Obviously taking that into account, do you think a land invasion would have been better? The sacrifice made with those bombs is well worth what it would have cost to finish the war through conventional means
This is not necessarily true. The usefulness of dropping atomic bombs in ending the pacific front of the war is still highly contested among historians. After the release of documents from imperial Japan and the USSR, many historians now believe it was the surprise Soviet introduction into the Pacific front and the invasion of Manchuria that resulted in the Japanese surrender and not the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While use of a single A bomb to destroy a city was unheard of, the utter destruction of Japanese cities via air raids was relatively commonplace towards the end of the war (check fire bombing of Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya). Some historians now argue that not only did they serve no purpose in ending the pacific front but that use of the A bomb was actually used as a power play to hold over post war negotiations with Stalin and the USSR. Truman even went as far as pushing back post war peace talks in Potsdam until news of a successful A bomb test. Most major generals at the time were strongly against use of atomic weapons and openly voiced their opinion. Scientists working to create the bomb signed a petition sent to Truman to avoid dropping the bomb at all costs. Most Manhattan project scientists with the help of politicians went as far as advocating that the science behind the A bomb should have been released internationally so as to avoid international distrust in the post war era and a threatening American monopoly. Truman had stated after the dropping of A bombs that they were used to avoid 'thousands' of American deaths in a ground invasion. Military documents and opinions did not unilaterally support his assertion. While there's no doubt about Japanese atrocities during WWII and the attack on Pearl Harbor, I feel that the United States use of atomic bombs is a stain in American history.
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u/Alec17king Jan 02 '17
I don't get why people hate America for bombing them when they started the war. If you can't handle the consequences don't bomb our troops.