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80,000 Dead. 35,000 Injured. 60,000 more Deaths to come.
During World War II, many American and Western front soldiers believed that the only way for the war to end was with the invention and use of the atomic bomb. The government funded Manhattan project was the United States of America’s method of research that expedited the development of nuclear weapons. Upon success of nuclear weapons, the US decisively chose to use the weapon on the two cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Hiroshima bombing, the first nuclear war weapon used on both military and civilians, on August 6th, 1945, captured the irreversible damage and loss of lives that occurs when the darkest sides of science and humanity collaborate.
Looking back at the use of the atomic bomb, it is easy to criticize the USA in its decision to inflict that much damage. However for the men serving the country at the time, like Robert Edson Lee, a sailor in the Pacific, the atomic bomb meant to him that they “were going to live. [they] were going to grow up to adulthood after all.” This perspective touches upon the morality and difficult position that soldiers are put in at war and when they are facing imminent death. By examining the intersectionality of humanity and technological weapons used at war, we can learn and establish a global standard for humane war, if it even exists.
War fundamentally pits humans against each other and results in a loss of lives. The amount of lives lost has increased overtime as humans have become more advanced in their application of technology during war efforts. According to the National WWII museum, Hiroshima having wiped out an entire city marked the moment in history when humans became capable of causing their own extinction. This capability is a result of science gone unchecked with the morals and expectations of our society and globe.
In order to move forward and ensure that devastations like Hiroshima do not occur again, we must instead examine the extent to which people and nations are willing to destroy one another. The use of nuclear weapons perhaps is beyond the limit that humans are willing to cross during war times. The unpredictable nature of nuclear attacks is a weapon in itself that can be unleashed without even needing to physically use the bomb. Because of the impending fear that nuclear weapons have on humans, it is unjust to use it. The goal of war is not to render humanity extinct, however the goal of nuclear weapons is. Since the two goals do not align, the use should be recognized globally as a war crime and unethical.
Time has enabled us to learn from Hiroshima. We must now learn from history and not make the same decisions of the past that have cost too many lives. Hiroshima and Nagasaki must be a testimony to technological advancements reaching too far into human existence and placing science ahead of life. If we are not careful, war may become synonymous with extinction which would make humans responsible for our own downfall as a result of science being pushed beyond our own control.
Sources:
- https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/atomic-bombings-75-ian-w-toll
- https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/american-bomber-drops-atomic-bomb-on-hiroshima
- https://www.nationalww2museum.org/sites/default/files/2020-08/Toll%20Image%201%20courtesy%20National%20Archives%20-%20Tyler%20Bamford_0.jpg