# The use of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, was it justified?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-the-atomic-bomb-in-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-was-it-justified/1021901>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [August 10, 2025, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-the-atomic-bomb-in-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-was-it-justified/1021901 "2025-08-10T03:53:42Z")\
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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-the-atomic-bomb-in-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-was-it-justified/1021901/2 "2025-08-10T04:07:19Z")

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It was obviously justified tactically, strategically, and morally.

This was total war and the enemy leadership was utterly unwilling to think of surrender before they received a game-changing wake-up call.

Which was delivered at the coast of a mere ~250K enemy killed. Vastly fewer than would have died in the follow-on invasion of the Japanese home islands. And with zero, repeat zero, American casualties. Versus the over 1M estimated for the planned invasion.

This is probably the cleanest example of a morally justified attack in wartime since the Roman days.

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