“What if the US never bombed Japan? Would we have gained independence in 1947?"
The answer to this plain looking question is very complex, to answer this efficiently, I would have to shed light on a few important events and analyse the course of action that it followed. The USA officially entered the WWII on December 8th, 1941, a day after the attack on Pearl by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941. This particular attack would largely determine the course of action the USA would take and the UK as an ally have to simultaneously undertake. France and UK were the two Kingpins of military might in the European Continent, both having a pretty sizeable Army, the UK had the upper hand in terms of Bomber’s and Fighter’s and also some serious firepower potential in the sea. When Germany overran France by what they called was the Blitzkrieg tactics, that was the most shocking event in the history of this world. Now German Forces at the very doorstep of UK, knocking the doors of London, Winston Churchill the then Prime Minister of UK was desperately in search of an ally who would help them in preventing the same to her Majesty’s country, not that UK’s military was any weaker than that of Hitler’s but the sheer superior numbers and technological edge the Germans had, made him nervous. Now at the same time if we look at the tactical role played by Indian Colony in the war was far from beyond small, actually Indian Soldier’s fought bravely and fiercely in nearly every theatre of the WWII, right from the deserts of Africa to the Invasion of France and the notorious Battle of Monte Cassino, but besides that India was also a supply hub which provided essential war supplies for the war effort.
The then President of USA Franklin Roosevelt was willing to extend the much needed military aid to the UK but he was also aware that UK was by now in utter despair for help so he imposed certain conditions on the UK which were known as the Atlantic Charter. The Atlantic charter required the UK to decolonize Asian territory. There were several reasons for these conditions, ranging from keeping a check on the global status of UK and by this USA made sure that the UK would lose a lot of resources thus degrading their trade prowess in the world. With the already internal political and military uprising the UK was facing in India and due to the war effort it was now becoming very expensive for the British to maintain the Indian colony and a far superior enemy at the doors, the UK had to give in to the conditions and give in to the demands of President Roosevelt. This event had set the stage for Indian Freedom as the political backing was removed from Britain’s Favour.
After the USA suffered heavy casualties in the Pacific Theatre and the Japanese digging in and fighting till their last bullet and then fighting with bayonets and swords, USA had to devise a plan to finish this war as quickly as possible with least possible causalities. So, on August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, on August 9, 1945, the US dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, and the USA received unconditional surrender from Japan on August 15, 1945. This marked the official end of WWII. Now the British facing a serious economic crisis due to this great war and a military uprising and mutinies along with the political pressure to decommission its colonies had to take the hard decision to quit India.
USA’s nuclear strike on Japan brought in the much-needed closing of war and thus it accelerated the process of British Raj shifting its focus from the war to internal matter’s and to keep the promise made to the USA of decolonizing of its Asian Colonies. If the war was to stretch on for any longer, India surely won’t have achieved its Independence from British Raj in 1947.
Thus, if the USA wouldn’t have bombed Japan, or more precisely Nuked Japan, India still would have achieved Independence, but It would still take a few more years, stretching the period of British Control over Indian territory to beyond 1947.
The then President of USA Franklin Roosevelt was willing to extend the much needed military aid to the UK but he was also aware that UK was by now in utter despair for help so he imposed certain conditions on the UK which were known as the Atlantic Charter. The Atlantic charter required the UK to decolonize Asian territory. There were several reasons for these conditions, ranging from keeping a check on the global status of UK and by this USA made sure that the UK would lose a lot of resources thus degrading their trade prowess in the world. With the already internal political and military uprising the UK was facing in India and due to the war effort it was now becoming very expensive for the British to maintain the Indian colony and a far superior enemy at the doors, the UK had to give in to the conditions and give in to the demands of President Roosevelt. This event had set the stage for Indian Freedom as the political backing was removed from Britain’s Favour.
After the USA suffered heavy casualties in the Pacific Theatre and the Japanese digging in and fighting till their last bullet and then fighting with bayonets and swords, USA had to devise a plan to finish this war as quickly as possible with least possible causalities. So, on August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, on August 9, 1945, the US dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, and the USA received unconditional surrender from Japan on August 15, 1945. This marked the official end of WWII. Now the British facing a serious economic crisis due to this great war and a military uprising and mutinies along with the political pressure to decommission its colonies had to take the hard decision to quit India.
USA’s nuclear strike on Japan brought in the much-needed closing of war and thus it accelerated the process of British Raj shifting its focus from the war to internal matter’s and to keep the promise made to the USA of decolonizing of its Asian Colonies. If the war was to stretch on for any longer, India surely won’t have achieved its Independence from British Raj in 1947.
Thus, if the USA wouldn’t have bombed Japan, or more precisely Nuked Japan, India still would have achieved Independence, but It would still take a few more years, stretching the period of British Control over Indian territory to beyond 1947.
.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment