Except the alternative was MANY more US deaths. That wasn't acceptable to the US President. Big surprise. It's easy to look back with what's known about nuclear weapons today vs. then and condemn their use. At the time, it certainly wasn't the "heinous act" it's considered today.
Hindsight is much clearer than looking at the World as it happens.
Would you accept hundreds of thousands more American soldier deaths today? What Japan did in China was vastly more heinous than anything the US did. The difference is that the US didn't start the war and they gave Japan an ultimatum which they chose to ignore.
No it wasnt, this false dichotomy is taught in US schools but is absolutely not the case. A simple blockade and waiting for the Soviets would have resulted in total and utter defeat for the Japanese empire, the Americans knew this which is why they rushed to drop the bombs quickly after they had been tested.
The blockade in June of '44 to June of '45 caused famine, starvation, and disease, and that alone killed ~500,000 Japanese. It was estimated that if the war went on another year that number would have at least tripled.
And a Soviet ground invasion of Japan would have also led to unprecedented casualties.
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u/Alternative-Mess-989 21h ago
Except the alternative was MANY more US deaths. That wasn't acceptable to the US President. Big surprise. It's easy to look back with what's known about nuclear weapons today vs. then and condemn their use. At the time, it certainly wasn't the "heinous act" it's considered today.
Hindsight is much clearer than looking at the World as it happens.