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Revisionist History

Being that yesterday was the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, I thought it might be an appropriate time to voice some concerns of mine over how this event has been treated in posterity.

People say that history is written by the victorious, but contrary to this proverb, there has been much historical uproar -- coming from the victor's camp -- over the justifications for two atomic bombings of Japan near the end of World War Two. Not only have countless erudite treatises been composed over the supposed irresponsibility of the American Military's actions but its gotten to the point at which for some bizarre reason this revisionist history has some sort of legitimacy; an entirely inappropriate and misguided view. Americans need to cease their self deprecating historical reviews and aknowledge the truth -- that the Japanese military was structured in such a way that surrender was not an option, no matter what the human consequences might be. It therefore took a display of incredible destructive power to convince the civilian Japanese leaders(plus the emperor) of the cost of continued resistance. It was these leaders who after the bombs were dropped, managed to force the military to stand down, effectively ending World War II and saving the millions of lives that would have been lost in the invasion of the Japanese mainland. Critics who argue otherwise are just being naive. The interesting thing is that most of these critics are American, and many Japanese researchers actually contradict their beliefs with their own research and the testimony of the various Japanese governmental players at the time.

Choice Quotes:

"We of the peace party were assisted by the atomic bomb in our endeavor to end the war," Koichi Kido, one of Emperor Hirohito's closest aides, said later.

"The atomic bomb was a golden opportunity given by heaven for Japan to end the war," Hisatsune Sakomizu, the chief cabinet secretary in 1945, said later.

Posted by Nostradamus at August 7, 2003 02:36 PM