It’s worth noting that many in Japan sincerely believed it was the best way to end to the war.
I’ve changed my opinion on this topic many times over the years. Today I think it’s just arrogant to say it was obviously wrong or obviously right. Reality is too complicated. Counterfactuals abound.
One dimension that people haven’t discussed in this thread, is that ending the war with atomic bombs and napalm prevented a bilateral invasion of Japan, which would have led to a Korea or Germany-like partitioning of postwar Japan.
Instead of a speedy recovery and track to self determination, there would have been 50 years of Cold War tensions, perhaps proxy wars.
I’ve changed my opinion on this topic many times over the years. Today I think it’s just arrogant to say it was obviously wrong or obviously right. Reality is too complicated. Counterfactuals abound.
One dimension that people haven’t discussed in this thread, is that ending the war with atomic bombs and napalm prevented a bilateral invasion of Japan, which would have led to a Korea or Germany-like partitioning of postwar Japan.
Instead of a speedy recovery and track to self determination, there would have been 50 years of Cold War tensions, perhaps proxy wars.
But maybe not! It’s very complicated.