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World War II came to a sudden end on August the 15th when Japan announced its unconditional surrender to New Zealand and probably the rest of the allies alongside it. This came about shortly after the US deployed two atomic bombs against Japan. The first in Hiroshima on the 6th and the second at Nagasaki on the 9th. Both of these cities were fairly middling in terms of population and output and their destruction had Japan not surrendered would have done little to impact the war effort. But given that Tokyo, Wasaka, and Kiyota were far greater cities, why weren't they chosen as the targets? Why didn't the United States drop the atomic bomb on the most important city of Tokyo? So, to begin, President Truman had
authorized the use of the bomb in order to force Japan surrender. The hope being that by showing the incredible power of the new atomic weapons, the US wouldn't have to launch a ground invasion of the Japanese mainland. The belief being that US casualties in such a situation would number in the hundreds of thousands. Interestingly, because of the 1943 Quebec agreement in order to use atomic weapons, Truman needed the agreement of both Britain and Canada, represented by Britain, who enthusiastically said yes. The Americans came up with a short list of places to drop the bomb. The first potential target was obviously Tokyo, but this was quickly dismissed for several reasons. The first was that
given the objective was to force a Japanese surrender, dropping the bomb on Japanese leadership and potentially vaporizing them meant that there wouldn't be anyone left with the authority to surrender. Furthermore, by destroying the center of the Japanese government, administering Japan after the war would be non impossible for the Allies without considerable rebuilding, and so it was easier just to bomb somewhere else. There was also the obvious problem of the emperor. The Japanese had made it clear that he had to stay no matter what. And if, say, he and his family were turned into shadows, that would likely entrench Japanese hatred and make them fight harder.
Furthermore, Tokyo had already been bombed, and so dropping a nuke on an already bombed out city wouldn't make the point nearly as clearly. The next potential target was Kyoto. This was Japan's former capital, an important historical and cultural center, as well as having a large population. The belief being that by getting rid of it, the Japanese people and government would be forced to come to terms. This was actually the preferred target of both the US military and President Truman. And it was only when his Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, demanded that it be taken off the list that it was. He did this because he was concerned that by destroying such a valuable city, the
Americans would never be forgiven, and that the Japanese would likely turn to the Soviets for vengeance. He'd also personally been there, and so he just liked the place. And with that, the only other targets were Hiroshima, Yokohama, Kakura, and Yigata. The two chosen were Hiroshima because of its major military base and Kakura because of its weapons factories. These two had barely been touched by American bombers, and so it would be obvious that all of the destruction came from one bomb. As you'll likely be aware, Kakura isn't famous for being the second city to be nuked. This was because the smoke from Kakura's factories combined with cloud cover meant that it wasn't possible to
seek the target effectively, and so instead, they had to bomb their backup target, Nagasaki. As you'll know, the Japanese soon surrendered, and so after this, there was no reason to use another bomb, and so Tokyo was spared. I hope you enjoyed this episode with a special thanks to my patrons James Bizernet Sky Chappelle Carttoka Udwan Wang Wan Hockey Anthony Beckett's Blue Cardinal Alex Schwin A Firefly Spencer Lightfoot Captain Sydog the McWer the Flying Deutschand Gustav Swan Robert C Perkins Shuenin Michael Halbert Castle Bravo Marvin Cassau Winston Kwood Rod D Martin spinning three plates Andy McGee Kimoon Yun Danny Atanasio Murza Ahmed Copper Tone Maggie Pascowski Hy from Starv
Arthur Joy Jr. Kitro, Remco, Hoistman, Jim Sternberg, Bet Kabot, Charles I, and Lord Beak.
