ShmoopTube

00:02

We need quick The atomic bomb an ethical dilemma This

00:09

is hiroshi here in japan before eight fifteen a m

00:12

august six nineteen forty five and this is your ocean

00:15

just minutes later So what happened Well an atomic bomb

00:19

him us dropped one on hiroshima and another on nagasaki

00:24

three days later Why did the united states dropped these

00:26

bombs The intentions were not inherently evil In fact we

00:31

were in some ways merciful hoping to bring an end

00:33

to world war to soothe question what would have happened

00:37

in the united states Nearly all of the politicians managing

00:42

things in world war two had personal experiences in the

00:45

terrors of world war Just two decades earlier world war

00:48

one was a brutal war Trench warfare mustard gas hand

00:52

to hand combat millions died painfully Japanese army demonstrated the

00:58

lengths to which they would go for victory with kamikaze

01:01

pilots intentionally flying their planes into american naval vessels as

01:04

bombs With the european theatre over on the horrors of

01:08

the holocaust weighing on politicians hearts united states wanted to

01:11

end the conflict with japan as soon as possible policymakers

01:15

were willing to go to great lengths to prevent any

01:17

More young americans from dying they had a clear means

01:20

to end the war fast It wass there was one

01:24

stern and clear warning to the japanese There would be

01:27

prompt and utter destruction if they did not surrender and

01:30

japan never responded the alternative was grim Most estimates show

01:35

that if america continued to fight hundreds of thousands of

01:38

american lives would be lost And while most believe that

01:40

the us would eventually win it was only a question

01:43

of at what cost By dropping the atom bomb it

01:46

is likely that many more japanese were killed then would

01:49

have been if us fought a traditional war But vast

01:52

numbers of american lives and much suffering were saved in

01:55

a process The us president harry truman made the decision

01:58

to drop the bomb It is the only time in

02:01

history that nuclear weapons have been deployed in warfare Japan

02:04

officially surrendered on september second nineteen Forty five cities of

02:09

hiroshima and nagasaki were completely destroyed So what do you

02:12

think was the u s right or wrong in dropping

02:15

the atom bomb was the intention of ending world war

02:18

two and preventing more fighting in death on the battlefield

02:21

Justification Would you have dropped the bomb Shmoop amongst yourselves 00:02:25.35 --> [endTime] Let us know what you think

Full Transcript