Talk:Hiroshima/@comment-25094084-20150303164850/@comment-25148755-20150315162351

That's a rather interesting take on why America got into the war...seeing as it had firmly established its isolationist policy and were, apparently, content to sit this one out. Then Pearl Harbor happened.

Claiming that the Japanese were treated unfairly or that America was too rough with them is a tough argument to make. The emperor had already given an address in August of 1945 that when the Allies tried to invade, it was all Japanese citizens duty to fight or, if they were at risk of being captured, commit suicide. One could say by their leader, at the time still relegated to godhood by his subjects, making this pronouncement, he effectively declared all Japanese civilians as enemy combatants. Coupled with the order to commit suicide rather than be captured, dropping the bombs likely saved more lives than they ended.