 39,00 people were killed and over 25,000 were injured. In that second Nagasaki's population went from 422,000 to 383,000 people. Around 40 percent of Nagasaki was destroyed. Even with all of this destruction it was studied that the atomic explosions used only 0.1% of their explosive capabilities. The bombs resembled the civilian and military brain power the helped develop the bomb. The atomic Bomb's initial explosion may have been devastating, but it also had many after effects. Those who didn't die from the explosion suffered from severe burn, radiation poisoning, cancer and leukemia, and birth defects that still appear today. Not only did the bombing affect the Japanese, it also affected the United States. The Soviets detonated their first nuclear device in 1949 and since hen mankind has been faced with the possibility of a nuclear war that could destroy mankind. The alternative to dropping the bomb was an all out invasion of Japan with continued bombing raids. In July 1945, an invasion was being planned by all of the allies. The plan included the United State's Navy whose role was to impose a blockade on Japan to try to strangle them economically into surrender. Then on July 16 the A-bomb was successfully tested. Truman then made his decision to use it unless Japan surrendered. On July 26 Truman, Churchill, and Chiang Kai-shek issued an ultimatum demanding the unconditional surrender of Japan. Japan chose not to surrender at that time. Feelings of a British scientist P.M.S. Blackett were a bit different. He wrote a book titled Fear, War, and the Bomb, in which he said that the United States wanted to end the war with Japan prior to Russia's entrance. Blackett felt that the USA wanted all of the credit for defeating Japan and that we were hoping to deter Russia from invading other lands in an effort to suppress Communism. He feels that the dropping of the bomb was the first major operation of the cold diplomatic war with Russia. (www.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities History/20th_Century/World_War_II Atomic_Bomb_The) Also an American historian, Gar Alperovitz, wrote a book titled Atomic Diplomacy. His book contains a diary entry from 28 July 1945 by US Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal that describes Secretary of State James F. Byrnes as most anxious to get the Japanese affair over with before the Russians got in. (www.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/ History/20th_Century/World War_II/Atomic_Bomb/The/) Also Byrnes' assistant Secretary of State, Walter Brown, has a diary entry that suggests that Truman and Byrnes saw the bomb as a way to reduce Soviet political influence on Asia, particularly China. This was basically saying that in order for Americans to have an advantage over the Russians in getting China that a quarter of a million Japanese had to die. Most of the deceased would probably be women and children. When discussing the decision-making process many people had opinions in favor of the use of the bombs. A secret government advisory group called the Interim Committee on June 1, 1945, recommended to President Truman "that the bomb should be used against Japan as soon as possible; that it should be used on a war plant surrounded by workers' homes; and that it be used without prior warning." Byrnes felt that one million lives would be saved; General George Marshall stated that the figure would be closer to a half a million. After the dropping of the two bombs Truman noted that Hiroshima was a military base and that we wished to avoid killing civilians. Despite the fact that Truman was trying to justify killing civilians people surrounding him believed that the bomb would not do much more harm than continued conventional bombing. This idea came from the fact that in Tokyo alone, conventional bombing had killed 100,000 civilians. This basically forced killing civilians to be deemed proper and inevitable even in democratic nations. Truman in a diary entry on August 11 of 1945 stated that "nobody is more disturbed over the use of Atomic bombs than I am but I was greatly disturbed over the unwarranted attack by the Japanese of Pearl Harbor and their murder of our prisoners of war. The only language they seem to understand is the one we have been using to bombard them." A US intelligence study does say that Truman knew that the bomb was not really needed. What the study does not point out is that Stalin's declaration of war was not really sufficient enough for Truman's decision. He did not feel Stalin was that dependable. The Russian leader had promised for months to enter the war against Japan but never did make a declaration until August the sixth, the day of the bombing of Hiroshima. An American soldier stationed in North Africa had an opinion that supported Truman's beliefs about Russia. The soldier felt that it would be ridiculous to expect the Soviet Union to enter the war against Japan for three main reasons: the Soviets had heavy losses fighting Germany; the soldiers were left exhausted and starving; and they would have to be transported almost halfway around the globe from western Russian to the eastern front. This soldier's credibility is not known but his statement fits in with Truman's own beliefs. It is believed that Truman, beneath the surface, felt an exaggerated sense of self-importance for the US, a mindset that was first installed in the United States during Theodore Roosevelt's presidency. He felt that if we did not use our great powers that some other nation surely would. Some people feel that the bomb was used for the purpose of keeping the American people behind the war effort. The war had been dragging on and the death toll for America kept rising. Introducing this weapon of previously unheard-of destructive force would get the backing of the American people. The bomb surely would secure an American victory without the aid of the Soviet Union. However, many people were against using the atomic bombs, before and after they were actually used. A survey set up by the War Department called the US Strategic Bombing Survey came to this conclusion after interviewing hundreds of Japanese in 1944. Ralph Bard, who was under the Secretary of the Navy and a member of the committee, wrote a memo to Secretary of War Henry Stimson on June 27, 1945. It is also believed that he discussed this memo with Truman in early July. The memorandum stated that Japan should have prior warning if the bomb is used; he did not want the United States status of a great humanitarian nation to be damaged. He also felt that Japan was ready to surrender and that there would be no harm in waiting a little while longer to see what they would do to end the war. Others suggested dropping the bomb in a place where the Japanese could see its destructive forces and then letting them decide if it was still worth continuing the war effort. Professor Howard Zinn of Boston University wrote A People's History of the United States. In his book, he says that the 'estimates of invasion losses were not realistic, and seem to have been pulled out of the air to justify bombing which, as their effects became known, horrified more and more people.' (www.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/ History/20th_Century/World_War_II Atomic_Bomb_The) Hanson Baldwin, a military analyst for The New York Times wrote shortly after the war that Japan was in desperate shape and ready to surrender by July 26, 1945, at the time the unconditional surrender was demanded at Potsdam. The United States had even already broken Japan's code of messaging and knew that their ambassador had been sent to Moscow to work out peace negotiations. Also they had begun talking of surrender a year prior and in June of 1945 the emperor of Japan had begun discussing alternatives to fighting to the end. Martin Sherwin says that American Intelligence relayed messages to the President about these events but they had no effect on his final decision to drop the bomb. Howard Zinn feels that the bombing of Nagasaki was surely unnecessary and that it seems the only reason for its use was that it was a plutonium bomb whereas the one dropped on Hiroshima was filled with uranium. He posed the question, 'Were the victims of Nagasaki part of a scientific experiment'' (www.he.net/~douglong/bard.htm) The Japanese people felt afterwards that while the first bomb may have been necessary, the second was just a war crime. Others hold the belief that Japan had already basically mailed in their surrender before the bombings and that dropping the bomb was like using a sledgehammer to kill an ant. In fact Truman himself had diary entries which stated his feeling that Russia entering the war would provide such a jolt to Japan that they would surrender. Russia had said it would enter by August 15. The United States' decision on using the atomic bomb weighed on many different views and sources of information. The opposing arguments stemmed from the belief that Japan would have surrendered soon enough without an invasion. It was believed that a naval blockade would choke off Japan or dropping the bomb elsewhere just for them to see would scare them to surrender. Even if an all out invasion had to occur many believed that it would not cost nearly as many lives and the supporters of using the bomb had stated. Despite these arguments the decision was made to use it under the belief that a quick end was needed. The government was doing what it felt would please its own citizens the most. We did not need the war to drag on any longer and were looking for the quickest way out and it seemed this was true no matter what the consequences would be. Truman's thoughts are best summed up by his diary as to why he decided to use the bomb whether Russia was going to enter the war with Japan or not. His statement from his diary from January 1, 1946, is from an unsent letter to Byrnes that discusses his feelings following Potsdam Conference about Russia entering the war. It reads, "At the time we were anxious for Russian entry into the Japanese War. Of course we found later that we didn't need Russians there and the Russians have been a head ache to us ever since." He wrote on August 11, 1945, "We are all on edge waiting for the Japs to answer. Have had a hell of a day." August 6th, 1945, is a day that will never be forgotten because it marks the world's first use of and atomic bomb that was dropped on the city of Hiroshima by the United States Military. Only three days later, the US Dropped a second bomb on the city of Nagasaki, which brought an end to World War ll. More then 140,00 people were estimated to have died. Not only had the development of the atomic bomb influenced American society but also the world because of the mass amounts of destruction they have caused. The atomic bomb has left a permanent mark on the world. A lot of good has come from its research like the discovery of nuclear power, and its purposes for medical use. We have turned nuclear power in a reliable source of energy and it has provided us with many technological advances. The goal of waging war is to successfully defeat your enemy with acquiring minimal losses. As the great World War II hero General George S. Patton said " The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other poor dumb bastard die for his." Their is no objection that the continuation of the Island hopping and the invasion of the Japanese mainland would have cost America an estimated 1 million casualties. The Japanese Army would have fought to the death. It is an old samurai feeling that defeat is no reason to surrender. In a country were the emperor is deemed to be "God Like" , most US generals believed that the remaining 2.5 million Japanese would fight to the last man. Battles like this occurred on almost every island the US attacked. Military officials believed if the Japanese army would fight to the last man on some island, that they couldn't imagine what the fight would be like on the mainland. Especially with the continuation of kamikaze bombing of American ships. America was not the only country developing atomic weapons. Germany had been trying to develop an atomic bomb throughout the course of the war. High ranking Nazi Officials cross examined at the Nuremberg Trial, have given indication of Nazi plans for atomic warfare. The testimony of an Albert Speer indicated that a small town was erected outside of Auschwitz to hold about 20,000 Jews, to test the devastation of an atomic bomb. Hitler had also promised the Wermacht a secret weapon that would win them the war. Many Germans believed this "Secret Weapon," to be an atomic bomb. Most experts say that if Germany had lasted one more year, they would have successfully made an atomic weapon. In any case, the Cold War would have still been waged. The Russians would have, and did take German plans for the engineering of an atomic bomb. Just like the Russians and Americans stole the plans for building rockets to help them reach outer space, not to mention the rocket scientists as well, they would have and did steal German plans for making an atomic bomb. Nuclear fission was something that scientist around the world were playing with at this time period. It was just a matter of time until nations would make weapons out of this nuclear energy. It just so happened that America designed it first, and controlled the upper hand on nuclear development, to become a step ahead of the world. Bibliography: