Current Events > Why didn't Japan surrender after the first atomic bomb?

(+) Yeah! (+)

What were they thinking?
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Muh honor
Muh pride
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They assumed the American government would be humane enough not to do it twice. Well surprise bitches!
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Maybe they thought the US only had one of those bad boys.

Japan tried to contact Soviet, FBI and CIA to discuss their surrender before the first nuke, but USA wanted to demonstrate their nukes so they failed to hear it.
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Foppe posted...

Japan tried to contact Soviet, FBI and CIA to discuss their surrender before the first nuke, but USA wanted to demonstrate their nukes so they failed to hear it.

This
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Foppe posted...

Japan tried to contact Soviet, FBI and CIA to discuss their surrender before the first nuke, but USA wanted to demonstrate their nukes so they failed to hear it.

How did they know the US had a nuke before the first nuke? Wouldnt that be highly classified information?
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josifrees posted...

Foppe posted...

Japan tried to contact Soviet, FBI and CIA to discuss their surrender before the first nuke, but USA wanted to demonstrate their nukes so they failed to hear it.

This

Fake news. We're the heroic good guys!
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Kazi1212 posted...

Foppe posted...

Japan tried to contact Soviet, FBI and CIA to discuss their surrender before the first nuke, but USA wanted to demonstrate their nukes so they failed to hear it.

How did they know the US had a nuke before the first nuke? Wouldnt that be highly classified information?

Japan was going to surrender because their situation was hopeless and had nothing to do with nukes
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Kazi1212 posted...

Foppe posted...

Japan tried to contact Soviet, FBI and CIA to discuss their surrender before the first nuke, but USA wanted to demonstrate their nukes so they failed to hear it.

How did they know the US had a nuke before the first nuke? Wouldnt that be highly classified information?

He didn't say that they knew about the nuke. He just said they wanted to discuss before the nuke.
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They were worried about being left to the depredations of communist Soviet Union.
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Has anyone else read that book Hiroshima? It tells the story of a few survivors and their experience before and after the bomb hit Hiroshima... Some pretty gruesome details.
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They did, but Truman had little man syndrome.

the allies demanded the unconditional surrender of the axis powers, so they could completely subjugate the axis countries and prevent the same thing that led up to WW2; basically, total war. so when japanese leadership was still divided on surrender & fighting hadn't even gone into mainland Japan yet, the US decided to try out their new bombs
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My honest response would get me modded
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CableZL posted...

Has anyone else read that book Hiroshima? It tells the story of a few survivors and their experience before and after the bomb hit Hiroshima... Some pretty gruesome details.

Yeah. It's actually pretty terrible.
It might have been from that book, the scene of seeing so many bodies in the rivers - but they weren't blown into it, they had jumped in because of the burning
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YOUHAVENOHOPE posted...

My honest response would get me modded
<_<

CableZL posted...

Has anyone else read that book Hiroshima? It tells the story of a few survivors and their experience before and after the bomb hit Hiroshima... Some pretty gruesome details.

Yeah. It's actually pretty terrible.
It might have been from that book, the scene of seeing so many bodies in the rivers - but they weren't blown into it, they had jumped in because of the burning

That's the part of the book that sticks with me the most. Especially the part where one of them tried pulling someone out of the river and he ended up just pulling the person's skin off.
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Kazi1212 posted...

They assumed the American government would be humane enough not to do it twice. Well surprise bitches!

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Only reason Japan surrendered was because the USSR declared war on them. Truman timed the usage of the atomic bombs to happen right before the Soviets were obligated to invade Japan as decided at Potsdam, thus making the USSR look opportunistic.
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A popular theory was that it was (also?) meant as a show of force to the soviets
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CableZL posted...

Has anyone else read that book Hiroshima? It tells the story of a few survivors and their experience before and after the bomb hit Hiroshima... Some pretty gruesome details.

They had that in my school library when I was in 4th grade. I read it when I was 10 years old.
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Foppe posted...

Japan tried to contact Soviet, FBI and CIA to discuss their surrender before the first nuke, but USA wanted to demonstrate their nukes so they failed to hear it.

There were two problems with that:

1. The faction of the Japanese government that wanted to surrender was not the one that actually controlled the military. Tojo repeatedly said he was not surrendering under any circumstances.

2. Waiting for a negotiated surrender would have given the Russians time to get involved and want a piece of Japan. This would have been arguably worse in the long run for Japan than the damn nukes.
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They tried a conditional surrender based on weasel words. USA wanted completed surrender.
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The powers that be were terrified of a Versailles 2.0. They didn't want to let Japan off the hook only to rise again in a couple decades and start an even bloodier conflict. Couple that with their experiences facing fanatical, and often suicidal, defenses by hardline Japanese troops on Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the Philippines, and you have a situation where American policy planners weren't willing to consider conditional surrender without occupation and wanted to avoid a brutally costly invasion of the Japanese home islands. Even if they decided against an invasion and instead wanted to continue traditional bombing campaigns or implement a blockade, the end result would've been greater casualties in Japan, among Allied servicemen, and among Chinese civilian populations, not to mention allow for the Soviets to establish a more pronounced base of power in China and Korea as well as give them incentive to demand a divided Japan.
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before the 1st bomb, Japan's term for surrendering includes no war crimes trials and no occupation of the home islands.
USA didn't agree with those terms so the bombs are dropped.
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CableZL posted...

YOUHAVENOHOPE posted...

My honest response would get me modded
<_<

CableZL posted...

Has anyone else read that book Hiroshima? It tells the story of a few survivors and their experience before and after the bomb hit Hiroshima... Some pretty gruesome details.

Yeah. It's actually pretty terrible.
It might have been from that book, the scene of seeing so many bodies in the rivers - but they weren't blown into it, they had jumped in because of the burning

That's the part of the book that sticks with me the most. Especially the part where one of them tried pulling someone out of the river and he ended up just pulling the person's skin off.

Oh man you ever seen that Mel Gibson flick We Were Soldiers? What you described reminds me of a scene where a friendly squad got hit with napalm because the coordinates given were too close. One dude is lucky enough to survive but when they try to pick him up and put him on the helicopter, they end up ripping all the skin on his legs off. rough stuff
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REMercsChamp posted...

They tried a conditional surrender based on weasel words. USA wanted completed surrender.

huh
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because america wouldn't allow them to until the second was dropped.
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refmon posted...

REMercsChamp posted...

They tried a conditional surrender based on weasel words. USA wanted completed surrender.

huh

Ricemills posted...

before the 1st bomb, Japan's term for surrendering includes no war crimes trials and no occupation of the home islands.
USA didn't agree with those terms so the bombs are dropped.

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