The Real Reason America Used Nukes Against Japan

[caraher]

6. Actually, there's plenty of evidence the bombs didn't shorten the war noticeably

At essentially the same time, the Soviets invaded Manchuria, which may have made an even bigger impression on Tokyo's generals. There's actually a lot of evidence that Japan wouldn't have lasted more than a few months more. That case is part of the work I mentioned above, notably in the Gar Alperovitz book "The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb."

There are historians on both sides of the argument, but there are some very strong arguments for a quick collapse without the bomb - very different from the absence of "any evidence." Japanese diplomats had been trying to initiate a surrender dialog through intermediaries (unfortunately for them, one of them was the Soviet Union; they apparently didn't realize Stalin fully intended to follow through on his promise to the western Allies to attack Japan 3 months after Germany's surrender).