Tob and Tony got it right
People keep saying "omgosh the atomic bomb is likeee sooo EVIL! BOO america!!"
To put things in perspective, would you rather be dead without feeling any pain or..
Would you rather have a japanese man grab you from the street, rip your clothes off, brutally rape you, then have his friends rape you day and night, then cut your body parts off, then take out your intestines, then stick a bayonet in ur .....hole to top it off.
ORRR.... would you get raped everyday by a whole platoon of soldiers in the day then be forced to cook and clean for them at night? I dont know you decide whether you want to be someone's bitch and then die or die in a second

I find it fascinating that folks somehow don't have a problem with a war that up to the nuclear bombings entailed some of the most savage fighting in modern history, but the moment the big bombs dropped, suddenly a line had been crossed. The only line that had been crossed was one of magnitude. WWII, for both sides, was total warfare - either side considered any target from the other side legitimate. By the time the nuclear bombs fell, much of Japan had already been firebombed into devastation. To decry the bombs as evil is to ignore the mindset of a world that had engaged in unspeakable bloodshed for seven years and saw not just a possibility to end this world war, but to prevent the next one from starting.

I think making comparisons to the Germans or the Japanese in WWII doesn't make your case stronger when in the same sentence you say that they were the evil ones.
Also I think that using these bombs for the first and only time and still having enough of those bombs to destroy the world a couple of times,again any comparison to other countries doesn't help ,makes America the worst country to be telling others to get rid of them or not to get them at all.
But since I am on the same side as I am from Europe it makes me feel very worried sometimes as some countries are getting their own bombs. And I'm not very worried about North Korea,they are childish but not stupid,Iran makes me cold as ice sometimes because they are religious driven.
Religion takes some peoples minds.

The democratic America of the thirties would not have believed that such horrors would be committed in their name. If that had been clear to anyone at the time, perhaps America would have seen a way to avoid the antagonism between them and the Japanese in the Pacific theatre before the war. It was that background that instigated Pearl Harbour, after all.

Only a fool would think that such a destructive act could be performed without a huge, ongoing question that would persist for generations. The morality of killing 200,000 in the flash of second is not a question you "decide" about. And perhaps men like LeMay and Truman deserve credit for their intestinal fortitude. But having won the war, America refused to reclaim the democratic mantle, and left their government in the hands of nominal democrats like Truman, Kennedy, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton and at the lowest, G W Bush: people prepared to act the part of a democracy, but who made the democratic aspirations of a great people secondary to military imperatives, real and imagined. It was this that one of America's greatest military and democratic leaders, Eisenhower, warned against.

Perhaps because Americans used to take democracy seriously, and after George W are taking it seriously again, a little, they shrank from facing what had been done in their name while they handed power to others. Democratic peoples are, ultimately, responsible for the actions of their government, something the Japanese are not saddled with. But that left the way clear for the demagogues and jingoists, the paranoid and the security freaks, those who worship the beauty of your weapons, who have subverted the ideal of government by the people, for the people, and of the people. It has made America into what it is, conflicted, hated by many and no longer a beacon of hope, but a watchword for hypocrisy, Obama or no. None of that would matter if the possibility of a true democracy didn't remain stronger there than anywhere else. But to regain their democratic aspirations, Americans will have to surrender their hegemonic ones and stop treating the past as simply something to "decide" about. In the past, Americans found that choice easy. The tragedy of Hiroshima is not only Japanese, but American.

it is a horrible thing, but that was the calculus of war.how many american lives would be spent rather than using this weapon, and how many japanese would inevitably die fighting against us to the death conventionally.

the ones most against such things tend to be the ones most against war and the military in general, so the thing is, their children are probably the least likely to be the ones sacrificed for their lofty ideals. thats my problem with those who claim we should sacrifice every last man to protect civilians.

While the photos are harsh, it is important to remember that without this act, the war wold have continued longer and many more American soldiers would have died.
Kudos to new Japan for making this a constructive lesson.

Lots of armchair quarterbacks out there. It's easy to condemn what the leaders of 1945 did when we never walked in their shoes; one post even tied the first use of the bomb to democracy. I urge that person to move to Somalia (a nuke free country) ...and be sure and let us know how it turns out. The average citizen in this democracy didn't get to vote on whether we used the bomb or not; he/she just woke up one day and read about it in the papers. Let's hope this weapon is never, ever used again. And, lets not stick our heads in the sand and allow unstable regimes to develop the same weapon for use against us, else we reap the whirlwind.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda, does not change a thing. The poor little kiddies that were going to grow up into a war machine that enslaved most of Asia. Tell your wah wah to the millions of Chinese that died in bombing attacks against the innocent. Tell it to the Koreans that were enslaved for 40 years. Tell it to the more than 250,000 that died building the Thai-Burma Railroad. Tell it to those that were imprisoned as POWs and made to work mines and the docks for their Japanese masters. Tell it to Manila, which was the scene of the only house-to-house fighting that took place in the war. All the wah wah has not changed a thing. Tell it to the dead of 9-11. Mostly tell it to the Americans that have forgotten what it was all about.

American lives are no more or less valuable than any others. There is a special place in Hell for those who endorse death and murder, enjoy it after you die, I won't see ya there.

MALDITOS POR SIEMPRE LOS CULPABLES DE ESTA DESGRACIA Y QUIENES SE CONGRATULAN DE ELLA.
"PAZ A LOS HOMBRES DE BUENA VOLUNTAD"

Both sides did horrible things. Killing people is never right.

After thsi attack the Japanese took an oath never to attack and just defend. They've learnt from this.

Have we?

The "Peace" museum seals off a giant memory hole. A martian visiting the museum would see a history so editted he would believe that the war started on August sixth when Godzilla incinerated all those chery blossoms. Our martian friend would know nothing of the ten years of unspeakable atrocity and murder wreaked on the world by the Japanese.

The Potsdam conference of the allies established the criteria for ending the war: The unconditional surrender of Japan. The allies had the resolve and were living the hard lesson that Japan could not be allowed to maintain any warfighting capability.

The Japanese could have surrendered a year or so earlier. It was by then absolutely clear there was no chance they could turn around their circumstances. The Japanese decision to pursue a hopeless war killed another one to two million people.

Why don't we have days of mourning for the similar amount of women and children killed by the japanese in Nanking? Read about the rape of Nanking. This reminds me of people feeling sorry for the man on death row. And these are always the same people who are pro-abortion.

I bet nearly every person that is morally outraged over the ending of the war is pro-baby killing.

The world is upside down. Good is bad and bad is good. Very depressing.

QUINTUS: People should know when they're conquered. MAXIMUS: Would you Quintus? Would I?

I believe most of the "history" surrounding the dropping of the bombs, but I've also always kind of thought that it was also partially a science experiment and partially to help the US in the postwar world, particularly in regards to Russia. It's hard to develop something like the atomic bomb and then not want to see it "go live"and answer any "does it work" questions. As terrible as it was, I think it also serves a purpose of making the true horror of nuclear war tangible. This are still VERY powerful images in this, the 21st century.

War is terrible. Nuclear war is worse, but it's only a matter of a degree.
The use of the Atomic Bomb arguably brought World War 2 to an abrupt end and saved as many lives as were lost.
It does not make it right, nor does it make it wrong.
It happened and it was truly terrible.

To Comment #322!
Listen to the first fact and wonder about the 9/11 attacks.
Imagine leaflets falling from the skies with a photo of Osama bin Laden all over New York saying we "will bring the WTC to peaces in five days", "Bombs have no eyes"....... what is the difference here?

Good for you, Mark the Realist, for commenting on a post without understanding it.

"The average citizen in this democracy didn't get to vote on whether we used the bomb or not; he/she just woke up one day and read about it in the papers."

Right, and the reason for that is that democracies have to hand over most or all practical democratic control in wartime. It's not a problem for theocracies, fascist regimes, empires, kingdoms, or any other form of government. That's why there's such a strong isolationist impulse in the basic ideas of many of the Founding Fathers of America; that's why Congress, not the President is supposed to determine when a war is declared, and why you were able to build the greatest, flourishing democracy until you forgot that handing power to an unaccountable militarist side of government meant losing control of that very democracy. Obviously you don't vote on things like what battles to fight, or whether to call in the first strike: that's why people who love democracy don't go to war at the drop of the hat the way the US has ever since Hiroshima. And I'm saying that's not a coincidence.

That was the way Americans once were. That's why it's a democratic issue. That's why America's claims to have some democratic light to shine rings utterly and totally false to many, even though they inarguably made some of the greatest sacrifices on the battlefield of any country in WWII, AND built the greatest sustained democratic experiment in human history. They didn't reclaim their democracy, and the comment on Somalia is asinine: why is Somalia relevant, except as one more place where Americans decided they should go and sort things out. That's exactly the problem. Stay home, be a democracy. Go out on a conquest and lose at home what you seek to promote abroad.

We have to think about the past. 2 at the time of World War I was in Japan when the atomic bomb Unrelated people dead a lot. But the U.S. has forgotten that fact.

humanity deserves to be completely wiped out if we think war is acceptable. To kill your enemy is like killing yourself yet you can't see it yet. Those in power today are still doing great harm to women and children - THAT IS TOTAL INSANITY.

Every politician on this globe is medically insane and yet we are trusting people who would do this to pull us out of this Global mess we are about to experience.

Does anyone honestly think someone who is totally insane can end wars, end poverty, end abuse, end sex trade industry, end our banking systems?

Let us have a New Clear Vision.
My family is from Nagasaki and experienced and watched the mushroom cloud go up. Living in Japan for my first 13 years of my life, I've heard so many first hand stories...One of most scariest one for me was, many flaming people jumped into the river to escape the heat just vanished instantly and ashes floated away. But, most importantly, nuclear event related illness such as blood cancer etc. will continue generation after generation.
May these history be history and never repeat.

My paternal grandfather was sent to Japan as part of the occupation forces shortly after the bombs were dropped (after serving in SE Asia). For the rest of his life, he had pretty severe mental health problems and shook incessantly. My father and uncle once found photos he had taken of Nagasaki (where he was posted) under the house and my grandfather flew into a rage such as they had never seen before. He destroyed the worst ones (my father said that they were of burnt corpses etc) but many of those that he left are terrible enough. They show a completely flattened city. Whilst the rest of my grandparents generation hated the Japanese, especially those who did not fight, my grandfather did not. I think this is because he actually got to see ordinary Japanese people.

I will never be able to understand how man can be so uncivilized to do anything like this. And I feel the same about what Japan did during the war. Still many countries are spending billions for new weapons instead of taking care of their sick citizens or people who face hunger every day.

And no, I am not a pacifist, have done my military service which was educational and fun. But still would like to see all that money spent to something more useful. And I miss the times when wars were fought with rifles instead someone pressing a button 10000 miles away and ending lives of thousands of innocent civilians in a split second.

War is horror, and the cartoonish depictions of Japanese culture and American popular opinion in some of the comments here are the same way of thinking that allow us to justify that horror. To recognize the biases that others have is not the same as admitting your own. This was a war my grandfathers fought in, I have been to Hiroshima, and I have read and heard the words of survivors - but does that make my opinion more or less valid, or even important?

In the words of Takashi Nagai, a Nagasaki survivor and radiologist remembered for the people he helped during the war and his courage after the bomb was dropped to do what others could not, to help other A-bomb victims even as he was dying of leukemia: "True peace is not born from difficult conferences and ways of thinking, but from the strength of love"

The atomic bombings took over a hundred thousand lives but saved millions. Without the rapid and complete surrender caused by the atomic bombings, immense additional deaths would have included: (1) at least 100,000 Americans in an invasion of Japan, (2) hundreds of thousands (perhaps more) of Japanese civilians and soldiers in an invasion, (3) probably millions dying of starvation and disease in Indonesia, China, Japan, Korea, Viet Nam and Burma, where food production and distribution were in chaos and starvation in winter of 1945-46 was avoided only by peace and American assistance, (4) about 100,000 American, Dutch and other prisoners of war held by the Japanese, who had vowed to kill the prisoners if invaded.

Those saved included my wife's father, a Dutch private taken prisoner in early 1942 and a captive outside Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. They saw the flash and the cloud and knew that something very significant had happened. Immediately the Japanese attitude to the prisoners changed, and within a few days it was clear that the Japanese had lost their sense of superiority and control. Within a month my future father in law was on an American hospital ship, where he began treatment that helped him recover from severe malnutrition and parasitic disease.

The bombings were horrible but he war ws horrrible, and in the horrid calculus of war, the bombings saved many lives.

and you get all worked up in tragedy for sept 11th?

war is a messy bussiness, the time is due to stop nonsense, the time is ripe to make all weapons illegal

I have done a great deal of reading on the debate about the decision to drop the bomb. There is now a huge amount of declassified information available. For those interested start with Gar Alperovitz's book 'The Decision to Drop the Bomb.' I have visited Hiroshima Peace Museum and talked with officials there. I have visited Nagasaki and spoken with a doctor who has spent his entire career treating survivors. And I have spoken with a survivor. Believe me - there is something uniquely terrible about a nuclear attack. Not least of which is that even when the blast is over the survivors never know when a cancer will emerge and kill them. They live with a suspended sentence and for many this is devastating. I don't believe the bombing was necessary and I know there is now a huge amount of evidence to support that view. I believe a significant part of the deicision was the desire to deter Staling.

I can't wait for 2012 to kill us all.

Don't start a war unless you are prepared to see it end.

Sad, but entirely avoidable by the Japanese people and their government. It's interesting how the aggressors, who initiated the war and executed it mercilessly, want sympathy when their victims fight back. I am quite liberal, but I can tell you that I sleep just fine at night knowing how the war was ended...quickly, decisively and justly.

I love how blinkered some of the comments are on here. "Japan asked for it." "They started it." I suggest you go and read up on the history of the era and what led to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which was a MILITARY installation. Not a civilian target. Not like the Japanese woke up one day and thought "Screw it, let's bomb America."

And sorry, there is NO excuse for murdering 70,000 civilians, then murdering a further 40,000 three days later in Nagasaki. And murdering the 110,000 who died the slow lingering death from the radiation. Military targets are one thing. Wiping out an entire city filled with men, women and children. America was no better than the very people they condemn today for terrorism.

The winners of war write the history. The US, England etc... Engaged in war crimes of their own. They just went unreported. The benefits of victory. And yes, relatives of mine were on the allies side.

To sum all this up, TWO WRONGS DON'T MAKE A RIGHT. Elementary logic that anyone in kindergarten should know. The cold blooded murder of 200,000 people, half of home died long, lingering deaths is not a righteous act. It is the action of a petty thug. America is despicable. The biggest warmongering nation on Earth, the nation that talks the most about the dangers of other countries having nuclear weapons, is the ONLY one who has ever USED nuclear weapons. And on 200,000 civilians no less.

America is just as guilty as Japan of war crimes. 9/11 was called terrorism. 200,000 killed in Japan was the same thing. Any difference you try to argue is purely semantic.

Humanity was, is, and will be a joke.

"Given the choice, I would rather be vaporized than go out like the people of Nanjing China in 1937."

Few of the victims were actually instantly vaporized. Many survived for days having had all their skin blown off or for years (even decades) slowly dying of the effects of radiation.

This is not a comment on the rights and wrongs of dropping the bomb, but I do wish people wouldn't assume that somehow the victims died a painless instant death. Some did - the majority didn't.

it's horrible scenes. i hav'nt seen earlier.

America was full of glory, Pearl Harbor was a mistake, but is a military camp, is not the same, In Hiroshima there was Children, old people, women and a lot of innocent people. Can you imagine thise attack to Chicago? This is one of the most human mistakes ever happened. There's no excuse

Just a child stepping on an ant colony (again)

Great and sobering photos of a truly terrifying event in human history.

It is often said - and has been in the comments here - that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ultimately saved more lives than would have been lost otherwise, but that judgment is pure supposition; we cannot know what otherwise would have happened had alternate decisions been made. To present the choices as a) drop nuclear bombs, or b) invade Japan is to present a false dichotomy since other options were available. For example, an less populated or unpopulated area could have been chosen as bombing site in order to demonstrate to the Japanese the power of this new weapon. That may have been enough to force a surrender without the need to invade Japan.

But we will never know.

All we do know is what did happen and, more importantly, the choices we took that brought us to these moments of such utter destruction. We need to keep reminding ourselves of those choices and their consequences so that we - the human race - never put ourselves on such a warlike path again.

Tazing a disabled or nuking a surrending country doesn't show strenght nor power.
It ends up terribly wrong and shows fear and fear only.
What is America so afraid about ?

With all due respect for all parties, I'd like to point out to those who simply write «they started it, we ended it» that everyone doesn't agree on who started it.
It is argued that the US cornered Japan with sanctions, etc. so that Japan would strike first and FDR could enter WW2 in Asia and Europe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor_advance-knowledge_debate

Thank you America!

The Japanese were the most inhuman invaders in WWII. Their atrocities blight much of east Asia. Japan to this day still honor their war criminals. I am happy to see poetic justice exacted upon the Japanese. My only regret is the low yield of the early bombs. Should a megaton yield nuke be dropped on Tokyo, the empire of the raising sun will embody that name in all of its glory.

WOW! *Speechless

"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents." - Major General Smedley Butler

One of the lesser known facts about Hiroshima: Not too long after the bomb was dropped, a rebuilding of the city was attempted despite the high levels of radiation. Yet, 2 months after the bomb, a very strong Typhoon struck Hiroshima leveling many of these new structures. Radiation levels dropped as the cyclonic winds dispersed particulate matter, etc. over a broad area and the nearby Ocean.

I visited ground zero 4 years ago. It was a very, very sobering day. As an American, I felt quite conspicuous while touring the Museum.

there are only two monsters to be blame here ... the emperor and truman, may they both burn in the pits of hell for eternity.

Come off of it, people. The Hiroshima / Nagasaki bombings were horrible and something we can only happen will never happen again. To all those ranting about the USA dropping the bombs, respectively all those USA citizens ignorantly chanting "They started it by attacking Pearl Harbor": the war's over. Don't know if you heard.

Pearl Habor or not the atomic bomb is still a weaon of horror, in anhilated the whole city, a civilian target, where as Pearl Harbor was a Military one.I am not here to say that the cowardly attack on Pearl Habor was better but still you cant pay violence with violance. The time for "an eye for an eye" is over I mean what the Germans did to ttheir enemies was horrible but nobody tryed to throw a A.-Bomb at them. And when they did drop the bomb on Hiroshima the war was practicly over, the bomb waas unnecessary. (if I made gramatical mistakes please excuse me Englisch is nt my mothers tounge)

You can tell who the hippies are in here. Those bombings were one of the sole reasons the war ended. Yes they are devastating but its a lot better than millions more dying. Japan was the enemy, it was better at the time that they lost life in order to end the war than for our own people to lose more life. Its common sense and you ought to be thankful it happened, because the war could have gone on a lot longer.

This bleeding heat liberal just believes in living out the Gospel and their ain't no A-bomb in that story.

@395
"I bet nearly every person that is morally outraged over the ending of the war is pro-baby killing."

Don't be rediculous. Babies were killed in Hiroshima too. The moral outrage is *because* innocent people (including babies) were killed. Abortion is not the subject here, by the way.

IN 1945 (and the preceding years), my father and his parents and sisters were in cruel Japanese concentration camps on Java (in what is now Indonesia). Things were of course very grim: if Hiroshima had not happened, they would likely have died. I would not now exist. So from a purely personal perspective, you will forgive me from saying I am happy it happened.

I hope the next generations learn from this BIG mistake and try to have dialogue between themselves and their enemies, otherwise we will see again and again.
If we forget what has happened, then would be nice to view these images in the Design Observer which presents a unique slideshow of 100 photographs from the ground in the days after the bombing which you can browse here:
http://observatory.designobserver.com/media/slideshows/Hiroshima/Hiroshima_01.html

The innocent suffer the consequences of those in power. So, Hopefully sooner that later.. we the people will figure out a way that our voices will be heard and acted upon. I truly believe.. Peace is desired by the Many and the few desire control and money with greed.

powerful and heart wrenching photos. We need a nuclear free world

It wasn't worth it. They bombed citizens for a war that most of them had n o part in.

OK there are a lot of people who think the A-Bomb was in response to Pear Harour. This is only partially true - the US didnt just pluck the bomb out of the air the day after Pear Harour - this was in the pipeline for some time before the attack.
The rate Japan was moving & the suicidal tactics they employed meant that Western countries could not allow them to gain anymore ground.
Pear Harbour was a trigger for something that was going to happen anyway.

Japan and its people destroyed completely has overcomed it . Japan keep it up !

The bombing, of course, was evil : bombing two civilian towns when supposedly Japan has soldiers... somewhere else.

The bombing, of course, was evil : to prove a point, a bomb could have been dropped anywhere and THEN eventually "somewhere else".

Funny to hear those republican cowards express their glee to other deaths. As if ALL the japanese were... As if ALL the inhabitants of Hiraoshima were... As if they themselves weren't and would never be...

For anyone looking for a balanced view looking at both sides of the arguement:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate_over_the_atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki

The most compelling contributions I felt came from some prominent Americans at the time, such as:

Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote in his memoir The White House Years:

In 1945 Secretary of War Stimson, visiting my headquarters in Germany, informed me that our government was preparing to drop an atomic bomb on Japan. I was one of those who felt that there were a number of cogent reasons to question the wisdom of such an act. During his recitation of the relevant facts, I had been conscious of a feeling of depression and so I voiced to him my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives.

And :

Other U.S. military officers who disagreed with the necessity of the bombings include General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy (the Chief of Staff to the President), Brigadier General Carter Clarke (the military intelligence officer who prepared intercepted Japanese cables for U.S. officials), and Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet

"The Japanese had, in fact, already sued for peace. The atomic bomb played no decisive part, from a purely military point of view, in the defeat of Japan." Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

"The use of [the atomic bombs] at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender because of the effective sea blockade and the successful bombing with conventional weapons... The lethal possibilities of atomic warfare in the future are frightening. My own feeling was that in being the first to use it, we had adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages. I was not taught to make war in that fashion , and wars cannot be won by destroying women and children." Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy, Chief of Staff to President Truman

"An ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages."

For centuries, warfare was total: the victors killed the men, raped the women, salted their famlands, killed their livestock and burnt their homes. With Napoleon, war became more about soldiers and sailors and winning on the battlefield and at sea. With WW2, and sharp advances in technology, we returned to barbarism: killing non combatants in ovens, starving millions, poisoning, flattening cities. We have done that in Stalingrad, Nagasaki and Hiroshima, N. Vietnam, Iraq, Nanking, in C.America and the Congo. We have debased our humanity. Stop wanton murder over economic resources while using WAR as the excuse.

Which one of the directors above have enough balls to show this reality in his movie?
a) Woody Allen
b) Steven Spielberg
c) Martin Scorsese
d) Roman Polanski
e) Oliver Stone
f) None of them

Hey people, it was war. Alot of innocent lives were lost (on all sides) and that truley is a shame. The atomic bomb ended WWII and for that I am grateful. Without it who knows what the final outcome could have been?

The lost of innocent lives is sad history but lives have to go on. We must learn from the past mistake that others make and let us not repeat the same mistake. All nuclear weapons/bombs should be destroy and hopefully America would take the lead.

Some people say America should have demonstrated the power of the bomb to the Japanese first, to give them the chance to surrender; the truth is that even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki there was almost a coup to prevent the surrender. (an excellent Japanese film, Japan's Longest Day, tells the story) The dropping of the bomb shortened the war and saved lives in the long run.. It's also true the loss of life was beyond tragic - agreement with Truman's decision shouldn't lessen anyone's compassion for their suffering.

In olden days, the victors killed the men, raped the women, salted the farmlands, killed the livestock and burnt the homes of the defeated. One day casualities were greater than in most modern battles. Then Napoleon made it war between nation states and between armies and navies. After WW 2 technology, we reverted to barbarism against civilians: we flattened cities; starved, gassed and used chemicals against non-combatant women and chilldren in Europe, Asia, Africa, Iraq, Central America inter alia. We have lost our humanity. We must stop using war as the excuse for greedily seeking the resources of others - the basis of war.

I'm just glad we developed the bomb before Nazi Germany and Japan did. Otherwise we would be looking at photos of post atomic New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and San Francisco. Make no mistake, life during WWII had a different value than it does today. 65 million people died during that war and killing an extra few hundred thousand or couple million Americans and destroying a few more cities would have caused no more remorse to those who did it than it did to those who the fire-bombed the hundreds of cities and killed the millions of their inhabitants. We, as Americans, like to consider our lives to be of more value than everyone else that lives on this planet - we're not. And had those belligerents completed the bomb before we did, we would have found that out first hand.

the ruins of what is now the peace memorial (see images 28 and bottom) may have inspired the architecture of Milunic/Gehry Nationale-Nederlanden building, which replaced a building destroyed during the bombing of Prague in 1945. Note in particular the rotunda in the images here:

http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/dancinghouse/index.htm

My wife is Japanese (I am American). This is a topic that upsets the Japanese to this day. What people don't realize is that Japan and Germany were developing the Atomic bomb with plans to use it on America. If they had developed the bomb along with means of deploying it, it would have been used.

Perhaps we can learn from our mistakes. I love Japan and the Japanese.

I think even more tragic than just this event alone is that the United States and Japan had exceedingly cordial relations for quite some time. Unfortunately, the ultramilitaristic cliques in the IJA and IJN were able to seize increasing power over time and twisted the well-merited national pride of the Japanese people to their own jingoistic ends. When you go to the root causes of the war in the Pacific Theater, the Mukden Incident that began the invasion of Manchuria was really directed by four Kwantung officers without authorization. Their actions in 1931 started a society down a path that led to this.

I look at the use of atomic weaponry as inevitable. The argument over whether it was right or wrong for the United States to do so is subjective and, thus, neverending. If there's anything for which to be thankful about the event that occurred, the first bomb fizzled and the second bomb was inefficiently deployed, leading to lessened damage and lower casualties than may have been expected initially. Despite this, humanity was afforded an incomparable lesson that undoubtedly served us well through the course of the Cold War. As vicious as the conflict may have become at times, the leaders of each side understood that the use of atomic weaponry was a path to ruin, and declined to deploy their arsenals. The tragic, unwilling sacrifice made by the Japanese people in the furtherance of the cause of military restraint is what strikes me the hardest about these pictures.

No Pearl Harbor...no Hiroshima. Was is hell. But the United States did not start this war. The totalitarian war mongers in Japan did.
The atomic bombs ended the most costly war the world had ever seen and served to save countless more lives on both sides.

People, it's not for you to decide..if someone important waked up in a morning & decided to drop a bomb..you can't do anything about it..

Let rest in peace those man who died that day and after..

(sry, my spelling misstakes)

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For #413. Obviously you have never read a history book. I have a Masters in History, I teach the subject, so here's a history lesson. Hawaii was a military installation, yes. And why shouldn't the U.S. have had a miliary installation in one of its own terrorities? Having a Navy base on an island in the Pacific that the U.S. owned was not a crime at the time.

With Japan's invasion of China from Manchuria (done by the Japan's military but faked to look like an attack from the Chinese), Japan was conquering most of Asia. The Japanese believed that all other Asian racials were inferior to them, below "pigs" is the quote I've heard used. So they believed it was their right to conquer these inferior races.

Now yes, the U.S. needed a Pacific fleet base and Pearl Harbor was chosen, but it was not an act of aggression against the Japanese. You forget that the U.S. and Japanese were in the middle of PEACE negoations in Washington, D.C. when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941.

Japan started the war in the Pacific, not the other way around. Just ask China, Korea, Australia, Burma, Phillipines and any other country Japan occupied during the war who was the aggressor.

As for the biggest warmongering country on Earth, I think that prize goes to Germany, not the Unites States. They started TWO World Wars, so the resulting carnage is on them. Body count:
World War I - 15,000,000 total (Russia - 1.7 million & Germany - 1.8 million, they had the highest counts)
World War II - 50,000,000 million (Russia lost the most - 10 million, with Germany
having 3.5 million losses)

History, look it up.

raping, butchering

A friend of mine spoke of an older friend of his parents who had served in the Pacific theatre and his view was that they all had an overwhelming sense of being saved when they heard the news - they all expected to die on the beaches of Japan. Despite some revisionists saying otherwise I have no doubt that the bombing was sadly necessary to end the war. The Japanese loss rate was running 10 to 1 against them in the war. in the harsh arithmetic of war the bombing probably saved more Japanese lives than it cost.

Is this our future? The possibility sickens me. What sort of creature could conceivably create a device that can so utterly destroy human life? The next time, God forbid...... The planet is obliterated..........

I don't think the controversy here is the fact that America retaliated for Pearl Harbor. The controversy lies in the fact that two atomic bombs were dropped, within a short time frame, on two highly populated CITIES OF INNOCENT CIVILIANS. I can imagine that dropping the bomb on a less populated area of the country would have, both conveyed strength thus ending the war, but would have also saved thousands of lives. In addition, I don't think the point today is to justifiy the actions of each country during war. TODAY we should try to remember and mourn those who perished, on this day 64 years ago.

To dwell in this senseless finger pointing argument weaving its way throughout these comments misses the entire reason for this vivid pictorial. War is hell regardless of the reason. "Never again" is what I think when I look at these horrid pictures. If there is anything we can do as a human race, it is to strive to create a peaceful world for ourselves and those who follow us. That would be the best way to honor those who have given there lives in such horrific tragedies.

Lets be thankful this is all in the past and a dominant force such as the US would no longer commit punishment acts of aggression on enemies that result in harming countless innocent lives...

If we do not remember our mistakes we make them again. Great images, great site

"The devil has the widest perspective for God, and that is why he keeps so far away from him - the devil being the oldest friend of knowledge." - #128, 'Maxims and Interludes', Beyond Good and Evil or Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future(1886), by Friedrich Nietzsche

If you go to the museum, you'll see pictures and hear stories a lot worse than these. In one exhibit, there are two reconstructed models of what some of the worst burn victims would have looked like. They look like disfigured walking corpses from a distance, something you'd only imagine in horror movies, because their skin and body parts are literally melting off. It stays in my mind forever as a reminder of what hell of earth looked like that day. We can all look at pictures and hear stories, sympathize, or debate, but we'll never really know what happened that day because we were not there. The hibakusha survivors live a life sentence of being permanently scarred mentally and physically for this experience. The people who hold this power to destroy life so easily should see first hand what the consequences are before threatening to use it.

I know the Japanese committed atrocities throughout the war and especially in Nanjing. It only emphasizes for me how destructive and meaningless war is, and keeps me wondering why humanity refuses to learn from the past. Our painful memories don't last long enough to make a difference.

shame on you America
those who justify the nuclear attack by saying that it saved lives should know that this is exactly what brought America down to the level of the Japanese. If the Japanese public was guilty of supporting its army then so were the Americans
America still has more than a thousand warheads.

Shame on you America

I love how It is the type of weapon used (NUCLEAR) and not the people killed. Look at Dresden or the Tokyo fire bombings. They killed more people but this was a NUKE so it's BAD. Why does it matter except these people for the most part died fast? Ask the sailors who drowned on the Arizona which would be better & I bet hitting 4000 degrees in 1 second is better than waiting for your bulkhead to fill with water. War is awful: YES. But it has also solved all of the big problems. I wish Man was better than this but we aren't . And I served in the ARMY in the Cold War and the big hope was if we got hit let it be a Nuke quick and early.

Comment #461, Same on you Scaliper! You're an idiot who should thank America for giving your worthless ass freedom. It's WAR! When weighing option to loss 1,000,000 soldiers versus a quick end to the war, America choose wisely. Yes perhaps America used a bigger stick than necessary but it was necessary nonetheless. In time of war, use what ever weapon at hand to end conflict quickly and decisively. And what in hell does having 1000 warhead today have to do with World War II?? I hate morons who should read history books first before they spew stupid, imbecilic, garbage. Idiot!

We can't change what has happened. Let's hope it will not happen in the future. Unfortunately, Japan is denying what they did in Nanjing. I am afraid it will happen again.

How come the US had a base at Pearl Harbour? European conquest of Hawaii and its annexation to the U.S. were violent terrorist acts. People talk about the Japanese being brutal but fail to mention the US invasion of the Philippines in 1899 which led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos.

How come the US had a base at Pearl Harbour? European conquest of Hawaii and its annexation to the U.S. were violent terrorist acts. People talk about the Japanese being brutal but fail to mention the US invasion of the Philippines in 1899 which led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos.

Comment# 362 sums it up the best.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes
20 - 30 million victims of Japanese atrocities.

Hiroshima + Nagasaki is 10% of that.
Let's remember the 30 million and acknowledge what they suffered.

One day, this planet will be doomed cause some mad people out there. And then no body would be left to justify one another.

What makes me sorry is that all those who weight the loss of possible lives when the bomb hadn't been dropped just count lives (what is detestable but may be true) and ignore the basic question: was really the bomb that saved these lives or was the sacrifice of innocent civilians lives in van.

401: As 453 pointed out, it was NOT the U.S. making the gratest sacrifice in WWII.

B.t.w.: They delayed the invasion in France vrry long - although this could have ended the war much sooner in Europe and maybe even the line between the Soviet and western influence zone would have been drawn elsewhere. This supports the argument of those who say that one of the reasons to drop the bomb was to frighten Stalin, just like the delaying of the invasion in France and stopping it in Italy: the Soviets' losses got much bigger.

Apparantly the Americans were totally not highly advaced on the moral aspect.
Not to mention lesser bombardments with fewer casualties, like Dresden and Vietnamoperations.

Sadly, Americans do not differ from Russians, Chinese, or any other nationalities.

It's WAR 463? . No this is mass murder of innocents. Malum in se. Not war.

Truman’s chief of staff, Admiral William D. Leahy, wrote in his book I Was There that using the “barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender because of the effective sea blockade and the successful bombing with conventional weapons.” He lamented that the U.S. government “had adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages” and that he “was not taught to make war in that fashion.” In 1963 Dwight Eisenhower told Newsweek that “the Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn’t necessary to hit them with that awful thing.”

as Major General J.F.C. Fuller, one of the century’s great military historians, wrote in connection with the atomic bombings:
"Though to save life is laudable, it in no way justifies the employment of means which run counter to every precept of humanity and the customs of war. Should it do so, then, on the pretext of shortening a war and of saving lives, every imaginable atrocity can be justified."

Adm. William "Bull" Halsey, the tough and outspoken commander of the U.S. Third Fleet, which participated in the American offensive against the Japanese home islands in the final months of the war, publicly stated in 1946 that "the first atomic bomb was an unnecessary experiment." The Japanese, he noted, had "put out a lot of peace feelers through Russia long before" the bomb was used.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/pilger/pilger67.html says
The National Archives in Washington contain US government documents that chart Japanese peace overtures as early as 1943. None was pursued. A cable sent on May 5, 1945 by the German ambassador in Tokyo and intercepted by the US dispels any doubt that the Japanese were desperate to sue for peace, including "capitulation even if the terms were hard." Instead, the US secretary of war, Henry Stimson, told President Truman he was "fearful" that the US air force would have Japan so "bombed out" that the new weapon would not be able "to show its strength." He later admitted that "no effort was made, and none was seriously considered, to achieve surrender merely in order not to have to use the bomb." His foreign policy colleagues were eager "to browbeat the Russians with the bomb held rather ostentatiously on our hip." General Leslie Groves, director of the Manhattan Project that made the bomb, testified: "There was never any illusion on my part that Russia was our enemy, and that the project was conducted on that basis." The day after Hiroshima was obliterated, President Truman voiced his satisfaction with the "overwhelming success" of "the experiment."

Comment # 471, In hindsight, dear sir, people have their version of history to write. I'm sure their opinion after the fact is just that! After the fact.! Why don't you justify to the millions of civilian throughout Asia who were brutalized, raped, murdered by rampaging Imperial Japanese Forces. Why don't you justify it to the 61 Million Allied dead! Why don't you justify it to the conquered women of Asia who were used as prostitutes, repeated raped by Imperial Japanese soldiers every day! Don't give me excerpt from something you came up condemning the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing, it just makes your reasoning more absurd!
The world has more freedom today because of America.

The whole point of the nukes was to accelerate the Japanese surrender, since Stalin had planned a massive Soviet invasion of Japan via Sakhalin to the landing points in Hokkaido island.

We were already fighting the cold war even before WWII was over.

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima was probably the only possible way at the time to get the Japanese to respect the Golden Rule.

It's a sad day when the aggressors are portrayed as victims! Truly shameful!
It's astonishing that the deaths of millions of men, women, and children of allied civilians are somehow less horrific because the Japanese used rape, torture, beheading instead of the atomic bomb. No one seems to remember the rape of Nanking because the Japanese use wanton rapes and killings instead of the atomic bomb. Or remember the other crimes committed by the Japanese from The Philippines all the way to Manchuria because they didn't use the atomic bomb. People today should not judge what happened 60 years ago using today's moral standards. People should look at it from the point of view of the allied forces in 1945. Don't you people think that the military leaders deliberated and anguish about the decision they had to make to drop the atomic bomb knowing how many people are going to die. If Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a mistake, then perhaps people should learn from it instead of blaming the country that help
end the war. War is horrific and that's the only reason you need not to start one.
It isn't right for people using this blog to make the sacrifices of millions of soldier and civilians in vain. No matter what your views about this even in history, you have to acknowledge the fact that without Imperial Japanese aggression in the first place, none of these would have happened.

In reading 100 or so of these comments, it is interesting to see how many people either do not know, or only think they know the history of the Second World War including its origins and all of its economic, political, military and human aspects.

It is also interesting how many quote Wikipedia as if it is a reference document on par with traditional scholarly works of history. It is good for an overview if you know nothing, but that is about all it is good for.

For those interested in the development of the atomic science leading to atomic bomb making (yes, it was a worldwide development), and the actions of Britain, Germany, Japan and the United States immediately before and during the war should read Before the Fallout: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima by Diana Preston to get a more complete picture.

The book covers the origins and development of the atomic science required, the political discussions about building a bomb and then the possibility of using it, the decision to use it, and finally the bombing themselves and the political "fallout" from the bomb's use.

Read it to get a more complete understanding of this event. And no, don't have a financial interest in the book. Only an interest in teaching.

In the WWII Americans are the absolut war criminals. Truly this is the proof. With the Hiroshima operation i think they wanted to make an experiment to find out the effects from a nuclear chain reaction to humanity and ofcourse to establish the worldwide "Panx Americana". I hope in the future history shows the real part of it and uncovers the names of involved monsters (from the "head to the toes", you know what i mean). Every time that i m seeing something about it i feel dissapointment about the human race.

Their was an alternative, peace. America could have left the war. If japan actually decided to return then it would merit an atomic bomb, but as a show of power in an uncrowded area.

Comment #477,
" find out the effects from a nuclear chain reaction"? "establish the worldwide Pax Americana"? What dribble are you babbling about? You should be disappointed with yourself! The bomb was tested in New Mexico and it doesn't take a genius to figure out what it will do to human beings. I will not dishonor the memory of those who sacrifice their lives in order to give you freedom. It's not worth responding to your thrash! The only reason you are here today is because the Japanese and the German's did not develop the atomic bomb faster, otherwise you whole family would have been burnt to a crisp. There's a bunch of ungrateful, egotistical, SOB in these blog site! Shame on you!

War?
The games of men.
The worst solution of human beings.
No one got anything perfect from a war.
The Japanese let 2 million Vietnames die of starving.
The American solders killed Vietnamese for what? To protect any Amrican values in there?
No one were right when killing people.
Forget all the horrible things and just making love!

[[[ THE SAD TRUTH ABOUT AMERICA ]]]

How many countries ( nations ) in the world hate the american "government" for what they did to so many countries ?

why does america always put its nose in other countries issues ??

*** with america attacking Iran ( probably soon ) ***
many countries like Russia ( has nuclear weapons ), South Korea ( has nuclear weapons ), China ( has nuclear weapons ), Vietnam, Syria, Pakistan ( has nuclear weapons ), India ( has nuclear weapons ) and Iran ( developing nuclear weapons ) .. and many other countries will have a good excuse to attack America..

Did you know that there are more than 1,000,000 Iranians are currently living in america? and more than 5,000,000 Muslims ?
Did you know that there are more than 50 Muslims countries in the world with army forces exceeding 30,000,000 ? ( America has 2,000,000 ) ..

WWIII will start if America attacks Iran, and its gonna get really ugly .. for everyone .. and specially for America ..

people used to be fooled by the American media, but not anymore..
they always provided excuses for killing other nations and claiming to do good things for them..

it is just sad what is happening out there..

I love american people.. they're really kind people with good hearts .. but they have to realize what their government is trying to do and try to do something about it..

I'm form Kuwait..

Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 ...
US was supporting Iraq with weapons .. ( research it and u'll see )
then US fought against Iraq to free Kuwait ...

it didnt make any sense to us back then..

but when u look at it today, it makes perfect sense..

US knew that Kuwait didn't stand a chance against Iraq .. and it ( US ) knew that eventually Kuwait will need its help ..

after the war has ended, the US army installed more than 14 military bases in Kuwait .. and about a 100 bases all around the Arabian gulf for "protection"..

so you want me to believe that the US government paid billions of $$ and put thousands of its army in risk just to protect us???

sorry I dont buy it.. you just dont love us that much ..

if you look carefully at the US army installation on a map .. you will quickly realize that they all surround Iran perfectly...

so now it makes sense ? Iran started developing nuclear weapons in the 60's and America knew it .. so they planned everything out since then to this day to stop Iran..

also 9/11 ..

it needs no Einstein to realize that it was an inside job ..

write "9/11 inside job in youtube" .. watch zeitgeist ..

or if you dont have the time to do so .. just google "Operation Northwoods wikipedia" .. it was a top secret document in the 60's .. JFK refused to sign it and was killed shortly afterwards ..

just read the operation and compare it to what happened in 9/11 ..... coincidence ? I dont think so..

now after 9/11 .. the US government has the right to arrest ANYBODY inside and outside america for being terrorists .. even if they weren't..

and please read the book "The End Of America" by the American citizen Naomi Wolf..

Bottom line: Americans, dont believe everything you see on FOX news CNN or whatever ur government wants you to believe.. THINK before making decisions..

at the end, you have your family whom you love and want to protect, i do so too..
I went to school, and so did you..
you worried about your exams and so did I..
we both laughed at the youtube video "Achmed the dead terrorist" - my name is Ahmad btw -
you play halo on xbox 360 with your friends, and so do I..
we both wait for the weekend to go out with our buddies ..
we both drink water, eat Mcdonalds and sleep at night..
we both want to live a happy and peaceful life ..
we both get afraid, angry, sad and happy..
we share alotta things .. more than you can imagine .. thats why I love you even if I dont know you..
FOR GOD'S SAKE WE'RE BOTH HUMANS .. STOP THE FRICKIN' WARS!!
lets not focus on our differences, lets focus on what we have in common instead..
"I love you because you are a human being, and so am I"

Peace,
Ahmed-

Que imagenes terribles!!. Es duro pensar cuántos inocentes mueren aún hoy día por la locura de unos o de un loco. Todavia hoy 09 de agosto de 2009, ¿cuántos inocentes son víctimas de la locura, la avaricia o el fanatismo? Hasta cuándo seguiremos destruyendo nuestro medio ambiente? Hasta que no quede más que un territorio yermo? Qué mundo le dejaremos a las generaciones que nos siguen? Qué les diremos cuando nos pidan cuentas de nuestros actos? Oremos para que el Señor toque los corazones y abra las mentes de todos los hombres para parar tanto daño y tanta destrucción. Pidamos por la paz del mundo. AMÉN