Prompt and Utter Destruction

Prompt and Utter Destruction

War is the greatest tragedy of human existence. There has been war on planet

Earth as long as civilizations existed. As technology increases, war itself becomes increasingly

devastating. With the invention of the nuclear weapon, the philosophy behind war needs to

change. To think one bomb, dropped from the sky, and no one seeing it coming could instantly

kill tens of thousands of people is truly an image of nightmares. The casualness of accepting that

Americans have dropped two atomic bombs that resulted in the death of over 110,000 people has

always been disturbing. Most Americans believe this act was justified in itself because it helped

end the war and therefore save many American soldiers’ lives. While these same people regard

human beings in such high regard that killing at all is taboo, but war on the other hand is noble.

Even though war’s main and only purpose, is to kill for the sake of control and power. While

those killed in the conventional bombings in Dresden and Hamburg approached the number of

losses in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, nothing can compare to the instant horror of the two bombs

dropped on Japan. No matter the reasons of why the bombs were dropped on Japan, in the end

the bombings were simply inhumane. To a nation that places such high value on life, going as far

as protecting a fertilized human egg or going to prison for animals suffering cruelty, it does not

seem that the immense suffering and deaths of civilians can be justified. The United States must

have had to use alternatives rather than the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had no democratic rights to oppose their militarist

government. No lives were thought of as individuals when America dropped the bombs on those

cities. Even women and children were vaporized, all turned into charred carbon, killed by flying

debris and infested with radiation. Families and entire neighborhoods were simply gone with one

sudden flash. The bombings hit deep with Japan, creating hidden cracks. The spiritual,

emotional, and psychological damage resulting from the bombings was also troubling. Japanese

people outside of the bombings had a difficult time dealing with the victims. Both scared and

ignorant of radiation sickness, they treated victims as if they had a communicable disease. They

were shunned and detested from Japanese society. Some even blamed themselves for what

happened, believing they should have fled Japan, or those who were the only survivors of a

family, or an entire neighborhood. This led to high rates of suicide, and those who suffered

through it were left to deal with a lifetime of sickness from radiation. Increase in cancer rates and

birth defects for those who were pregnant also jumped significantly. Though the data of birth

defects passed through generations is still being studied, the anxiety of the possibilities still

haunts Japanese. To entirely grasp the magnitude of suffering the atomic bombs caused Japan

cannot be explained through statistics or cold data, it must be through the human story. Through

these stories you can see the true evil this barbarous weapon caused, nothing could justify the

Supporters of the bomb tend to give a fallacy of options. Some say it had to be

either American lives at stake or dropping of the bomb. In reality, at least an alternative could

have been tried before dropping a bomb, let alone two bombs. Military analysts in the Joint

Intelligence Committee in 1945 believed Japan must accept the inevitability of defeat and know

that unconditional surrender did not mean national annihilation for Japanese leadership to

surrender. A Soviet declaration of war against Japan would satisfy this first condition. The world

had seen what had happened when United States and Soviet Union put aside their differences in

defeating Nazi Germany, though it was a very uneasy alliance. Stalin believed America and

Britain delayed the opening of a second front in Europe on purpose so the Russians would take

on the brunt of the Nazi force. Regardless, when Truman and Stalin had met in July, Stalin had

confirmed the Soviet Union would be declaring war on Japan on the 15

have put an immense pressure on Japan in surrendering. But the Americans dropped the bombs

knowing the Soviets would enter the war one week later. This is also believed because “as an

added incentive, using the bomb might provide diplomatic benefits by making the Soviet Union

more amenable to American wishes” (Walker 95). America believed by using the atomic bomb

would improve negotiation power with the Soviets, along with ending the war. All these reasons

were in the end a short sightedness and did not consider the full repercussions of using such a

weapon. The lives of thousands of civilians were just used as statistics compared against the

number of lives of American soldiers. No thought was given to individuals of Japan, America or

th

of August. This would

When the Japanese Emperor Hirohito decided to surrender, he explained his rationale:

“Moreover, the enemy now possesses a new and terrible weapon with the power to destroy the

many innocent lives and do incalculable damage. Should we continue to fight, not only would it

result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the

total extinction of human civilization.” The use of nuclear weapons was a terrifying view of what

could happen when humans become desensitized to war. People do not see war in the gruesome,

disgusting and repulsive act it really is. War is shown through propaganda and patriotism. The

lives of the innocent people of the world who suffer from war are the consequences when nations

fight over power and control. The bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima will never be forgotten

and should serve as a lesson to get rid of nuclear weapons as a whole on Earth.