Honestly, the biggest "The atomic bombs didn't save lives" argument.. and really only one... is amusingly is on topic with the thread.
Some historians suggest that what got Japan to surrender was Russia.
They weren't afraid of an American Invasion, and they weren't afraid of losing all their cities to the atomic bombs... (although as stated, some japanese members of the big six disagreed.
What some historians suggest is they were afraid of being invaded by Russia and having to put up with their inhumane genocidal treatment and finally folded because of the Russian invasion of Manchukuo.
This is largely based on the fact that it was revealed that the "Peace overtures" sent through Russia were in fact a calculated ploy by the "Big Six" in an attempt to keep Russia out of Japan long enough to hit the American's hard enough that they would allow a surrender in which japan remained unoccupied by basically using a later soviet invasion and conquering of Japan as a chip in their favor. (Which again Japanese researchers found japan was MASSIVLY upgrading ther army and had no plan to surrender to the americans up until the bombs dropped.)
Which by the way, Japanese Historians basically found was the preconditions for any Japanese negotiations. The Allies had to agree to basically let Japan off scott free for the whole thing... and that's where negotiations BEGAN.
Either way, it's generally accepted that those two things are what ended the war... with a debate on the importance of either.
Whether the japanese really didn't care if all of it's cities were destroyed so long as they perserved the empereor. Or whether the Russian invasion was the straw that finally convinced politicians staggered by the bombs to surrender.
