World War II

The Chapter on World War II taught me alot. What I have always found most fascinating was the use of Atomic Weapons against Japan. Neither cities were important military targets, but were chosen because they were cities untouched by American bombing campaigns. Thus, the true destructive power of Atomic Weapons could be demonstrated. The argument for using atomic weapons was that it would save American lives, as the Japanese were expected to fight to the death to protect their home Islands. Battles at places like Okinawa prove that the Japanese people were very committed to their country and would rather jump off cliffs to their death than be captured by the Americans. My grandfather's bomber squadron was scheduled to begin bombing runs over mainland Japan if the Japanese did not surrender. Given the massive casualties expected, some said hundreds of thousands others predicted millions of allied casualties, I probably would not exist today if we did not nuke Japan. Thankfully now we know that full destructive power of atomic weapons and chose not to use them. During the Korean war, General MacArthur wanted to nuke the Korean Peninsula to prevent the Chinese, and possible Soviet, advance into the area by creating a huge radioactive zone that they could not cross. Had we continued to use atomic weapons in military conflicts the world may have ended.