Wars are cruel things, full of nothing but violence. During war only one thing is important; winning. World War 2 confirms this as many countries went to extremes to win. The one country that crossed the line though, was the United States when they used the atomic bomb against Japan. The atomic bombing was the most unjust act of World War 2.

Japan may have attack Pearl Harbor, for they were getting cocky, and that bombing pulled the U.S into World War 2. The U.S and the Allies fought against Japan several more years before the war started to come to a close. When the U.S denied the terms Japan wanted for surrender, Japan refused to surrender at all. The U.S then decided to attack Japan with their newest weapon. On August 6, 1945 and August 9, 1945 the U.S attacked Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the atomic bomb, a ruthless killing device.

Because Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, many people will argue their deeds were justified. However, the two attacks were complete opposites. The bombing on Pearl Harbor only killed 2,402 people, 57 of which were civilians. The bombing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, however, killed 220,000 people, and most of them were civilians. Not only did the atomic bomb demolish the cities and people, it also doomed Japan to nuclear radiation. Today children who live in both cities have developed illnesses like leukemia caused by the atomic bombing. The death toll for the atomic bombing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki keeps increasing, even today. All of this occurred just because Japan and the U.S couldn’t agree on the terms of the surrender.

Do we really need complete control of Japan? Do we really need to destroy innocent lives to achieve it? Do we really need to go to all extremes?

The atomic bombing was a malicious killing only seen in the most horrifying movies. It was so evil that no other country has ever used it again. The United States’s attack against Japan is the only atomic bombing attack in history.

There will be thousands and thousands of wars that cannot all be won with the atomic bomb, so why even create it? Soon after the atomic bombing Martin Luther King Jr. said, “We have genuflected before the god of science only to find that it has given us the atomic bomb, producing fears and anxieties that science can never mitigate.” We can only hope to be forgiven for the horrors that have been done, but some people say it isn’t a big deal when thousands of people are killed.

They are wrong. Our attack against Japan destroyed generations of people that could have been spared. We may have lost the greatest minds ever known, all for a war that wasn’t worth winning, a war that simply started a craze that cannot be undone. Why?

I hope someday all people who fought in World War 2 may be forgiven for their actions, for what they may have done that was wrong. I hope that someday Hiroshima and Nagasaki may find it in their hearts to forgive us, and I hope someday the damage caused by the atomic bomb can be undone.