VDH | Revisionists Get It Wrong: Why the Atomic Bombings Ended WWII

This past weekend marked the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Amid a wave of revisionist history claiming the bombings were barbaric, unnecessary, or ineffective, Victor Davis Hanson explains why the bombings were a grim but necessary choice to end World War II.

Hanson breaks down the facts and challenges these misconceptions on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.”

“ Did it save lives? It did. And it did in a variety of ways. Of all the belligerents in World War II, the Japanese army, military, government—whatever term we use—killed more civilians and soldiers versus the amount of soldiers and civilians that lost than any other belligerent. More than the Russians. More than the Germans. In other words, it was a deadly killing machine that averaged 10,000 deaths a day at its hands. How else could you stop it?

“ Had they not dropped the bomb, the fire raids would’ve continued, but not three or four times a week, every single day, from Okinawa. And not with 1,000-2,000 heavy bombers, but with an envisioned 5,000-6,000. That led Curtis LeMay to say, "The bomb wasn’t necessary. We could have burned Japan to the ground and forced its surrender." Much more people would’ve died had that entailed. And so, what did the bomb do? It stopped this Japanese war machine from killing people.”

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(0:00) Revisiting Hiroshima and Nagasaki
(0:08) Addressing Historical Revisionism
(1:58) The Critical Decision to Drop the Atomic Bombs
(4:25) Impact and Justification Behind the Bombings
(7:23) Reflecting on the Difficult Choices