This month in History...

[Judy Johnstone]

August 6, 1945: The United States Drops the First Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima

I leave it to scholars of history to sort out, but in my layperson opinion:

Japan was not on the verge of surrendering prior to August 6 - Soviet invasion of Manchuria notwithstanding.
Japan fought to the death on Okinawa, the Japanese defenders of the Pacific Islands fought to the last man and never gave the slightest hint they were eager to throw in the towel.
Claims that Japan was ready capitulate and throw up its hands in surrender and submission just prior to August 6 never passed the smell test with me.

A land invasion of Japan undoubtedly would have resulted in massive casualties both for the US military and for Japanese civilians.

On the other hand, bombing a civilian population with nuclear weapons without the slightest warning has to go down in history as an affront to the conduct of moral warfare and reasonable restraint.

"Moral warefare",is that even possible?

 

[Cypress]

"Moral warefare",is that even possible?

A poor choice of words, perhaps.

I was thinking of the concept of just war theory - the theories of military restraint and just conduct as articulated as far back as the philosophers of antiquity, straight through to religious theologians of the modern era.

 

[Judy Johnstone]

A poor choice of words, perhaps.

I was thinking of the concept of just war theory - the theories of military restraint and just conduct as articulated as far back as the philosophers of antiquity, straight through to religious theologians of the modern era.

"War is Hell"

 

[Cypress]

Athens Won the Battle of Marathon on This Day in History

Sparta totally wimped out and left the Athenians to face the Persian onslaught basically on their own.

This Day in History: September 12, 490 BC: Athens Wins the Battle of Marathon

September 12, 490 BC, Persian King Darius sent an invasion force to mainland Greece to punish the Athenians and the Eretrians. The Persian army was much larger than the Athenian army. Even so, the Athenian army won an astounding victory—192 Athenians fell, as compared with 6,400 Persians. The battle marked a turning point in the Greco-Persian Wars, and a watershed moment in the history of western civilization.