this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2025
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... and to avoid a boots-on-ground invasion of the main landmass of Japan, which would have cost probably a million soldiers lives, and who knows how many Japanese civilians.
Not quite. That's the line they gave for justifying murdering a hundred thousand civilians, the reason was to stop the Soviets from gaining further influence, as they had just declared war on Japan and stood to gain even more post-war cred after defeating the Nazis.
Japan had been holding out for a positive response from Soviet Union. The delusional high command thought they could craft aj alliance against the US. After the USSR invaded, the leadership went into a tail spin. It would have been a matter of days before they would have surrendered.
The US did not want the USSR to push deeper into Manchuria and Korea, so they dropped the a-bombs.
An invasion wasnt necessary. A blockade and a week of fighting on the continent by the USSR would have sufficed.