At the end of Second World War, which ended in 1945, the fighting did not end. The Japanese were not defeated, and a bloody battle for Japan was imminent. Throughout the war, the race between the Allies and Germany to create an atomic bomb had been of great importance. Though the Allies were the first to develop the bombs, they were not put into use against Hitler, mainly because the unconditional surrender of Germany was accepted more than two months before the bomb was completed. But on June 30th of 1945, President Truman approved the dropping of the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The bomb struck the city on August 6th of 1945, and it resulted in 200,000 deaths. The reasons for the attack and the one upon Nagasaki, Japan that followed it are questionable. Some might say that the United States decision to drop an atomic bomb in Hiroshima was a strictly military measure designed to force Japan's unconditional surrender, but it was in fact a diplomatic measure calculated to intimidate the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union, which had been communist since World War One, was a cause of major discomfort to most of the world. Red scare had been an influencing factor on American life after the First World War, but it was still around at this time. And the United States was not the only country to fear communism. Britain, for one, shared out fear and opposed Russian involvement in the war against Japan (Document E). The countries were at loathe requesting help from the "Red Army," and the bomb was a perfect way to demonstrate American power (Document C). Also, as dictated by the agreement made at the Yalta Conference, Soviet aide would result in new territory for the communists, something the Americans were particularly afraid of (Document D). According to General H.H Arnold, the dropping of the bomb was not actually necessary; as the Japanese were at this point already crushed, and other weaponry would have completed the job (Document B).
