USA HISTORY

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM(1890 1919)

THE UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR I

[SOURCES]
The U.S. had a choice to end the war with Japan by invading the Japanese mainland or the use of?

(A) torpedoes

(B) rockets

(C) chemical weapons

(D) ** atomic bombs

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -Truman did not seek to destroy Japanese culture or people; the goal was to destroy Japan’s ability to make war. So, on the morning of August 6, 1945, the American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, dropped the world’s first atom bomb over the city of Hiroshima.

Concept note-2: -It looked increasingly likely that the United States would have to commit itself to a land invasion, which could have claimed many American lives. Instead, the atomic bomb served as a tool to bring the war in the Pacific to a close sooner.

Concept note-3: -Leaflets dropped on cities in Japan warning civilians about the atomic bomb, dropped c. August 6, 1945. TO THE JAPANESE PEOPLE: America asks that you take immediate heed of what we say on this leaflet.

Concept note-4: -“Yes. A bloody invasion and round-the-clock conventional bombing would have led to a far higher death toll and so the atomic weapons actually saved thousands of American and millions of Japanese lives. The bombs were the best means to bring about unconditional surrender, which is what the US leaders wanted.

Concept note-5: -According to Truman and others in his administration, the use of the atomic bomb was intended to cut the war in the Pacific short, avoiding a U.S. invasion of Japan and saving hundreds of thousands of American lives.