Argumentative ECR- "The Bombing of Hiroshima" Thesis

The Bombing of Hiroshima

by Jessica McBirney

World War II (1939-1945) was a global war that fought between many different countries.

Though the war ended in Europe when the Allies invaded Germany and Hitler committed

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suicide, Japan did not surrender until after the United States dropped atomic bombs on the

cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"Destruction of Hiroshima" by U.S. Government is in the public domain.

On August 6th, 1945, with the United States military seeking to bring World War II to a

swift1 end, the world’s first atomic bomb was dropped onto the city of Hiroshima, Japan. At

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the time it was dropped, the bomb was more powerful than any other bomb in history. It

destroyed more than two-thirds of the city. This event was one of the most important

factors in Japan’s surrender to American forces six days later and the end of the war.

A STRATEGIC CITY

Hiroshima was an important military and economic center in Japan during the early 20th

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century. Industrialization2 and the construction of new railroad tracks around the turn of the

century expanded the city. It became an industrial powerhouse. During World War I (1914-

1917) it was an important staging area for military supplies, and it was the place the

Japanese military kept their prisoners of war.

Japan continued to use Hiroshima as a military headquarters during World War II (1939-

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1945). In addition to housing resources, the city also had a radio communications center to

send orders to troops stationed elsewhere. The government trained workers on how to build

new weapons and bombs in Hiroshima.

EARLY MORNING, AUGUST 6

Because of Hiroshima’s importance to Japan, as a military center, it was targeted by the US

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military. American Colonel Paul Tibbets flew a B-29 bomber aircraft, the Enola Gay, over

Hiroshima early in the morning on August 6th, 1945. At 8:15 a.m. the plane released the

atomic bomb — ironically codenamed “Little Boy”3 — over the city.

An unexpected wind diverted4 the bomb’s fall slightly; instead of landing on a bridge, it

landed on a hospital 800 feet away. The force directly killed at least 70,000 of the city’s

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340,000 residents and destroyed nearly 70% of Hiroshima’s buildings. The radius of total

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destruction was about 1 mile, but heat and force caused fires to spread over another 4.4

miles in every direction.

SHORT-TERM EFFECTS

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In addition to killing tens of thousands of people and destroying much of Hiroshima’s

architecture, the bomb and the resulting fires gave thousands of other residents serious

burns. The heat was so intense that, for some people, the pattern of the clothes they wore

had burned directly onto their skin. It also killed over 90% of the doctors living in the area.

This made it even harder to treat the injured.

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Atomic bombs release dangerous radiation that can cause burns, internal problems, and

birth defects. Nuclear scientists in 1945 were just beginning to fully understand the dangers

of radiation, and it was unclear how much it would affect the people and environment in the

coming years.

The U.S. dropped the bomb to force Japan to surrender and end the war. However,

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Japanese military officials were not willing to admit defeat. Their decision was challenged

when the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, another Japanese city, a few

days later. At that point, the Japanese head of state, Emperor Hirohito, agreed to surrender.

On August 12, he said:

“[This weapon has] the power to destroy many innocent lives and do

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incalculable5 damage. Should we continue to fight, not only would it result in an

ultimate collapse... of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total

extinction6 of human civilization6

.

”

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LONG-TERM EFFECTS

The survivors of the bombings are called hibakusha in Japan, which means “explosion-

affected people.” There were about 650,000 hibakusha in total between the two bombings

and as of March 31, 2017, 164,621 of them are still alive. The Japanese government

estimates that about 1% of these survivors have an illness caused by the radiation they

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were exposed to.

Fortunately, there have not been nearly as many long-term consequences from radiation as

people expected. Scientists conducted studies over the next several decades and found no

notable difference between birth defects in Hiroshima and in other parts of Japan. The

larger problem has been psychological effects; survivors had more symptoms of anxiety and

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other psychological problems even 20 years after the bombings occurred.

Hibakusha and their children faced discrimination because other Japanese citizens were

afraid of the possible effects of radiation. They thought illnesses caused by radiation could

be contagious or hereditary.

7 Even though studies have shown the long-term effects are

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minimal, some hibakusha are still treated with suspicion today.

THE ATOMIC BOMB: A CONTROVERSIAL WEAPON

Scholars still debate whether the U.S. made the right decision to drop an atomic bomb on

Hiroshima. Many people see it as a moral gray area. Some say it was right because it ended

the war quickly instead of dragging it out for months or maybe years; others say it was

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wrong because it killed so many innocent civilians and caused too much long-term damage.

The U.S. decided to use an atomic bomb in order to speed up Japan’s surrender. U.S.

leaders were fairly sure they could defeat Japan eventually, using conventional8 methods,

but they wanted to bring a quick end to the war. By 1945, over 40,000 U.S. soldiers had

already died in the fight against Japan, and military strategists were worried the number

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would continue to climb if they tried to invade by land. They chose to use the atomic bomb

to quickly disable the Japanese military, hoping that, ultimately, fewer people would die.

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We will never truly know whether their calculations were accurate, and we may never

decide whether the risk was “worth it.” The bombing of Hiroshima has raised many of these

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kinds of moral questions that still trouble scholars today.

"The Bombing of Hiroshima" by Jessica McBirney is Copyright © 2017 by CommonLit, Inc.

This text is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

1. Swift (adjective) : quick

2. the process by which an economy changes from being a mostly agricultural economy to one based

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on producing, or manufacturing, goods

3. It was ironic because the bomb was so powerful: the opposite of a little boy.

4. Divert (verb) : to cause something to change course

5. impossible to measure

6. the state or process of an entire species dying out

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7. able to be passed down from parents to children

8. Conventional (adjective) : following the usual or widely accepted way of doing things