Japan was already going to surrender. Their final decision came down more to the Soviets opening up a second front on top of the overall progress of the US in its island hopping campaign and defeat of the IJN than the use of Nuclear bombs.
That is far from agreed upon. A popular view is that neither the atomic bomb alone, nor the Soviet invasion of Manchuria alone, would have caused Japan to surrender when it did.
That’s part of it, but it’s also just a fundamental misconception it seems everyone shares, that making life horrible will force surrender.
And in fairness, there is a level of destruction that will do that - ask Japan about that.
Japan was already going to surrender. Their final decision came down more to the Soviets opening up a second front on top of the overall progress of the US in its island hopping campaign and defeat of the IJN than the use of Nuclear bombs.
That is far from agreed upon. A popular view is that neither the atomic bomb alone, nor the Soviet invasion of Manchuria alone, would have caused Japan to surrender when it did.