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Originally Posted by Marvelous Marv
Thank you. To elaborate, it was well known that had the surrender not taken place, the cost would have been around 500,000 Allied lives, and millions of Japanese would also have died, whether by military action, starvation, exposure to elements, or what-have-you.
To say otherwise is to deny history.
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While I am not in a position to second guess history or the decisions made during war, I have to disagree with your last statement. I know those were the estimates given regarding the possible outcomes of an all-out invasion, but one cannot prove that this would have been the outcome simply because it never took place. It is impossible to state as fact an event that never occurred. I'm not trying to argue; I just can't see how one can say that it is to deny history to not believe that millions would have died during an invasion.
One of the theories I most agree with about the reasoning behind the dropping of the bomb goes something like this:
The war in Europe was at an end. While we were busy forking over large amounts of the winnings to the Soviet Union, we still had Japan to deal with. It was certain the the Soviets were about to "help" us defeat Japan. Had that taken place, Japan could very well have ended up the same way Germany and the rest of Eastern Europe ended up: under Soviet control. Truman was not about to let this happen and have the Soviets get a stronger foothold in the Pacific, so the decision to drop the bombs was made: partly to ensure a quick victory before the Soviets could gather their strength.
Now, there are other theories out there, and I'm sure many of them are just as valid, but this is the one that makes the most sense to me.
Other than that, I think this was one of the darkest moments of human history.