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This article assesses the evidence for claims that the dropping of the atomic bombs were essential for securing Japan's surrender and offers an alternative interpretation.
In judging war responsibility, historical controversy has surrounded the issue of what responsibility the emperor bears. Hirohito was an elusive and enigmatic personality. Since his death, new materials and new interpretations continue to appear. The work of his American biographer, Herbert Bix, has itself been controversial. Historians have also judged the ideology and mindset of the elite and field grade officers of the Imperial Army as bearing responsibility. In Japan, the school of minshūshi (people’s history) originated in the 1960s and rejected the Marxist historiography so dominant in the early postwar years. Instead, this school of historians adopted a “history from below” approach rather than simply focusing on elites. Yoshimi Yoshiaki’s book on grassroots fascism grapples with the extent to which ordinary people bear responsibility for the war, ultimately concluding that they were both victims of imperial consciousness and victimizers perpetrating it.
This chapter deals with the final stages of the war against Japan in 1945. The condition of Japan and its war effort. The beginning of effective long-range bombing against Japanese cities. The Battle of Okinawa. Japan’s unwillingness to surrender, and plans for defensive battles in Japan itself. American invasion plans. The American-British Potsdam Declaration, and the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Role of the Emperor Hirohito in Japan’s final decision to capitulate. Historical debates about the use of atomic bomb. The Russian ground campaign in Manchuria, and the arrival of the Red Army in northeast China and Korea. The reaction of the Chinese Nationalists to the sudden collapse of Japan. The end of the war in Southeast Asia, and the arrival of British and other Allied forces in European colonies that had been occupied by Japan.
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