After victories at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, America, nearing an end to the war, contemplated invading the

Japanese mainland. This invasion would have required a massive amount of troops and equipment. Also

the battles would occur on Japanese soil, at Ky Thankfully, this invasion never came about. Covertly, the

allied governments, particularly the United States and Great Britain had developed nuclear programs to try to

create an atomic bomb, after rumors that the German government was doing the same. T Plans were quickly

made to drop one or two of the weapons of mass destruction on Japan to force a surrender, though argue

that it was to make a show of military power in front of the Russians. Little Boy, as it was nicknamed by the

Americans, was droppe Three days later, on August 9th, 1945, another atomic bomb was detonated over the

city of Nagasaki. About a third of the city was destroyed, with casualties past 60,000. Memorials now mark

the explosion site of both bombs in both cities, serving as a s The day after the bombing, the Soviet Union

declared war and Japan and invaded from the north. The Japanese announced surrender on August 14th,

1945, bringing an end to the worst war in the history of mankind. The formal surrender was signed on the

USS The necessity and ethics of these explosion can and has been debated constantly since those fateful

days in August, 1945. As stated earlier, some perceived it as a way to save countless lives possibly lost if an

invasion had occurred, some saw it as re

By John

This paper was an extra credit paper and I received 30 extra points for it from a very liberal teacher.

Consequently, I came out of his class with a 121.