[Agamemnon]

Originally Posted by Azure

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.

Well... I'm certainly not advocating the fire-bombing campaign, but from what I've read/heard, Japan was basically destroyed by fire before the a-bomb's were dropped. In "Fog of War" they go over the statistics of lives lost in major Japanese cities due to firebombing - beyond staggering. #'s like over 50% were common for city death-rates (according to Robert MacNamarra).

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

I actually think there are millions of Japanese who are still 'miffed' about it. But they're the LOSERS, so they don't have a right to complain. They're not friends with the US by choice, they're friends with the US because the US constructed their current political/economic systems... and they're working great, no need to complain. That said, Japanese xenophobia is still fairly rampant, and it doesn't exclude Americans.

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.

Well, as much as I (apparently) can't say that the a-bomb wasn't necessary, you can't say that 'the US or the Soviet Union would have dropped it on the opposing country'. Neither happened, so we can't know. All I know is the sorry state of affairs Japan was in pre-bomb.

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

Yeah, but for whatever reason you kept responding to it. I think I was commenting on someone else' post and you jumped in.

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.

This is all inconsequential. Germany was NOT defeated upon the entry of the US into the war. While we now believe, in hindsight, that the allies always had the upper-hand (long-term), at the time it was a toss up. People didn't 'know' in 1942 that Hitler was going to be defeated, not by a longshot. Hell, I dont' think the world 'knew' it was over even after Normandy, it was a pitched battle in Europe.

My point was that, at the time of the bomb, Japan was finished. I don't really believe the arguments that 'they could have kept fighting for months'. They could... but only with their fists and feet... everything else was on fire.