[Azure]

Brutally devestating compared to mere atomic weapons. The above section only describes only a few of the firebombings, though the US did this over nearly every major city on the island. Not saying right or wrong, but I am willing to speculate that use of atomic weapons was completely unnecessary, given that firebombing technically destroyed more area, and killed more people.

But you really can't tell which course of action would have saved more lives. I see your point though, yet you also contradict yourself. Had the US "not" dropped the A-Bomb, surely these sorts of firebombings would have continued and even more innocent civilians would have died. And God knows how long that would have lasted.

So in a sense, dropping the A-Bomb may have saved lives on both sides.

I suppose you have to ask what price is appropriate to 'demonstrate' these weapons and US convictions in using them. Apparently the appropriate price is 10's of 1000's of Japanese civilians dead. History has largely exonerated the US for this, so I don't see the major issue, other than the Japanese probably have a right to be a little miffed about it, just as the US does for PHarbour.

They don't seen so miffed about it today, as Japan and the US are staunch allies.

Plus, I think history has given us a lesson, and had the A-Bomb not been dropped on Japan, either the US or the Soviet Union would have dropped it on the opposing country, simply because it was unknown what kind of damage it would do.

Exactly. My original point that you responded to was reasoning 'why are we always talking about the US'. Thats why.

I never made the original point, but I understand what you mean.

Well... it was. There was no chance they were going to recover in any way militarily. It was a matter of time (and not much). Its equivalent to the allies fighting into Germany... sure Germany was still fighting, but it was clearly only an issue of when Germany would fall, not if.

Germany was a completely different situation. Hitler did not have the military intellect that Japan had, neither did he possess any knowledge about economics. Sure, he may have reconstructed Germany and created a powerful nation, but he also screwed up their military plans, forcing some Nazi leaders to try and assassinate him.

Once the US entered the war, it was inevitable that Germany was going to fall.