This date marks the 78th Anniversary of the Atomic Bomb over Hiroshima.

[TomWilm]

30. The bombs DID NOT save millions of lives ...

The Japanese were not concerned about atomic bombings. They were concerned about the Soviet Union. The war ended, not because of those big bombs, but when Soviet broke the treaty with Japan, and entered the war against Japan:

... Attributing the end of the war to the atomic bomb served Japan’s interests in multiple ways.

- First, it helped to preserve the legitimacy of the emperor. If the war was lost not because of mistakes but because of the enemy’s unexpected miracle weapon, then the institution of the emperor might continue to find support within Japan.

- Second, it appealed to international sympathy. Being able to recast Japan as a victimized nation — one that had been unfairly bombed with a cruel and horrifying instrument of war — would help to offset some of the morally repugnant things Japan’s military had done.

- Finally, saying that the Bomb won the war would please Japan’s American victors. If the Bomb won the war, then the perception of U.S. military power would be enhanced, U.S. diplomatic influence in Asia and around the world would increase, and U.S. security would be strengthened. The $2 billion spent to build it would not have been wasted.

- If, on the other hand, the Soviet entry into the war was what caused Japan to surrender, then the Soviets could claim that they were able to do in four days what the United States was unable to do in four years, and the perception of Soviet military power and Soviet diplomatic influence would be enhanced.

Japanese historian Asada Sadao has said that in many of the postwar interviews. If the Americans wanted to believe that the Bomb won the war, why disappoint them?

But what are we to make of all those conclusions if the traditional story of Hiroshima is called into doubt? Hiroshima is the center, the point from which all other claims and assertions radiate out. Yet the story we have been telling ourselves seems pretty far removed from the facts. What are we to think about nuclear weapons if this enormous first accomplishment — the miracle of Japan’s sudden surrender — turns out to be a myth?

The Bomb Didn’t Beat Japan … Stalin Did – Foreign Policy