Once upon a time, professors in the University of California system accomplished great things... like inventing atomic bombs. Now, they're paid to write complete crap.
FReepers, have at it.
I have heard this theory before and by people who sounded competent.
My opinion is that it is the stupidest idea I have ever heard put forward by normal people.
The Russians waited until they knew it was over then declared war to gobble up as much territory as they could.
The Japanese themselves have said that the Soviet invasion of Manchuria was at least as big a factor in the surrender as Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They knew they could hold off the Americans and Commonwealth forces on Honshu and Kyushu for a while, with thousands of kamikazes and millions of suicidal troops and civilian militia waiting. But they had stripped the north to do it. The prospect of hundreds of thousands of Red Army troops landing on Hokkaido with very little to stop them was one that truly scared them.
The use of the A-bombs was a necessary one, and it definitely helped convince Hirohito to end the war. But so did the thought of the Red Army raping and pillaging their way across northern Japan. They had no doubt heard what had happened on the road to Berlin.
}:-)4
What a coincidence that they decided Russia was a concern right after we obliterated two of their cities.
This has been the Soviet line since 1945. Of course, Stalin only entered the war because he saw that Japan’s defeat was imminent and wanted to grab as much territory as possible.
The likely fact is that the combination of disasters pushed Hirohito to decide for peace.
revisionist history again
Bull s#it
Why must it be either or? I think its obvious they saw all was lost, considering all factors.
The non-military wanted to surrender before the bomb. They were just looking for a way to do it and save face (they had actually contacted Moscow to act as an intermediary).
The military did not want to surrender.
Who would have won the argument if we had not dropped the bomb? The military.
After we dropped the bomb, the Emporer finally stepped in and broke the stalemate and said they would surrender. What most people don’t know is that the night before Japan was to surrender, a group of military officers tried to break in and steal the Emporer’s already recorded surrender speech (scheduled to be aired the next day) and stage a coup. This was tantamount to blasphemy in Japan, yet some military officers still tried it.
Without the dropping of the bomb, the Emporer could have never of broken the stalemate and surrendered—the military establishment would never have stood for it.
Reference: The World at War (BBC documentary)
ML/NJ
This theory has been around for a long time. The Japs felt the Russians breathing down the Salkalin Islands, knowing full well the brutalit that would ensue, after the Jap antics in Manchuria. The theory has alot of credibility.
Japan would have been divided, like Korea, had we not dropped the bomb.
IIRC the ever opportunistic Soviets broke their 1938 nonaggression pact with Japan and invaded Manchuria just before the atomic bombings. And if I also recall correctly, the Soviets failed to annihilate the Japanese garrison in Manchuria & northeast China which survived to surrender to the Americans.
Revisionism’s fun, no doubt. Just ask anyone who thinks they can build a rep for new & independent thought just by turning historical “assumptions” on their ear. Nothing new here, Gabriel Kolko and William A. Williams preceded this modern Japanese revisionist by generations in blaming the U.S. for a supposed nuclear overreaction.
I’m somewhat of a fan of Hirohito, who looked at the Nagasaki destruction and said “Holy S**t!!” and risked his own life to force the Jap warlords to accept his concept of ceasing resistance to save the Japan home islands. BTW, it was so nice how they saved Tojo’s life after his botched suicide attempt, so the murdering little b@stard could swing for his crimes later.
They’re all as one in blaming America and floating candle lanterns on August 9th in a teary guiltfest, on the date most in Japan now believe that the “Pacific War” really began. It’s old and tiresome. Ask that History Hashimoto about the Rape of Nanking among other outreach efforts by the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.
“The Atomic Bomb: Made in America, Tested in Japan”
"Moreover, the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is, indeed, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives. Should we continue to fight, it would not only result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization.
Such being the case, how are we to save the millions of our subjects, nor to atone ourselves before the hallowed spirits of our imperial ancestors? This is the reason why we have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the joint declaration of the powers."
- Emperor Hirohito
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
The fact that despite overwhelming conventional forces the mere possession of nuclear capability by us kept Stalin from marching on Western Europe in 1945-46-47.
If it kept Stalin at bay, with all his armies and tanks,
why would it not do so against Japan, who rightly feared
that the next one might take out the Imperial Palace and
all it represented?
You could try your whole life, and not distill so much stupidity into so few words.
the war was long over before the A-bombs were dropped...if anything it was the napalming of most of the island months before the a-bombs were dropped that made the Japs finally awaken to the fact it was over as their war making capacity went down the crapper...people always talk about the A-bombs yet dismiss what napalming places like tokyo and other major cities really did to make the japs realize they could not end the war on their terms...
the a-bombs were just the whip cream on the horse sh!t- as the assertion the Russians entering the war forced the Japs hands is just ridiculous 1) the Russians got their revenge by taking japs in manchuria prisoner...2) the japs offered complete surrender right after the second bomb was dropped- not right after the russians entered the mix...
its sort of like these liberal dweebs who somehow want to give jimmah carter credit for negotiating a deal to free the hostages in iran who were sent home, oh yeh- one day after Reagan took office...
It is really a no-brainer.
The war was carried against Germany, only a holding action to protect Australia and New Zealand was waged against Japan.
That was certainly no secret.
Once Germany collapsed Japan was toast and knew it.
That the Russians were about to enter the war against her was a simple recognition of Germany’s final defeat.
Japan accepted surrender because it was finally offered to it on less than unconditional terms.
Because the US and england did not desire russia in the war.
The Mikado was allowed to remain, done deal, Japan surrendered.