Quote:
Originally Posted by leonk19
Doubtful. Even after the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan still didn't surrender. It took the second one on Nagasaki for the Emperor to finally call for a surrender.
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Exactly. The Japanese think alot different than Western countries do. Honour is extremely important in their society. To them, surrending brings great shame, they would rather die with honour fighting, than surrender. That is why they were so cruel to the Allied POW's, because they saw them as less than men for surrendering, and being afraid to die. At the time leading up to the bombings, when the Nazis were already dead and buried, the Japanese were even beginning to train their children to prepare to fight the Americans. They would
not give up. They'd basically fight until not a single one of them was left, you'd essentially have to kill every single person before the war would be over. Put it this way, even the first nuke didn't stop them. It wasn't until the 2nd bomb hit Nagasaki 3 days later that they finally stood down.
Also keep in mind we're talking about a very war-weary world at that point, I'm sure the last thing the Allies wanted to do was prepare for another very long, very expensive Pacific War, which would've seen thousands of more lives lost. Of course looking back on it, its criminal. But given the circumstances at the time, I understand why they did it.
EDIT: When I wrote this I had only read pg 1. I see this view has already been expressed a few times.