3. The Myth That the Atomic Bombing of Japan Was Unnecessary
After WWII, a myth grew that the atomic bombing of Japan was unnecessary because Japan was on her last legs, and about to surrender. Supposedly, the Allies could have blockaded Japan, and the Japanese government would have given in. That might have held water if the war had been confined to Japan itself, where the Japanese could have been isolated. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
At war’s end, Japan still held an extensive empire in the Pacific and Asia, in which hundreds of millions of conquered subjects were forced to endure a barbaric occupation. Additionally, millions of Japanese soldiers were still fighting Allied forces in China, Burma, and in the Pacific. Whether or not Japan was blockaded – and it was – the war still went on elsewhere. Also, the Japanese held hundreds of thousands of Allied POWs, who were daily subjected to brutal treatment. In short, every day the war continued was another day in which millions suffered, and in which thousands more became casualties.