General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: No Choice: Why Harry Truman Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Japan [View all]Leith
(7,802 posts)just hastened Truman's deadline.
If the Soviets had taken part in the victory over Japan, their plan was to divvy Japan up like Germany. They wanted the northernmost major island of Hokkaido. Take a look at a map of the area and visualize the world's largest natural naval base. Soviet occupation of Hokkaido would remove any way of Allied monitoring of Soviet submarines and ships. It was obvious at the time that communists were hellbent on "expanding their influence" around the world and their behavior in the following decades proved it (Chinese revolution, Korean War, infiltration in Southeast Asia). They didn't declare war against Japan until it was all over, but they were eager to claim the spoils.
In order to understand why the US dropped The Bomb, it is worse than useless to look at the Japan of today. The Japan from the late 1920s to 1945 was a wild war machine. They spread out all over East Asia, SE Asia, and the western Pacific at breakneck speed and held it all. Even Australia was threatened. The atrocities they committed would sicken anyone who even heard about them. I have known people who grew up in the Philipines, Korea, and Taiwan during the occupation who were alarmed 50 years later that Japan would rise again.
If you think that dropping The Bomb was the height of barbarity, try learning about the enemy that had to be defeated. Truman knew what he was up against. Too many people today don't seem to know.