There has been a long standing debate on why the atomic bomb was used to defeat The threat of Russian advancement in Europe and in Asia was enough to worry the top officials in the United States and British governments. Wherever the Russians moved through they took for themselves. The imminent invasion of mainland Japan and the allied casualties that came with it were also a factor in the decision to drop the bomb, as said in document A. The dropping of the bomb was not entirely used to stop the Russian advancement. If the allied forces had invaded mainland Japan, many lives on both sides would have been lost. Most probably more than were lost in the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki put together. The tactics that the allies had used up to this point had cost hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides. This was when the Japanese only had maybe two or three thousand men on an island; whereas on the mainland millions of people who would fight until their death to protect their country. Can you imagine if the Americans invaded mainland Japan where they had not only soldiers to fight against but the citizens of Japan loyal to Hirohito? Massive destruction, immense loss of life, and prolonging of the war until late 1946, as stated in document A, would result from invading on foot instead of using the bomb. Revenge also played a role in the decision to bomb Japan. The Japanese were not following the Geneva convention in regards to treatment of prisoners of war. Which says that the prisoners are not to be put through torture of the psychological or physical nature. The Japanese did these things anyway, they would decapitate American prisoners, or they would shove bamboo shoots under their fingernails. The American government also wanted revenge for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. No warning was given by the Japanese to the Americans and no war was declared until after the incident. The Russian territorial expansion definitely played...
