Staredit Network

Start: March 26, 2006
End: April 2, 2006

All rules stated here apply.

Question: Was the use of atomic bombs really necessary in World War II?

Background: Even after the surrender of Germany, Japan would not give in. The Japanese would sooner die than surrender, despite being surrounded by all sides.

There was also the problem of Soviet Union and the spread of communism. Fear of communism rose and some thought the bombs were used to intimidate the Soviets.

List of all previous polls
1.Do you approve of the way President Bush is doing his job?
2.Is Communism a good idea?
3.References to God should be removed (i.e. "under God" in the pledge and "In God We Trust" on money)
4.Is I. Lewis ("Scooter") Libby Guilty?
5.What are your thoughts over the current evidence of corruption in the government?
6.Are you disturbed by in overwhelming Mexican/Hispanic influence on the US?
7.Are love and lust essentially the same thing, varying in intensity?
8.Do you approve of the way President Bush is doing his job?
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10.Should the Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay be closed?
11.Should abortion be made illegal?
12.How far has Bush gone in trying to protect the American people?

I would say, if you really thought about it, No, we did not need to use the A-Bomb. but at the costs of hundreds of thousands of japanese and American lives trying to capture Japan.

I would say the A-Bomb saved many lives yes, but I do not know if we really did need to use it. But it did send a very strong message.

Yes I think it was, mainly because if we didn’t use it we probably would’ve used more troops to try and take over Japan, thus causing more causalities on our side. I served the Japanese right anyway look what they did to Pearl Harbor.

Was it necessary to build 12 dragoons instead of 11? Maybe no, but why take the chance. Personally, I think it was necessary. And if it wasn't, well....that's war my friend.

The Atomic Bombs helped achieve 2 very important things in WWII. It ended the war before 1946 and saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
The US was planning to invade Japan sometime in early fall of 1945, possibly September to October. The invasion was planned to last almost a full year, as the invasion of europe did.

The Japanese were still strong believers of Bushido, in which it was honorable to die in battle. This meant that a massive amount of Japanese civilians would rise up and take arms.

The Soviets were going to invade Japan in late 1945, possibly in November, meaning that there would've been 2 fronts in Japan, totally devastating the country if it took place.

Only 2 cities were completely destroyed by the bombs, almost all of Japan would've been destroyed if there would've been an invasion.

Wow I just learned some thing; I didn’t think Russia had any plans to touch Japan. Anyway good point.

I voted no, for about the same reasons as Chris.

It saved many casualties on our side, but also gave us the ego that we have today.

Technically, the Atom Bomb was not Nuclear, it was atomic.

Nuclear bombs are what are made now.

Atomic Bombs are of the past.

Wasn't neccesary, but useful, and more efficient.

It didn't "kill" Japan, it "knocked them out".

I wish i could of been there.

"YOU GOT KNOCKED THE OUT!"

lol...

Right this is true, but countless of innocent lives were also lost, I agree that you say no. I feel that the A-bomb was a message to the japs that basically said "dont fark with us. You'll lose." but thinking about how many Women and Children also died from that, not to mention the after effects is devisating to the japanesse people. A shame for all those children to die or have some sort of horrible sickness.

Think about this everyone. In pearl harbor, the japanese killed over 4,000 men and an entire navy fleet. In japan, we obliterated 2 cities: hiroshima and nagasaki. This killed over 10,000 and 2 whole cities. The Americans did way more damage then the japanese and the americans didn't just kill soldiers, they killed innocent people. After thinking about this, do you guys truly think it was worth it? Couldn't the americans have just stormed japan and killed japanese soldiers instead of its people?

I have this to say: what constitutes "necessary"? The atomic bomb saved American lives and quite possibly Japanese ones. Could America have won without it? Probably. Did it have devastating effects? Certainly. But where do we draw the line between "Non-essentail" and "necessary"?

On another note, you claim that the effects of nuclear weapons over the past 60 years are terrible. But would refraining from using the atomic bomb on Japan have helped this? We would still have had the bomb, Russia would have gotten it too, probably about the same time, and the only actual difference would be that no one would have used it by that time. Possibly the USSR would have used it on America if we hadn't used it on Japan, or the other way around. Who knows what would have happened?

I vote "No Comment."

Lol.. you know I was speaking figuratively =\

Let's see some proof of that. Or maybe you mean Soldiers lives.



Except todays Nuclear Missiles are much more powerful then back then. Actually if you compare then to now that A-bomb was weak.

I'll let DTBK rebuttle to that one, Cloud =\

It's still a nuclear weapon.

If you read his post, you would see that he is not denying the fact they are nuclear weapons, but is mearly stating the fact that a Nuclear Bomb is way more powerfull than an Atomic one.

Please read

If I recall correctly, we bombed the hell out of japan before using the atom bomb. I believe the bombing we did before the whole atom thing, killed much more people. But is over looked. Quality over quanitity.

I'm gonna use an SC analogy.

Why use a Nuke when you have all those other Terran units to choose from?

In reality, nukes have more ethical concerns, just another reason they weren't absolutely necessary. Sure, it ended the war faster, possibly saving more lives than it killed, but nevertheless, it was not one of the brightest moments in human history.

I see no regret in using the Atomic Bomb. Yes many innocent people died, but even if the United States decided to do it the harder way, eventually many innocent people would get killed anyhow in the fray between the US and Jap soldiers.

Atom Bombs used the full atom fission to create their blasts.

Nuclear Bombs use Nuclei fission to create their blasts.