Was the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki justified?
Jazmyn Vanmidde
It was 1939. Germany was under the power of Adolf Hitler and was intent on spreading its borders. A series of preceding events and a previous World War had the world’s patience with Germany worn thin. Russia was under the power of the communist dictator Joseph Stalin at this time. On August 23, 1939 Russia and Germany signed a non-aggression pact, in which Russia would gain half of Poland which Germany was planning to invade.
And then Germany did just that – they invaded Poland.
Poland’s western allies, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany on the 3rd of September and was soon followed by France, South Africa and Canada. The fact that Russia was also part of this attack was widely ignored. Germany soon gained the allies of Italy and Japan, and this terrible threesome was thereafter known as the Axis.
America managed to stay officially out of the war until the day that Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on August 7th. Due to bad timing the attack was launched before a formal declaration of war was given. Therefore when the attack came upon their unprepared soldiers, the Americans joined the war against the Axis on the 8th of December, 1941, with a burning vengeance.
Germany attacked Russia on June 22, 1941. In retaliation Russia cut off all supplies to Germany and joined the allies. With America in the war and Russia against them, the tides began to turn.
On September 8, 1943, Italy surrendered. Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin meet on November 28 to discuss strategy. The Germans begin loosing the war. Then came the shocker: on the 30th of April, 1945, Hitler committed suicide. Without a leader to guide them, the Germans offered unconditional surrender within a week. All that was left standing of the Axis was Japan.
Japan was slowly dying. There was no way that they could possibly win a war against the rest of the world, but Japanese...