Nadal

NEWTON COLLEGE

Was the use of Atomic Power necessary to put an end to the Pacific War?

Internal Assessment
Word Count: 2.000

Name: ATKINS, William
Personal Code: dkp019
000448 - 006
Session: November
Table of Contents

Title Page……………………………………………………………. 1
A: Plan of Investigation…………………………………………….. 3
B: Summary of Evidence…………………………………………… 4
C: Evaluation ofSources……………………………………………. 6
D: Analysis …………………………………………………………... 8
E: Conclusion……………………………………………………..… 10
F: List of Sources…………………………………………………… 11

A: Plan of investigation:

i Subject of the investigation:
Was the use of Atomic Power necessary to put an end to the Pacific War?
ii Methods:
In order to tackle this question, the topic of the Pacific War is going to be investigated in depth by reading both secondary and primarysources, both in physical books like Keely Rogers´s, Causes, Practices and Effects of War and also online documents. A background of the situation of the Pacific War by August 1945 is going to be clearly given in B.
The two main sources that are going to be analyzed are an extract from a speech made by President Truman on the 9th of August 1945 regarding his decision to use nuclear power in Japanand the Japanese efforts to achieve peace in a document found online called Surrender of Japan. These two sources are going to be evaluated in terms of origins, purpose, value and limitations. Then in D an analysis of the data will follow and an inside in both the solution that President Truman took and the other possibilities that existed. Finally in E the question will be answered.

B: Summaryof Evidence:

1. Background
The Pacific War began on the year 1941 and finished in the year 1945. It was fought almost entirely between Japan and the US on the islands that are inside the Pacific Ocean and by 1945 in Japanese soil.
The whole conflict began when Japan launched an attack over the American battleships that were on the military base of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, however, Japanwasn’t looking forward to have a conflict with the US moreover it was forced to do so after trade was stopped between this two nations once the Sino-Japanese War was well under way and Japan began to experience shortages of both food and oil.
2. The War
Initially, Japan had great success in its war campaign conquering almost all the islands in the Pacific and crushing all resistance itencountered because its real enemy, the US, was focused on the war in Europe so it had an advantage. However, things began to change on the year 1942 when Japan lost a decisive battle against the US, the battle of Midway. From that moment on Japan ´´switched from attacker to defender´´ and the US began to ´´liberate´´ all the islands that Japan had conquered one at a time. By 1945 US took the war intoJapan soil and so it began the end of the Pacific War.
Japan faced a number of problems in 1945, to start off, the USA imposed a trade embargo and a blockade which prevented Japan from getting resources, also, US aircrafts began to constantly bombard major cities in Japan killing thousands of civilians. When the USA first landed in Japan, on an island called Okinawa, it had disastrous results forboth sides but especially for Japan. The soldiers fought until their last breath, there were kamikaze attacks on US battleships and even civilians joined the fight. People were fanatical and when Okinawa fell to the allies (US) more than a 100 thousand civilians killed themselves because of the shame. The thought of the Japanese military leaders was ´´We can no longer direct the war with any hopeof success. The only course left is for Japans one hundred million people to sacrifice their lives by charging the enemy to make them lose their will to fight´´. The USA knew about this and so did President Truman.
3. The Decision
In the 6th and 9th of August 1945 two US aircrafts with the authorization of President Truman carried the atomic bombs that were dropped...