Some facts on dropping the two bombs [View all]

[nadinbrzezinski]

Fact 1....Strategic bombing as practiced by all sides, including the Japanese, killed far more people than the two A bombs ever did...Dresden and Tokyo saw far more casualties in a few hours than either, or even both Hiroshima or Nagasaki ever did. This includes the Hiroshima maidens, followed to this day.

Fact 2... The high command truly was surprised at what those devices did in a matter of minutes. They truly did not expect it.

Fact 3...total war, which all combatants engaged in, is nasty business. And all did, from the strategic campaigns of the Germans and the British and Americans, see Dresden and Tokyo. To the war in Asia practiced by Japan, see the Rape of Nanking for example...or the bombing of London and the Battle of Britain.

Fact 4... Which you obviously do not know, targeting in both cities focused on military facilities. Granted, the type of bomb meant that this affected civilians.

Fact 5...best case Japan was divided in half at the high command about surrender.

Fact 6... Even after Nagasaki, and the Emperor's speech, a Major attempted a coup, to continue fighting.

Fact 7... Yes, casualties, allied casualties were estimated at a million plus, and Japanese civilians were trained to resist the allies. I personally doubt it would have been that high after the initial phase...but estimates are what they are.

Fact 8...which does not shock me you do not know...check when the Russians declared war on Japan, when Russian troops moved into China, and the demands from the Russians.

I could continue, in giving context...but to some Hiroshima and Nagasaki happened in a magical vacuum, completely separate from the war

Finally, chew on this...there was a race to develop a nuclear bomb. If the Germans completed it, they were in the process of developing a strategic bomber with range to New York. They sent near the end of the war, an Uranium shipment to their allies in Japan in a Sub. The Japanese also had a nuclear program, and they would have used it, if they were first.

We know now the Russians had a project in diapers as well.

Nukes have done something else...they have prevented WW III...I am convinced the Cold War would have gone not just hot, but very hot if nukes and Mutually Assured Destruction was not present.

But serious, every year we have the same ignorant posts positing that the bombings happened in a historic vacuum, and personally...they signify a willful ignorance of history that is just face palm worthy.