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> the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives

FYI it is estimated that the war would go on until 1947 if the bombs were not dropped. There would be millions of American lives lost in that case.

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> FYI it is estimated that the war would go on until 1947 if the bombs were not dropped

FYI it is also estimated that the war would end within a few months if the bombs were not dropped. It really depends on whoever was estimating lol

This is a heavily contested issue that has been actively discussed for almost a century by full time professional historians and analysts. Making confident assertions isn’t particularly helpful

What is the argument that the war would have ended in a few months? Is it that the US would have reached Tokyo by then? Or Japan would have surrendered before then? Both are hard to believe

The core point of my post has not sunk in. Your personal belief does not mean that you get to confidently issued judgment on this matter, as if there are no other perspectives.

Again, this is a hotly contested issue, contested by people who in some cases, have a full-time profession in studying this issue

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate_over_the_atomic_bombing...

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