This is only half of the true story. The second reason was the US desire to intimidate the Soviet Union with the new wonder weapon and cement US dominance in the post-war world. The Soviets learned a lesson certainly, but not the one the US had in mind. Stalin too keen note that not only was the US leadership willing to exterminate entire cities at a stroke, they were willing to do so even when unnecessary, ie against a defenseless enemy secretly suing for peace. If the US was capable of doing that to the Japanese, Stalin believed the US would have no qualms about incinerating Soviet cities. It is no wonder that the Soviets distrusted US intentions and insisted on its own atomic weaponry. In a very real sense, the actions of US Pres. Truman were the genesis of the Cold War to come.

Hiroshima was bombed for a different reason to Nagasaki. Japan was suing for peace, but those who were on the Manhattan Project had other intentions. Roberet J. Oppenheimer the man behind the bombing of Hiroshima wanted that after Hiroshima was wiped off the map, that the U.S. bomb Nagasaki because it was the centre of Japanese Christianity (Krishtanu). Of course he was well aware that the Krishtanu were a persecuted people, since it was against Japanese Law for a person to be a Christian. Nagasaki was a non military target and was not even armed, since Japanese Law did protect Christians. So what exactly was Robert J. Oppenheimers reason to bomb Nagasaki if not to wipe out Christianity in Japan? Nagasaki was the place where the apostle of the Indies, San Francisco Xavier landed in the 1600th century and made many converts to Christianity there. So what could have been on the mind of Robert J. Oppenheimer to have ordered the bombing of that city if not to wipe out Christianity in Japan?

Actually, history shows both previous comments are wrong. Nagasaki wasn't bombed to 'wipe out Christianity in Japan'. Nagasaki wasn't even the primary target of the second atomic bomb mission - that was the city of Kokura. However, Kokura was clouded over the day of the mission, and Nagasaki was the alternate target. Also, Oppenheimer did not have any say as to what the targets were. That was a military/political decision. In regard to why the bombs were used: Japan was not 'sueing for peace' when they were dropped. They had made overtures through neutral governments, but their conditions (no occupation, no war crimes, preservation of the imperial system) were clearly unacceptable to the allies. It was only after the first bomb was used that they seriously discussed accepting the Potsdam Declaration internally and only after the second bomb and the entry of the Soviet Union into the war that they actually accepted the terms, and then only after Truman implied that the emperor would be untouched.

Japan was hardly a defenseless enemy at the time Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed. Japan was heavily entrenched and fortifide and the cost in lives, both theirs and ours, would have been horrendous if we had attempted to defeat them by conventional means. They were a defiant nation who showed no mercy to anyone and no regrets for their actions. Unfotunately, they reaped what they sowed and paid dearly for a war they started and their treachery at Pearl Harbor and else where. There may have been political overtones to our actions, but that doesn't make them unjustified. I seriously doubt it had anything to do with "wiping out Christianity" in Japan! By the way, no one did more to help Japan rebuild and become the great industrial and prosperous nation they've become than the United States.

August 18, 2009, 14:03, Randy Gacke wrote > Japan was hardly a defenseless enemy at the time Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed. Japan was heavily entrenched and fortifide and the cost in lives, both theirs and ours, would have been horrendous if we had attempted to defeat them by conventional means. They were a defiant nation who showed no mercy to anyone and no regrets for their actions. Unfotunately, they reaped what they sowed and paid dearly for a war they started and their treachery at Pearl Harbor and else where. There may have been political overtones to our actions, but that doesn't make them unjustified. I seriously doubt it had anything to do with "wiping out Christianity" in Japan! By the way, no one did more to help Japan rebuild and become the great industrial and prosperous nation they've become than the United States. We destroy cities and whole countrys to make them great and prosperous. Randy, -- take your medications. You have slipped. And I want you to know; all warfare is an armed robbery.

This is no different than Dresden in Germany, is it? The methods may be different, but the results the same. I heard one time that a Japanese leader said this right after the first bomb: "Why do we care if you use one or 10,000 bombs - the result is the same".

Get real people, huge numbers of your father/my father's were being killed in the islands. This was an end at the time.

My farther was a US Marine in the Southwestern Pacific War and Pearl Harbor survior. He never spoke of what is witnessed during his time in New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tarawa, and Iwo Jima, he just said he was blessed and damn lucky to survive them all, none of his friends did. After his death at 62 from many health issues, and combat wounds, 29 years ago, I found some of his personal things and old photos from that time, that cherish today. This was a war of island hopping, and thousands of men on both sides dying for yards of volcanic soil on remote islands, NO quarter was given or taken by both the sides period, if the environment dd not get you, a bullet would, friend or foe, in a word BRUTAL. The American leaders of the time and the American people knew that an amphibious invasion of the Japanese home islands would make the D-Day invasion of Europe pale in comparison with millions dying on both sides. This has NOTHIING to do with eradicating Christainity in Japan. It was to end the war, with a stubborn, intelligent and determined enemy that was prepared to fight to last the man, woman, and child..

Humanity's answer to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki holocost should be a resounding "never again". This was a true holocost but you never hear the Japanese people playing the "victim card". World war II was massive deaths by all nations concerned although some countries suffered the loss of millions of people. Why did the world go crazy. Was it the world monetary tycoons of the time? Did an anemic little guy with a short mustash do all the evil. Was there a lot of blame to go around? Why didn't men and women of good will of the time prevent this. Were they also partly responsible. What lessons can we draw today from the mistakes of that time. How is the current world very similar to the world at the outset of WW II?

It is said all's fair in love and war. The lesson to be learned here is if one does not want the horrors of war visited upon them they should not start a war. Had the Axis powers developed the bomb first, I doubt that there would be any reflection as to the morality of using it. Want to discuss a cruel experiment? Start with Dachau or Manchuria.