Nuclear War in Japan
...nd. Another example of the bloody fighting that could have erupted if the United States invaded mainland Japan was seen at Okinawa where an estimated 200,000 people perished, including 100,000 civilians, and 50,000 United States servicemen killed or wounded. Even though dropping two atomic bombs on Japan killed an estimated 250,000 Japanese soldiers and civilians, this was a much lesser price than extending the war and the United States losing one million troops in addition to the catastrophic number of Japanese who would have perished if the United States invaded mainland Japan. The second major argument for the necessity of using nuclear weapons to defeat Japan was because of the fanatical religious beliefs held by the Japanese. Japanese soldiers fought by the Bushido code. This ancient Samurai warrior code had strict guidelines for determining the honor of a soldier. The Bushido code embedded in the soldier that surrender was not an option, only a dishonor to the Lord, to the family, and to the individual soldier. This is a key point considering that many Japanese believed the Emperor, Hirohito, to be a Lord and did not want to dishonor him. The Bushido code is also the basis for Japanese soldiers being such ferocious fighters, unafraid to die, because of the honor bestowed on them for dying. The code was made very evident to the United States with Japan’s war strategy in using kamikaze attacks on United States warships. Over five thousand Japanese pilots perished in these attacks causing heavy casualties to the Allies. Because of the ferociousness of the Japanese soldiers the closer the Allies approached to mainland Japan and the fight to the death, no surrender code of Bushido, President Truman knew that trying to break the spirit of the Japanese through the atomic bomb was necessary and more feasible than invading mainland Japan since this would be catastrophic for the United States. Intelligence from the time showed that a high percentage of the Japanese population, including women, children, and the elderly, were on mainland Japan preparing to fight the Allies to the death if attacked or invaded. The third major argument for the United States to use nuclear weapons to defeat Japan lies in the political environment that had arose in the world by mid 1945. The surrender of Germany to the Allies on May 8th, 1945, set up a new world political struggle between communism and capitalism. Tensions between the United States and Russia were steadily increasing after Victory in Europe Day with mutual trust diminishing between the two new world su...