What are the advantages and disadvantages that the atomic bomb presented to modern warfare?

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I am doing a history assignment about the end of WWII and the dropping of the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What were the advantages and disadvantages of dropping the bombs though? And why was it not as big of a deal about the firebombings in Tokyo just a few weeks prior to the U.S. dropping the bombs?I know one advantage as to stop the war.Thanks in advance!Yeah I know, stupid question..Is there really any GOOD thing about a bomb? No. but i need to answer it =)
 
the only advantage of any kind of Atomic weapon is killing people on a unimaginable scale,horrific killing
 
The advantage was that we could use them to stop WWII. And even that is doubtful, since the Japanese were already suing for peace. Many people today think the real purpose of using the weapons was to scare the USSR. After our victory in Europe the Russians marched into Eastern Europe and took many countries over. We were trying to dissuade them from doing this in Asia as well.But after that there were no advantages. In the 1950s we did experiments with nuclear bombs that showed that the nuclear fallout was MUCH more dangerous than anyone had anticipated. We learned that the radioactive dust kicked up into the atmosphere by large-yield weapons threatens the entire world. We built smaller 'battlefield' nukes but even though we've been engaged in military activities throughout the world every year since WWII, we've never been able to use these small nukes. We've spent trillions of dollars to develop several new generations of nukes, knowing all along that they were basically useless, except as a deterrent.In fact, every nuclear nation (except the US of course) has signed a no-first-use agreement. They know that whoever uses them first loses. No national leader can imagine a scenario by which he has anything to gain by using them, because the whole world will gang up against him after that first use.(It's true that terrorists might use them, people who just want to make trouble, and who have nothing to lose. But it's not as easy for them to get their hands on them as you might think. And every weapon has a radioactive 'signature' that would trace it back to country of origin, and that country would have a lot of explaining to do.)I like the way Carl Sagan put it best--The nuclear arms race is like two people standing in a room, up to their waists in gasoline, arguing over who has more matches.Small countries want nukes today to protect themselves. They serve as a deterrent to attack. For instance, how long do you think North Korea would have lasted without them? They are a tiny, weak country. But with nukes they are at least left alone.
 
Truman chose to use the bombs due to Japan's fanatical stance. It was calculated that hundreds of thousands of American' GI's would be killed in an invasion of the Japanese mainland and the resulting civilian deaths as well. Reference the firebombing of Dresden for a comparison of what Japan would have received as an alternative to the two atomic bombs.
 
It was estimated that a massive amount of American soldiers would be killed invading and even more in civilian losses. Stalin also stated his intentions to invade as well and America didn't want another country to become Communist.
 
The advantages are:an oppurtunity to test if the weapon is highly effective and yes it is a success(even though they already tested it in Los Alamos), it can serve as propaganda(it would have a huge impact on the Japanese and other nations), it is a gateway to another source of energy, atomic energy and has powered us for over 60 years and it has helped saved American lives and only americans..nuclear weapons was frequently used in the Middle East..(not sure about this)disadvantages: very high costs(a little processed uranium would take billions, also time), terrorists could buy these kinds of weapons and could use it obviously for terrorist acts, more contreversies and issues the government would have to deal, figure out what to do with nuclear wastes.actually, scientists who invented the atomic bomb expected a bigger explosion than what they saw in Los Alamos.
 
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