It means ground invasion or atomic bomb. That was the next phase without surrender.
Idk I just don’t think using some new weapon on people you are fire bombing and completely destroying already is that big of a deal in the circumstances it was in and being that we were the only ones to have it at that time so it couldn’t escalate to a nuclear war.
The allies, including China, Britain, USSR, and France? I think plus more all signed the Potsdam Declaration. That was the terms for Japan. It was all deliberated amongst a wide alliance.
Yeah but even those two scenarios I find reasonable as you just had the example of Germany losing WW1 and then 20 years later kicking off another sequel war because you didn’t finish the job in the first place. Just get it over with and get them to agree to unconditional surrender so they don’t do this shit again once they’ve built their country back up
No I know they all collectively discussed and signed agreements but as far as who was actually mainly fighting Japan it was the US and then Russia invaded like the last part of the war
Sure and perhaps that was their thinking. I disagree but nonetheless, the framing the US usually does that it was ground war vs atomic bomb so atomic bomb was a better option just isn't true.
There was a lot more. China, both sides of it, the Dutch, the British, British India, abd maybe more I'm forgetting all had hundreds of thousands of troops fighting Japan. British India and Chiang Kai Shek's China had more troops than the US even iirc.
This is what I was talking about they met and agreed in 1943 to continue the war until the axis agreed to unconditional surrender which I likely think was because of how WW1 ended and then lead into WW2 shortly after
The Potsdam Declaration happened two years later. It wasn't just that meeting.
But I understand you think it was because they need to finish the job. I disagree. America disproved it. We didn't finish the job in Japan or Europe even. We propped them up Martial plan and strong century-long econonic ties. That stops a country for coming back for round two or three. Not finishing the job, as it were.
So let Hirohito know he would live after the war, and we wouldn't have had to drop the bombs or ground war.
I googled Potsdam twice already because I will never be confident I'm spelling that right.
My main point being I don’t see use of the atom bomb to destroy 2 cities as anything particularly heinous when talking about WW2 where just about every major city was completely bombed out and destroyed by the end of it and millions of civilians had already died from deliberate bombing campaigns. This is all within WW2 specifically though, using nuclear bombs nowadays would be psycho and the definition of evil
Hitler was dead and Germany completely occupied, Mussolini was dead and Italy completely occupied, I think the job was finished there
We also occupied Japan and invested heavily in their economy to build it back up post war too
I would agree that the atomic bombs overshadow how evil the rest of atrocities of even just the pacific war were, but I think there is a unique evil to a mere drop of a single bomb doing that much. Did you go to the museums in Hiroshima or Nagasaki when you were here? Not that it would change your mind for sure.
That's exactly what I meant. No need to finish anyone off.
No unfortunately I didn’t make it that far south. I would’ve liked to but the people we met with went there already in their last trip so we stuck to Tokyo/Kyoto/Nara/Hakone and maybe one place I’m forgetting
Did you even go to Mt. Fuji your friends misled you imo
Went past it on the Shinkansen but naw didn’t go
Mt Fuji is the one touristy place that doesn't disappoint if it is a clear day.
I like Hakone too. I lived close to it when I was an exchange student.