Chapt. 30 Atomic Controversy

Chapter 30 : Lecture Response and Essay

The history of the atomic bomb dates back to pre-World War II times When it was discovered that atomic bomb could be created , a lot of controversy appeared on the scale as atomic mob was a weapon of mass destruction . The first controversy centered whether atomic bomb would promptly put the end to the World War II . Atomic bomb was argued to be used against the Japanese

The second controversy was why dropping the atomic bomb on Japan , if evidence showed that Japan was close to

military defeat . Even the Commander-in-Chief thought that using atomic bomb was completely unnecessary from military viewpoint as considerable portion of Japanese population considered defeat to be probable

The third controversy focused on the term `unconditional surrender . The USA and Great Britain argued they would fight relentlessly till German and Japan offered unconditional surrender . However , throughout the years the term was revised and of the serious conditions appeared that Japanese leaders agree to surrender only if their emperor would not be eliminated . Given such condition , the meaning of the term should be changed

The fourth controversy focused on why to drop atomic bomb ob civilians which were not military targets . Firebombing was claimed to be a military tactic as civilians were going to resist invasion , but many historians viewed this act as unnecessary and such that didn 't match military tactics

The fifth controversy is about the target selection in Hiroshima and Nagasaki . Initially , the targets were small and...