Reddit Reddit reviews ATOMIC DIPLOMACY

We found 5 Reddit comments about ATOMIC DIPLOMACY. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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ATOMIC DIPLOMACY
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5 Reddit comments about ATOMIC DIPLOMACY:

u/Ater_Deus · 12 pointsr/ShitAmericansSay

Do people really believe that the destroying both Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the only way to get the Japanese emperor to surrender?

The Japanese recognized that defeat was inevitable. By summer 1945 Japanese Navy was unable to conduct major operations, oil supplies were running short, Japanese factories were struggling or unable to keep up with military demands.

Japan was provably ready and willing to surrender.

Nothing can excuse the deaths of so many civilians.

Further info for those interested. Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam by Gar Alperovitz.

u/celinesalon · 7 pointsr/bangtan

Sadly there was no single textbook for this class, since it was a one of a kind thing, and I took it nearly a decade ago so I don't have my old school papers from it anymore. The professor is a huge advocate against nuclear power/weapons and spent many years searching for documents in both American and Japanese archives to make the course, so many of the materials were photo-copied articles or translations of articles. I'm kind of shocked she hasn't written her own textbook on the topic, but it appears that after Fukushima she has been focusing more on writing books that address the long-term and devastating effects of nuclear radiation in general rather than simply atomic bomb literature.

Some quick googling pulled up this book though : https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Diplomacy-Hiroshima-Gar-Alperovitz/dp/074530947X
I haven't read it but the summary seems like it may follow a similar narrative to what I was taught. It looks like it focuses heavily on Soviet Union-related politics so perhaps you might enjoy reading it.

u/Richard_Sauce · 4 pointsr/Documentaries

Many of those figures were exaggerated and fabricated after the war, as historians have known for around fifty years.

Even the pre-war figures were also based on faulty, often racist assumptions, about the unwavering tenacity and fanaticism of the Japanese population, in which they argued that much of the civilian population would either fight invaders with their bare hands, or commit suicide rather than be conquered.

Both left out the fact that eight straight years of war, and being completely cut off from their empire in the last year, the Japanese were only months away from being completely without the resources, gasoline/oil/rubber/steel etc... necessary to continue the war. A fact which was not unknown to us, nor does it mention that Japanese were seeking conditional surrender for months before we dropped the bomb.

Edit: For further reading on the topic, I would recommend John Dower's War without Mercy, Tsuyoshi Hasegawa's Racing the Enemy, Gar Alperovitz's Atomic Diplomacy and The Decision to use the Atomic Bomb