Essentially, there were three options going into the second half of 1945: invasion, blockade, or the atomic bombings.
Invasion and blockade both had projected casualties in the millions. So Truman made the decision to attempt to use the atomic bombs as a weapon of intimidation, dropping them and promising total destruction by the means of more such bombings if Japan did not surrender.
I will never defend the firebombings over Japan, which did nothing to hasten the end of the war. But the atomic bomb was a new and devastating weapon which Truman, and much of US high command who were aware of its existence, correctly surmised would convince the Japanese government of the futility of further resistance (combined with a bluff that we had as many as we needed).
Notably, even after the Soviet Union joined the war and both bombs had been dropped, a significant faction of the Japanese government wanted to keep fighting, even attempting a coup to continue the war. Only the direct intervention of Emperor Hirohito, a key figure in the State Shinto faith pushed by the Japanese Empire at the time, pushed the Japanese government to the negotiating table on terms less than “We keep our imperial conquests but say sowwy 😊”
Is it not the case that the US favored the atomic bombs also because they saw that the USSR was carving a part of Europe into its sphere of influence and wanted to avoid the same happening in Japan?
The Soviets were preparing a massive invasion and they had started moving into Manchuria about at the same time.
Getting Japan to surrender now would allow the US to move in instead of the Soviets.
The Soviets never had any serious chance at making headway into Japan, even in its weakened state. The Soviet Pacific fleet was in terrible condition, and would not have been able to sustain anything more than a tiny expeditionary force.
I think it had to be a sneak attack, because planes didn’t have the long range they have now, so warning your enemies about the bomb would enable the to prepare.
Essentially, there were three options going into the second half of 1945: invasion, blockade, or the atomic bombings.
Invasion and blockade both had projected casualties in the millions. So Truman made the decision to attempt to use the atomic bombs as a weapon of intimidation, dropping them and promising total destruction by the means of more such bombings if Japan did not surrender.
I will never defend the firebombings over Japan, which did nothing to hasten the end of the war. But the atomic bomb was a new and devastating weapon which Truman, and much of US high command who were aware of its existence, correctly surmised would convince the Japanese government of the futility of further resistance (combined with a bluff that we had as many as we needed).
Notably, even after the Soviet Union joined the war and both bombs had been dropped, a significant faction of the Japanese government wanted to keep fighting, even attempting a coup to continue the war. Only the direct intervention of Emperor Hirohito, a key figure in the State Shinto faith pushed by the Japanese Empire at the time, pushed the Japanese government to the negotiating table on terms less than “We keep our imperial conquests but say sowwy 😊”
Is it not the case that the US favored the atomic bombs also because they saw that the USSR was carving a part of Europe into its sphere of influence and wanted to avoid the same happening in Japan?
The Soviets were preparing a massive invasion and they had started moving into Manchuria about at the same time.
Getting Japan to surrender now would allow the US to move in instead of the Soviets.
The Soviets never had any serious chance at making headway into Japan, even in its weakened state. The Soviet Pacific fleet was in terrible condition, and would not have been able to sustain anything more than a tiny expeditionary force.
OK thanks for the information.
This might interest you
I think it had to be a sneak attack, because planes didn’t have the long range they have now, so warning your enemies about the bomb would enable the to prepare.
There were warnings before bombings of some Japanese cities, and likely/possibly before the Hiroshima bomb was dropped.
It’s not clear if leaflets were dropped before the Nagasaki bomb however.
https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/key-documents/warning-leaflets/