Hello all,
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the surrender of Japan thereafter, happened a couple months after Germany was already defeated. It has been argued that the bombings were justified, as Imperial Japan's suicidal aversion to surrender would make an occupation of the home islands unreasonably costly. Whether or not this is true (I'm no expert, but it sounds like a bit of a racist stereotype to me) -- the incredible destructive capacity of atomic weapons was demonstrated for all the world to see. Japan surrendered unconditionally and almost immediately, and the Cold War followed shortly after the Hot War ended.
But how would history have changed if the US's first atomic bombs had been ready for deployment on Germany? Say, if the Manhattan Project had (somehow) been completed a little bit earlier. Or, say Germany had been able to slow the Allied advance by a few months, to the point that it the Nazis still held most of the German core territories + maybe Alpine Austria and Italy by August 1945. (How? I don't know -- bad logistic planning on the part of the Allies; better Enigma encryption; whatever)
Point is-- by August 1945, Nazi Germany still isn't defeated, and the USSR is marching towards Berlin. What would the consequences be if the US decided to drop the atomic bombs on two German cities (say, Dortmund and Essen -- two industrial hubs in the Rhineland) to force Germany's surrender? What would the diplomatic and political consequences of this be? How would it affect the Marshall Plan and American policy towards Europe? How would it affect attitudes towards the Nuremberg Trials and the prosecution of Nazi war criminals? How would it affect German/other European attitudes towards the Soviet Union, relative to the United States?
And would the diplomatic fallout (heh) have been different, if the US had nuked European cities rather than Asian ones? I'm sure that it'd certainly feel different to the Germans, of course-- but would the American public have reacted differently? Would the British public?
Cheers, all!
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the surrender of Japan thereafter, happened a couple months after Germany was already defeated. It has been argued that the bombings were justified, as Imperial Japan's suicidal aversion to surrender would make an occupation of the home islands unreasonably costly. Whether or not this is true (I'm no expert, but it sounds like a bit of a racist stereotype to me) -- the incredible destructive capacity of atomic weapons was demonstrated for all the world to see. Japan surrendered unconditionally and almost immediately, and the Cold War followed shortly after the Hot War ended.
But how would history have changed if the US's first atomic bombs had been ready for deployment on Germany? Say, if the Manhattan Project had (somehow) been completed a little bit earlier. Or, say Germany had been able to slow the Allied advance by a few months, to the point that it the Nazis still held most of the German core territories + maybe Alpine Austria and Italy by August 1945. (How? I don't know -- bad logistic planning on the part of the Allies; better Enigma encryption; whatever)
Point is-- by August 1945, Nazi Germany still isn't defeated, and the USSR is marching towards Berlin. What would the consequences be if the US decided to drop the atomic bombs on two German cities (say, Dortmund and Essen -- two industrial hubs in the Rhineland) to force Germany's surrender? What would the diplomatic and political consequences of this be? How would it affect the Marshall Plan and American policy towards Europe? How would it affect attitudes towards the Nuremberg Trials and the prosecution of Nazi war criminals? How would it affect German/other European attitudes towards the Soviet Union, relative to the United States?
And would the diplomatic fallout (heh) have been different, if the US had nuked European cities rather than Asian ones? I'm sure that it'd certainly feel different to the Germans, of course-- but would the American public have reacted differently? Would the British public?
Cheers, all!