Why Is Hiroshima Bombing Unjustified

The United States’ decision to bomb both Nagasaki and Hiroshima was not at all justified. Many people know that Japan deliberately attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, in order to strategically weaken the American Army. However, the United States’ decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was to push Japan to surrender. The bombing was unjustified because the U.S. Army:(1) targeted heavily populated civilian cities, (2) deliberately planned their attack to kill, (3) did not give Japan enough time to respond, (4) did not experience as many casualties than Japan.
Many say that the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima was unjustified because the U.S. targeted cities that were populated by civilians. According to the notes …show more content…
These atomic bombs are responsible for the end of the World War along with the threats of invasion from the Allied forces. According to Eisenhower, the president after Truman, “ Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary,…. I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion” (The White House Years: Mandate for Change: 1953-1956: A Personal Account). It was no doubt that Japan had already been defeated way before their surrender, however, the U.S. dropped not one but two atomic bombs in a matter of 3 days. This was a response to Japan’s refusal to accept the Potsdam Declaration. On the contrary, the bombing remains inevitably unjustified. According to Eisenhower, “It was my belief that Japan was, at that very moment, seeking some way to surrender with a minimum loss of ‘face’(The White House Years: Mandate for Change: 1953-1956: A Personal Account). Due to the Japanese code of honor, it took some time before Japan fully surrendered from the war. The date of their surrender was September 2, 1945. Ultimately, time should have been provided to the Japanese government to respond to the first bombing. Many would say that three days was insufficient for them to respond because of their code of honor clouding their judgment. While fighting a war with other countries, the Japanese had to decide whether …show more content…
did not suffer as many casualties compared to Japan. Politically, Japan targeted the army that was based on Pearl Harbor to weaken the United States and gain strategic advantage. However, in a similar standpoint, the U.S. government attempted to justify their decision to drop the atomic because of their intentions to weaken the Japanese as well as to gain strategic advantage. Nearly 200,000 were killed out of the 450,000 people that populated Nagasaki and Hiroshima. That is about 44-45% of people dead from the initial population prior to the bombings. Burns from the bombs accounted for the majority of casualties from both cities. 60% of Hiroshima residents and 95% of Nagasaki died from fatal burns due to the bomb’s extreme radiation (Stanford History Education Group. Reading Like a Historian “6. Atomic Bomb.”) The remaining amount of casualties, were a result of falling debris and other accident that caused the deaths of civilians. On the other hand, the Americans suffered 2400 casualties and over 1000 injured. Statistically, the country which suffered more casualties was Japan. The amount of deaths from both parties was uneven and raised some speculations regarding whether or not the bombing were justified or just some means to kill innocent people