I'm sort of wondering if the pursuit of "unconditional surrender" wasn't an evil end in itself. We had Japan thoroughly beaten before the two bombs were dropped. Maybe it would have been just as well to have worked out a negotiated surrender or armistice. Spare us from invading Japan and spare a lot of civilians their lives.Philosophy Explorer wrote:Now you're talking about WWII where we were at war with Japan. Remember Pearl Harbor, the Bataan death march, the atrocities the Japanese committed? If the bombs weren't dropped, the war would have been prolonged with many more deaths and casualties.bobevenson wrote:Please, we dropped atomic bombs on two cities, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians and maiming the same quantity of others!
PhilX
To push alternative historical possibilities even further, what if the United States had let the Soviets settle things in the European theater as well. America probably didn't have any real business being in Europe (at least in terms of self preservation). The Soviets had things mostly under control on their own by 1943. Sure, that would probably mean a more Sovietized Europe in the end but as long as we didn't bother them they may not have bothered us. Maybe world history would be radically different. What are the thoughts of others regarding such scenarios?