In 1945, why did the US drop atomic bombs on Japan?[Hiroshima (August 6th) and Nagasaki (August 9th) on August 6th and 9th, killing approximately 140,000 and 39,000 respectively]
The Battle of Okinawa earlier that summer resulted in the loss of over 85,000 US military lives and over 140,000 Japanese lives. Approximately a quarter of the Japanese civilian population died resisting US invasion.
July 29, 1945 Japan rejected terms of surrender known as the Potsdam Declaration, which included Truman's ultimatum: "Surrender or suffer prompt and utter destruction."
Invasion of Japan to bring about surrender was daunting and would be costly to say the least, expected to last at least until 1947. Approximately 500,000 Purple Heart medals were made in anticipation of invasion of Japan.
However, with the hastened Japanese surrender, the vast majority of those medals were not needed. In fact, as of 2003 there were still some 120,000 of those WWII Purple Hearts on hand, despite the conflicts the 60+ years that followed (including the Korean and Vietnam Wars).
That gives you some idea of the anticipated carnage (on both sides) that was avoided by the dropping of the two atomic bombs. Could it be that such a grotesque weapon actually saves lives ? (cf. the Cold War)
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