For Peace-loving People Everywhere

[Burning Petard]

On this day in 1945, the only nation to ever use atomic weapons against another nation, dropped the bomb on Nagasaki.

Just remember, Americans are willing to cross a frozen river to kill you in your sleep. On Christmas. Not kidding. We've done it.

snailgate

[Bicycle Bill]

On this day in 1945, the only nation to ever use atomic weapons against another nation, dropped the bomb on Nagasaki.

snailgate

And three days later we did it again, just to prove that the first one wasn't a fluke.

Remember, Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus.

-"BB"-

[Big RR]

No BB, Nagasaki was the 3 days later bomb; the bomb on Hiroshima was dropped Aug 6.

[BoSoxGal]

At first I thought it was odd that you made a thread about Nagasaki instead of Hiroshima.

But then Nagasaki was the bomb that really proved the depths of American depravity. We did it twice, when we didn’t even need to do it once.

[Econoline]

Hindsight is 20/20.

[BoSoxGal]

Hindsight is 20/20.

We had this argument in another thread just recently; there was plenty of high level opposition to the bombing at the time when it was being considered.

I look at the anti Asian violence in our society today and it isn’t hard to figure out why we dropped The Bomb(s).

[Burning Petard]

I am old enuff to remember the U.S government information services providing educational material to help the ordinary citizen distinguish between the 'bad' Asiatics (you know, the ones we had to put in concentration camps in California) and the 'good' ones like that nice man Chiang Kai-shek. It just took careful examination of the slant of the eyes,. the color of the skin.

Perhaps some archivist can bring that out again. It would be so useful I fondly recall siting in a coffee house in Heidelberg listening carefully as a person with a Greek passport explained to me the wisdom of the Third Reich and the scientific truth that established the Arabs of North Africa were actually of the Aryan race.

The inner workings of the human mind is a marvel.

snailgate

[Bicycle Bill]

At first I thought it was odd that you made a thread about Nagasaki instead of Hiroshima.

But then Nagasaki was the bomb that really proved the depths of American depravity. We did it twice, when we didn’t even need to do it once.

What was your Daddy or Grampa doing in 1945?

I had uncles who actively served during WWII; one on a destroyer (not sure exactly where; it's not something he talked a lot about), another (my godfather) was a chief mechanic on a P-47 in the ETO.   I also had a neighbor — who went on post-war to become a lawyer and eventually a municipal judge — who was a member of a tank crew (and earned, among other things, a Purple Heart).   Had that high-level opposition to the bombing prevailed and it had become necessary to use alternate methods to force the Japanese to capitulate — whether that would have involved an all-out invasion of the home islands or just a 'ring of steel' blockade to choke off their supply lines and literally starve them into submission — any of them could have found themselves on a landing craft or on-board a ship fending off suicide attacks, with the end result that I might never have known either or both of my uncles or my next-door neighbor, because they might have become just one more name on a memorial to WWII dead.

And remember too ... before the two atomic devices were used, we had already been dropping incendiary bombs and creating firestorms over several Japanese cities — yes, targeting civilians, but unconditional war, by definition, means a minimum of restrictions — in an effort to force the Japanese public to revolt against the warlords and the military (with a marked lack of results).   This would undoubtedly have continued and most likely would have resulted in a loss of Japanese (civilian) life far greater than those that were killed, injured, or otherwise affected in and around Hiroshima and Nagasaki — and I'm sure your fuzzy-wuzzy conscience would nowadays find that equally as abhorrent.

-"BB"-

[Burning Petard]

There are so many interesting rabbit holes here. In the post at the top of this thread I alluded to the American Revolution heroic Battle of Trenton, that is reenacted each Christmas near where I live. The well known painting memorializing this event, which we have all seen, was actually done by a German painter and the original painting was on view in a museum in Bremen, which painting was destroyed by the Allies via air raids during WWII. Can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

War is not nice. BB, I am pretty sure you have Japanese components on your bicycle now. There is no time machine or do-overs in history. But history can be an informative source for seeing possible 'unforeseen consequences' Here we are now observing what seems to be something like the Crimean War, embellished by Stalin's exploitation of the Ukraine.

snailgate

[Big RR]

BP--I always thought the original was in the amphitheater right by Washington's Crossing; I recall seeing it when I was in grade school and we visited the park on a class trip. I was a giant rendition (then again, I was smaller) which was shown at the beginning and end of the presentation about the crossing (I think the presentation was live, as I recall). Another childhood memory shattered.

[Sue U]

BP--I always thought the original was in the amphitheater right by Washington's Crossing; I recall seeing it when I was in grade school and we visited the park on a class trip. I was a giant rendition (then again, I was smaller) which was shown at the beginning and end of the presentation about the crossing (I think the presentation was live, as I recall). Another childhood memory shattered.

From the Washington Crossing (PA) Historic Park website:

The Visitor’s Center also contains a 248-seat auditorium for movies, concerts, speaking engagements and community gatherings. The auditorium contains an exact replica of Emanuel Leutze’s famous painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware River.

[Big RR]

An "exact replica"; I've always had a keen eye for art, so I guess it took an exactly replica to fool me.

[Sue U]

An "exact replica"; I've always had a keen eye for art, so I guess it took an exactly replica to fool me.

Never fear! The original (not the original original, but the original of the well-known original copy) is at The Met (museum, not opera), which I imagine is easier for you to get to than Bucks County, PA, should you have the urge to see it in the flesh, as it were.

ETA:

The well known painting memorializing this event, which we have all seen, was actually done by a German painter and the original painting was on view in a museum in Bremen, which painting was destroyed by the Allies via air raids during WWII.

Ack-shu-ally, according to The Met, the well-known painting that we have all seen is the artist's own 1850 copy (or second version) of the 1849 original (which had remained in Germany at Bremen and was destroyed in WWII).