End of the War
Nuclear Bombs
The war in Europe ended before the war in the Pacific did. The Japanese refused to surrender and this resulted in many more deaths from American forces. To counter this, the Americans launched two nuclear strikes against Japan. The goal of these strikes was to force Japan into surrendering after seeing the power of these bombs and how they could be used.
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The nuclear program was developed to combat possible nuclear development in Germany but when the war in Europe ended and japan kept fighting, the Americans found another use for it. The first bomb was released on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and it wiped out 90% of the city killing around 80,000 people. The second bomb was released 3 days later over Nagasaki and killed about 40,000 people. 90% of the nurses and doctors were killed and 42 out of 45 of the hospitals were rendered non-functional. This resulted in most of the civilians suffering a slow and painful death. It was after this second bomb that the emperor of Japan surrendered to the allies and Japan lost the war.
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Japan is still feeling the effects of the atomic bombs. The incidence of leukaemia among survivors increased noticeably five to six years after the bombings, and about a decade later, survivors began suffering from thyroid, breast, lung and other cancers at higher than normal rates. For the more advanced forms of cancer, the added risks related to radiation exposure continue to increase throughout the lifespan of survivors. Even to this day, almost seven decades after the bombings, the effects can still be felt. Women exposed to the bombings while they were pregnant experienced higher rates of miscarriage and deaths among their infants. Children exposed to radiation in their mother’s womb were more likely to have intellectual disabilities and impaired growth, as well as increased risk of developing cancer.
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The Repercussions
On September 8, 1951, representatives of 48 nations signed the Treaty of San Francisco at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, California. When it would come into effect on April 28, 1952, peace became official between Japan and some of the Allied nations, and thus it represented the technical end of WWII even though guns had been silent since 1945. It also allocated compensation from Japan to various allied nations.
Now that Japan had completely surrendered, the allied powers had to start rebuilding the country. Japan’s economy had tanked and so they had to find a way to bring it back up. That was their top priority because they were worried that if Japan had a weak economy, a spread of communism would be sparked. Japan had done many awful things during the war so to prevent that from happening again, the allies dismantled their army and navy. They also banned former military leaders from taking roles of political leadership in the new government.
Japan did so many horrible things during the war and some events left people unpunished. There were no punishments for the experiments done in Unit 731. There was also no punishment for most of the torture that went on during WWII. Japan did lose control of many small islands such as Taiwan and Sakhalin. Japan also signed a document that allowed the United States Armed Forces to continue using their bases there.
Now that Japan had completely surrendered, the allied powers had to start rebuilding the country. Japan’s economy had tanked and so they had to find a way to bring it back up. That was their top priority because they were worried that if Japan had a weak economy, a spread of communism would be sparked. Japan had done many awful things during the war so to prevent that from happening again, the allies dismantled their army and navy. They also banned former military leaders from taking roles of political leadership in the new government.
Japan did so many horrible things during the war and some events left people unpunished. There were no punishments for the experiments done in Unit 731. There was also no punishment for most of the torture that went on during WWII. Japan did lose control of many small islands such as Taiwan and Sakhalin. Japan also signed a document that allowed the United States Armed Forces to continue using their bases there.
Japan thought of their emperor, Hirohito, as a god. He was never seen in public and pictures of him were very rare. He was honoured very highly but at the end of the war, his people started to lose faith in him. When Japan lost and was forced to surrender, people began to realize Hirohito was not as godly as people had originally thought. On September 27, 1945, Emperor Hirohito paid a visit to General Douglas MacArthur at the United States Embassy in Tokyo. They took a picture together and it became extremely famous. In the picture, MacArthur was standing very casually next to Hirohito, He towered over him and when the public saw the photo, they stopped thinking of Hirohito as a god. Japan was in pieces after this all happened.
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