| WIzarDE said: I like how people keep justifying stuff with numbers and what if scenarios ... plain and simple it was just wrong. We are talking about human lives here not numbers or figures, but of course the world is what it is and war is just a terrible reality. |
I personally don't understand the "It was just wrong" argument ...
Every decision made on how to finish the war in Japan would have resulted in civilian casualties and would have had long lasting impacts on the people of Japan; as well as casualties to military forces and civilians in regions captured by Japan. Every realistic alternative based on reasonable assumptions on how Japan would have reacted and the kinds of casualties that everyone would have faced indicates that there was a massive reduction in the number of casualties on all sides because the bombs were dropped.
You have to consider that the Japanese were so against surrender that even after the Hiroshima bombing, and the Soviet Union agreed to enter the war to aid the United States, they were still unwilling to surrender. It was only after the bombing of Nagasaki that Japan surrendered. If one atomic blast and the entry of another massive military into the war isn't enough to make you surrender, how likely would have they been to surrender without a full invasion; and how many casualties would have been faced in tha situation?
