Considering that the Japanese people are a proud and strong people, and that the general public had been told that if Americans managed to land on Japanese soil that they would burn, rape, pillage and destroy everything in their path in a genocidal hatred for all things Japanese, and that even though their military was being crushed at nearly every turn toward the end of the war in the Pacific, so much so that in desperation, and to show their absolute refusal to accept defeat they created the Kamikaze (Divine Wind, or Wind of God) as an effort to use this ultimate act of sacrifice to try to weaken the US military...
There were many studies and analyses of known Japanese beliefs and behaviors, and it was determined that in the event of a land-based war on Japanese soil, that the most likely scenario was that either the populace (not just the military) would fight to the death over every inch of Japanese soil, or (as was shown on islands the American forces captured) would commit suicide, rather than be taken by American forces...
Knowing this, and understanding that a land war with a people that would go to these extremes would most likely cost not only countless Japanese lives, but also the lives of unknown numbers of American soldiers...the decision was made to use these new weapons to attempt to convince the Japanese military and leadership that continuing a war against the US would only result in a TRUE genocide, and end of life as they knew it in Japan...
The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while incredibly destructive and most commonly viewed as far more force than was justified, still represented the fastest end to a possible land war in modern times.
There are those who will decry the acts as ones of blatantly inhuman violence, and will claim that the loss of life and suffering of the residents could never be justified, and they are certainly welcome to their opinions, however, due to those acts, Japan never suffered the widespread carpet bombings that destroyed more historical and cultural artifacts and places throughout Europe than any prior military action, and most likely saved the lives and livelihoods of MILLIONS of Japanese citizens due to the rapid surrender tendered by the Japanese leadership after Nagasaki was bombed.
Please keep in mind that while ALL countries involved in military actions commit acts of inhumanity against the 'enemy' in times of war, there are also truly horrific acts done that SHOULD be considered war crimes (the Nazi Concentration Camps, the intentional genocidal acts against the Kurdish people, and Japan's use of the Mongolian people to test fleas as a possible effective deliverer of the plague to enemy locations... Look it up, no bull. They intended to keep the infected fleas on ice so they'd stay dormant, then drop them in clay urns close to population centers to let them thaw and begin to do what fleas do, and in the process deliver the plague to the local population and their domestic animals), when you look at how effective the use of these two explosive devices were in the ending of a war, it's kind of hard to keep the hard-line of 'This was a horrible act of genocide!!', especially if you are willing to recognize the cost we paid to slowly march across Europe in a land-war to finally defeat the Nazi war machine...
So yes. Considering the unique nature of the people we were at war with, I feel the use of the atomic devices used in Japan were justified (and this is from someone who truly loves Japanese culture and history) on the grounds that it allowed the preservation of the Japanese culture on a scale that was unable to be maintained so well in the European theater... In this case, the ends justified the means.
But as in all things a person can write on the Internet, this is only my opinion based on the information I have learned... Perhaps I'm wrong, and it would have been better to have used conventional bombing techniques over the entirety of Japan, rather than accepting the sacrifice of two cities as the cost of ending the war...
There were many studies and analyses of known Japanese beliefs and behaviors, and it was determined that in the event of a land-based war on Japanese soil, that the most likely scenario was that either the populace (not just the military) would fight to the death over every inch of Japanese soil, or (as was shown on islands the American forces captured) would commit suicide, rather than be taken by American forces...
Knowing this, and understanding that a land war with a people that would go to these extremes would most likely cost not only countless Japanese lives, but also the lives of unknown numbers of American soldiers...the decision was made to use these new weapons to attempt to convince the Japanese military and leadership that continuing a war against the US would only result in a TRUE genocide, and end of life as they knew it in Japan...
The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while incredibly destructive and most commonly viewed as far more force than was justified, still represented the fastest end to a possible land war in modern times.
There are those who will decry the acts as ones of blatantly inhuman violence, and will claim that the loss of life and suffering of the residents could never be justified, and they are certainly welcome to their opinions, however, due to those acts, Japan never suffered the widespread carpet bombings that destroyed more historical and cultural artifacts and places throughout Europe than any prior military action, and most likely saved the lives and livelihoods of MILLIONS of Japanese citizens due to the rapid surrender tendered by the Japanese leadership after Nagasaki was bombed.
Please keep in mind that while ALL countries involved in military actions commit acts of inhumanity against the 'enemy' in times of war, there are also truly horrific acts done that SHOULD be considered war crimes (the Nazi Concentration Camps, the intentional genocidal acts against the Kurdish people, and Japan's use of the Mongolian people to test fleas as a possible effective deliverer of the plague to enemy locations... Look it up, no bull. They intended to keep the infected fleas on ice so they'd stay dormant, then drop them in clay urns close to population centers to let them thaw and begin to do what fleas do, and in the process deliver the plague to the local population and their domestic animals), when you look at how effective the use of these two explosive devices were in the ending of a war, it's kind of hard to keep the hard-line of 'This was a horrible act of genocide!!', especially if you are willing to recognize the cost we paid to slowly march across Europe in a land-war to finally defeat the Nazi war machine...
So yes. Considering the unique nature of the people we were at war with, I feel the use of the atomic devices used in Japan were justified (and this is from someone who truly loves Japanese culture and history) on the grounds that it allowed the preservation of the Japanese culture on a scale that was unable to be maintained so well in the European theater... In this case, the ends justified the means.
But as in all things a person can write on the Internet, this is only my opinion based on the information I have learned... Perhaps I'm wrong, and it would have been better to have used conventional bombing techniques over the entirety of Japan, rather than accepting the sacrifice of two cities as the cost of ending the war...
