"Nukes made Japan surrender" is a lie americans keep repeating to make themselves feel good about what is probably one of the most horrible mass civilian casualty event of the last century. Every single serious researcher, both at the time and today agree that Japan would have surrendered. Every single event, document, information points this way.

Justifying nukes with "we could have done something worse" is... an incredibly american thing to say, yes.

You should change your name to "Captain Straw Man"--Funny how you translated "nukes saved American lives" into "nukes made Japan surrender".

The US had already firebombed many Japanese cities with conventional weapons, causing death and destruction on the scale of Hiroshima

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_(10_March_194...

Using the atom bomb was just making an existing policy more effective, because you could flatten a city with one bomber instead of ~300.

The bombs didn't cause Japan to surrender. The bombs plus the Soviet declaration of war, invoking both the almost certain defeat of the Kwantung Army on the Asian mainland and a grueling defense against both the Soviet Union and Western allies contributed too. And the surrender was almost stopped by a coup at the very last minute.

>The bombs didn't cause Japan to surrender.

According to Togo they did:

>...Meanwhile in the afternoon of August 8, before the entry of the Soviet Union into the war or the bombing of Nagasaki, the emperor met with Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo. Shortly after the war, Togo affirmed that the emperor stated the war must end at this meeting. New evidence now confirms Togo’s account that it was the atomic bomb that moved the emperor to decide to end the war.

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/japans-surren...

Thanks a lot for this link.

The followup article <https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/japans-surren...> mentions that while the Soviet Union didn't pose much threat to the home islands, it would and did steamroll the armies on the Asian mainland. Ensuring these forces actually abided by to the surrender terms was crucial. So atomic bombs threatening Japan proper and the Soviet Union threatening the land forces in Asia provided the "cover" for the surrender terms.

Many people who were in positions to know the real conditions and prospects opposed the use of nuclear bombs on strategic and ethical grounds: https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2021/06/05/who-opposed-nuking-j...