RT delves into the secretive arsenals of nuclear weapons states on the anniversary of the first and only uses of the bomb by the US
The world is marking the 81st anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings carried out in the final days of World War II. The US attacks, carried out respectively on August 6 and 9, 1945, killed an estimated 150,000 to 246,000 people, including the immediate victims of the fission blasts and those who succumbed to wounds and radiation sickness by the end of the year. The victims of the attack, which leveled the two cities, were predominantly civilians, and the bombings remain to date the first and only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict.
The attacks are still a highly controversial topic, with no consensus on their true purpose, morality, or legality ever reached. According to pro-US researchers, the attack prompted Japan to capitulate and helped to avoid Operation Downfall, a planned amphibious assault on the country’s heartland, which would have resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides.
Critics, however, believe the nuclear bombing was excessive and served no military purpose whatsoever, constituting a war crime and the largest-ever state terror attack. According to such researchers, Japan already was on the brink of collapse due to the prolonged naval blockade and conventional bombings, while its surrender was prompted by the USSR joining the war on August 8 rather than by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: rt.com
