The Bomb Didn't Beat Japan ... Stalin Did
Ward Wilson - Foreign Policy
The U.S. use of nuclear weapons against Japan during World War II
has long been a subject of emotional debate ... The fact that Japan had
68 cities destroyed in the summer of 1945 poses a serious challenge
for people who want to make the bombing of Hiroshima the cause of
Japan's surrender. The question is: If they surrendered because a city
was destroyed, why didn't they surrender when those other 66 cities
were destroyed? ... The Soviet invasion invalidated the military's
decisive battle strategy, just as it invalidated the diplomatic
strategy. At a single stroke, all of Japan's options evaporated. The
Soviet invasion was strategically decisive - it foreclosed both of
Japan's options - while the bombing of Hiroshima (which foreclosed
neither) was not.
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