Atomic Bombing on Japan

Hiroshima: Was Dropping the Atomic Bomb a Military Necessity? On the morning of August 6th, 1945 at around 8:16 a.m., the United States dropped the first bomb on Hiroshima. This bomb was given the nickname “Little Boy.” Three days after the first atomic bomb was dropped, on August 9th, 1945 at around 11:02 a.m., the United States dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. This bomb was given the nickname “Fat Man.” These two bombs immensely destroyed these cities and took the lives of many people. There was an estimated 200,000 lives taken in the atomic bombing on Japan. The war on the Pacific had been going on for over four years before the atomic bombing occurred. There were two big battles that could have led to the United State’s decision of dropping the atomic bomb, the Iwo Jima and Okinawa. In these two battles there was an astounding amount of deaths taken in these battles from both sides. While both sides of the Japanese and American soldiers fought vigorously taking the many lives of one another, the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was a military necessity for the United States. The reason why the dropping of the atomic bomb was a military necessity is because there was nothing else to force Japan to surrender. President Harry S. Truman asked the Japanese to surrender on August 3rd, 1945 or face devastation, but the Japanese failed to meet the deadline. Truman ordered the air force to use the new atomic weapons against Japan. Some argued that if we would had waited a few more weeks, Japan would have surrendered. Others argued that there was no other way to persuade the Japanese to surrender but the atomic bombing. Truman said this was a simple military mission. He said a weapon was available to quickly end the war so he sees no reason not to use it. The alternative to dropping the atomic bomb was a ground invasion in Japan, which would have caused heavy losses to our American troops.
From my perspective, I believe that the atomic bombing of