by Barbara Schoeneberger

Created on: April 10, 2010

In the heat of war, which is always a tragic matter because war is utterly destructive of the right to life, leaders must often make deeply burdensome decisions which profoundly affect innocent civilians as well as the enemy's ability to wage war.  The dropping of the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki was just such a decision.  To understand well the why of it warrants an understanding of the many factors in play at the time.

The aura of invincibleness

For centuries trouble brewed in East Asia because of Japanese aggression.  Never having known defeat - for its entire 2600 years the country was never conquered by any enemy - Japan believed in its invincibility which contributed to its belief in its superiority to all other peoples.  While the Emperor and government leaders had agreed to open the country to foreigners in the mid 1800s under threat of force from Commodore Perry, underneath the embracing of western culture and ways lay a boiling distrust of the west and fear that their country would someday be conquered by western powers. They had seen Russia attempt to take part of Manchuria and Korea in a perceived march towards Japan in 1904-05 and fought to expel the Russians from lands they themselves had either conquered or colonized.  In this Russo-Japanese war the Japanese victory over a much larger force stoked the historic self-concept of an unconquerable people.

As time went on, the aura of invincibleness coupled with distrust of Westerners caused a widespread militaristic belief that all of Asia needed to be under Japanese control with the inferior Westerners driven out. This mood led to even greater militaristic aspirations as during the Japanese expansion of the 1930s journalist Shiro Iwata wrote that Japan had a global mission: to "advance to lead the entire world." [1]

The Cult of the emperor and the growth of radical militarism

Devotion to the Emperor united the whole nation, which viewed him as a living god who demanded unquestioning obedience.  Citizens believed they had a duty to die for the Emperor in any conquest.  Using protection of the Emperor as an excuse for increasing control, aggressive militarists proliferated by the late 1920s. They spawned a thrust for ruling all of Asia while the Tokyo government proved ineffectual in halting actions which ultimately led to the shame of Japan and its occupation by the very people they feared.  Many of these actions were approved by the Emperor.

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