> Have you really thought this through?
Whether or not you believe it, yes I have. I did a great deal of research in this very matter some 40 years ago, when research was done in libraries and typewritten on onion skin paper.
I don’t have all the references handy right now, and my paper has long since been lost.
Suffice it to say that there were other forces at work to compel us to use The Bomb, as well as good reasons not to have used it.
We may have been able to successfully blockade Japan, but we may not have been able to keep the Soviets from mounting an invasion.
For all intents and purposes, by Aug 6, 1945, Japan had been effectively blockaded for months, while their industrial capacity was being destroyed from the air.
They had no air force, no navy, and the emperor was becoming more and more concerned with the survival of his people.
In April of 1945, Germany had no (usable) air force, no navy, and the High Command probably had more concern about the survival of their people than did the Emperor.
But they didn't surrender until the country was overrun with American, British and Russian tanks.
If the Emperor was concerned with the survival of his people, why didn't he surrender in March '45 when 100,000 of his people were being incinerated every night?