Pearl Harbor was bombed Dec 7 in 1941. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed August 6 and 9 in 1945. Why 4 yrs later than sooner?

The Atomic bomb was not yet developed.

X2 - read up on the Manhattan Project.

Seen models of those bombs down at the Eglin Air Force armament museum in Florida, they were a heckuva technological development.

There was also much debate in the White House about using of the bomb itself. The moral implications vs losses for the US.

I read they were expecting up to a million American casualties if we invaded Japan. I assume they meant killed and wounded.

Watch the movie Oppenheimer

Yes, had the USA not developed and used the bomb, many of us would not be here today. Our fathers would have been killed in the invasion of mainland Japan.

The two nukes that we dropped on Japan were the only two that we had . A third was in production when japan surrendered.

We also didn't have a plane that could carry that payload when we entered the war, or airbases to fly from. Gosh, you've got some reading to do.

He asked. Nothing wrong with questions. Nothing wrong with silence either.

Osky

I have several Japanese friends and they all say that the Atomic bombs saved the japanese race. The men folks were all overseas at war and the woman folks were the ones at home. And invasion would have wiped out the females and children......jk

FYI Japan is the size of California and 2/3 of it is mountains you can't live in.

I think the way Japan was defending some of the islands to the last man was a bit of a wake up call for us as well. As far as a ground invasion into Japan.

Another reason to drop the bomb was to show the Russians we had it and were willing to use it.

Hmm that's an interesting take but farely farfetched, at least for that reason. It would of been the opposite because the warriors would of fought to the last man such as was their belief at that time.

There's only two ways to win a war, take away their ability to fight or take away their will to fight.

Yep,
Stalin was thinking about taking all (or as much as he could) of Europe until we dropped it.

The fact that we had two is what shocked the Japanese, they were on the brink of their own Abomb and their research indicated that it would take years to amass the needed amount of atomic material for even one bomb so the fact we had two threw them into shock and confusion

If we hadn’t dropped the bomb you can bet as soon as they had there’s assembled they would have used it

Over time I have come to believe that dropping the atomic bombs saved the Japanese civilization. The entire population had been indoctrinated (brainwashed) for a period of over 40 years. The old men, women, and children had the same mindset as the male warriors and were prepared to defend the homeland using bokkens (a wooden sword) or whatever else they had. Our soldiers would have been faced with the option of shooting the civilian population or being beat to death with sticks. Dropping the atomic bombs made the Japanese leadership realize they truly faced annihilation and prompted their capitulation. Even after the bombs were dropped, the senior military leaders refused to surrender, it just wasn't an option for them psychologically. If you ever see the film of civilians, including mothers with babies in their arms, jumping off the cliffs of Saipan rather than face capture by the Americans, you will better understand the depth of the brainwashing. The Japanese had convinced the civilian population that the Americans would rape their women and eat their children. Our soldiers would have faced a civilian population with the same fatalistic mindset. The Japanese knew better than any other culture that a fighter that has nothing to lose is the most dangerous.

Paul’s our local expert on all things nuclear, he’s worked on those things!……but can't really say much….lol