One of the most significant events of the modern world has been the use of nuclear weapons in warfare. Since the dropping of two small atomic devices on Japan in August, 1945, global society, international relations, warfare, science, and philosophy have been impacted. Additionally, human culture has never been quite the same. Although there are numerous perspectives from which one could address the issues surrounding the Allied bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this paper will concentrate on the decision making process and alternatives available prior to August 1945. It will begin with an overview of the background to the bombing and the Manhattan Project itself. Alternatives will then be examined, including invasion, inducement, and the shock value of atomic weapons. The paper will then analyze the policy constraints of the decision based on relations with the Soviet Union, whether the Pacific war could have ended earlier, and the ethical considerations surrounding the decision to drop the bombs. Finally, the paper will conclude with an assessment of the decision, as well as comment on the legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in modern thought.
Even today, the city of Hiroshima stands as a memorial to the August 6, 1945 event. At 8:15 am, the pikadon shobai (flash bang business) occurred. Forty five years later, visitors to Hiroshima find that the city is a center of peace activity. The center of that activity is a park, known as Hiroshima Peace Park, built upon the epicenter of the bomb's blast. In the center of the park a simple replica of an ancient clay hut stands, shielding a coffin that contains a register of the names of people who died because of the bomb. On the lid of the coffin a nameless poet printed the words: "Please rest in peace, for the error will not be repeated" (Buruma, 1990, p. 15).
It is not stated just whose error the dropping of the bomb was. In fact, ". . . part of the Hiroshima myth is tha...