DBQ 1988 essays

DBQ 1988 essays The United States government did not detonate the two nuclear devices on Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the intention of bringing an end to the war with Japan, but instead to intimidate the Soviet Union. The defeat of Japan proved that the United States bombed the country to show how strong the Americans are regarding nuclear energy versus the Soviets. Also, the undeniable truth that relations with the Soviet Union started to deter, showed that the United States wanted to frighten the U.S.S.R. by bombing Japan. Finally, competition for the post-World War II division of Europe proved that the U.S. wanted to scare the Soviet Union. Dropping the atomic bomb constituted a major factor in decision of Japan to accept the terms laid out at the Potsdam agreement. Their casualties in defending the hopeless island of Okinawa equaled to one-hundred-ten-thousand and the naval blockade that the allies had enforced brought trade down to almost nothing (Document A). Destruction quickly emerged in Japan. The allies ignored this for the reason that dropping the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would intimidate U.S.S.R. If the Americans truly considered saving more lives and bringing a quick end to the war in Japan, they would have simply waited them out without the major loss of life seen at both of the devastated Japanese cities. At the Yalta conference, Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Josef Stalin for Soviet support in the war with Japan (Document D). In return for the support against Japan, Roosevelt agreed to terms that helped create more tension between the two countries because it gave U.S.S.R. too much power in world affairs. At the time, Roosevelt did not have confidence that the United States could win the war easily without help from Stalin. He assumed that he had to invade Japan (Document C). After Roosevelt died, Truman took office. As situations developed and progress on the atomic bomb continued to in...