Even victory over Japan was not achieved with bombing alone. The US had boots on the ground on basically every island in the Pacific, and a full naval blockade. And the Soviets were on their doorstep in Manchuria. A land invasion of Japan was imminent, but neither side wanted that. The emperor preferred a negotiated surrender to the Americans.
Before the bomb was dropped, Japan was already defeated and (perhaps too slowly) coming around to surrender. The crazy thing to me was how the strike on Nagasaki was so ill conceived, and amounted to a bullyish “two for flinching”.
Even victory over Japan was not achieved with bombing alone. The US had boots on the ground on basically every island in the Pacific, and a full naval blockade. And the Soviets were on their doorstep in Manchuria. A land invasion of Japan was imminent, but neither side wanted that. The emperor preferred a negotiated surrender to the Americans.
Before the bomb was dropped, Japan was already defeated and (perhaps too slowly) coming around to surrender. The crazy thing to me was how the strike on Nagasaki was so ill conceived, and amounted to a bullyish “two for flinching”.
True. A case could be made for Serbia I guess but the threat of NATO invasion was there too