US embargoed Japanese oil and rubber and the imperial war machine would’ve grounded to a halt without Philippines (US territory) rubber and Dutch Oil.

Not justifying it, but strategically, war with the US was inevitable for imperial Japan.

[+] Madison_rogue@kbin.social -8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The point still stands. The Japanese didn't have to bomb Hawaii, yet they still made that choice. Regardless of complications around trade, embargoes, and peaceful alliances (all of which are peaceful tools nations states use to fulfill their best interests), the Japanese were the aggressors in the Pacific.

I'm not trying to sound callous in regards to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, because unfortunately the reason the U.S. used those bombs was to avoid a land invasion at the cost of thousands of more lives of their soldiers, not Japanese. I hate to say that dropping nuclear bombs on an enemy was due to estimates of casualties in either scenario. Math determined that dropping the bombs saved more lives than invasion through conventional means.

IN any other timeline, the bombing of Tokyo alone by the U.S. would be considered a war crime. Even more so the nuclear genocide in Hiroshima & Nagasaki. Only the fact that The Allies were victorious kept the U.S. from facing war crimes.

[–] Sentrovasi@kbin.social 8 points 2 years ago

Math determined that dropping the bombs saved more lives than invasion through conventional means.

I'd be hesitant to trust the math too far, especially since it's based on many assumptions as to how the war would have played out despite one side being severely outgunned.

Call me an anti-military cynic, but I'm sure a bit of it was also the idea that they now had a nuke, and wanted to see what kind of damage it could do. Perhaps the numbers there were better than if it had been dropped on any other viable target (especially a European one): that math, at least, I can believe.