World History Phase 5 (IP)

Clients name

Course

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The history of the world is founded on war and destruction to an extent however , there is one particular act of war that was not only extreme but unnecessary . The first atomic bomb ever made to completion was dropped on 6 August 1945 over the civilian Japanese city of Hiroshima completely destroying 4 square miles of the city and killing approximately 80 000 people (Larousse , 1981 : 384 . The destruction was unprecedented and three says later on 9 August 1945 , a second bomb was dropped

on neighboring Nagasaki (Larousse , 1981 : 384 . Albert Einstein had been alerted to the proposed detonation of the bomb by his friend Leo Szilard and had written a letter to Roosevelt imploring him not to allow the dropping of the atomic bomb (PPU , 2008 . Furthermore , an estimated 192 000 people have died between 1945 and 1995 , stretching the death toll above and beyond the initial toll at Hiroshima . In Nagasaki the situation was similar with an even greater death toll (PPU , 2008

Not only is this violation of human rights something that could have been avoided , it was also something that could have been controlled following what the world saw at Hiroshima . Considering the continuing death tolls , the gross destruction and the horrible type of death experienced , it may have been decent of the United States to stop at Nagasaki . Not only should Einstein 's letter have been enough to stop this action , but the sight of Hiroshima should also have curbed further activity . The death of human beings today of thyroid cancer , leukaemia and other destructive diseases affect the nations children even today and no victory or war is worth this destruction . It is arguable that the war between the US and Japan would not have ended and that it would have dragged on if the bomb was never dropped . There are other ways of ending a war , not with nuclear warfare which is not only trying to kill an ant with a machine gun , but also a human rights violation

Einstein himself put forward a peaceful solution to the resolution of conflict , believing that after seeing Hiroshima and Nagasaki , mankind would have to find a peaceful solution or the world would implode . Even if bombing was necessary , was the atomic bomb the answer and would normal explosives not have been more realistic an approach ? Well , we have learned , and paid an awful price to learn , that living and working together can be done in one way only - under law . Unless it prevails and unless by common struggle we are capable of new ways of thinking mankind is doomed (PPU , 2008 . I would never have dropped those bombs primarily because the lost of life even today as a result of it is not worth any victory , Perhaps the United States would not be such a huge global force today if the war had not ended at that time . The cost of war is exorbitant but the loss of life in...