What if Japan Hadn’t Surrendered After Nagasaki?

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 5 September 2017

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Allied Forces hoped the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would finally convince Imperial Japan to end the war. If not, they were prepared to launch Operation Downfall—the proposed plan for the invasion of Japan in November of 1945 and the spring of 1946. If Downfall had taken place, it would have been the largest amphibious operation in history. It also would have meant millions of Japanese and Allied casualties from gunfire, bombings, and suicide attacks. TO HELP OUT THE SHOW Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher

Transcript

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0:00.0	The History of North America podcast is a sweeping historical saga of the United States,
0:09.4	Canada, and Mexico from their deep origins to our present epoch.
0:14.2	Join me, Mark Vinet, on this exciting, fascinating epic journey through time, focusing on the compelling,
0:20.8	wonderful, and tragic stories of North America's inhabitants, heroes, villains, leaders,
0:27.1	environment, and geography.
0:29.5	I invite you to come along for the ride!
0:59.5	Welcome to the History Unplugged Podcast, the unscripted show that celebrates unsung heroes,
1:14.6	Mythbust's historical lies, and rediscover the forgotten stories that changed our world.
1:21.3	I'm your host, Scott Rank.
1:29.0	Hi everyone, welcome to an in-between-a-so-dory answer any question that you have about history.
1:33.9	Today's question is this.
1:35.7	What would have happened if the Japanese hadn't surrendered after Nagasaki, after the dropping
1:41.1	of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki?
1:43.5	That question that you're asking right there, that's something that the US military was
1:47.4	considering very deeply, and that guided a lot of the policy of the US military to affect
1:53.9	such brutal bombing campaigns on Japan in 1945 in order to force a surrender.
2:00.7	The military was already drawing up plans of what to do if Japan hadn't surrendered and
2:05.1	a land invasion were necessary.
2:07.0	And to almost every military analyst, the prospect was absolutely horrifying.
2:11.8	To give you an idea why, let's look at the drawing up of plans for the fire bombing
2:16.5	of Tokyo, which was one of the most horrific aspects of World War II.
2:20.7	In early 1945, the US Army Air Force was faced with a dilemma.
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