While this may have been a side effect of the use of the nuclear bombs, the real reason why the US used them was a bit more dire than flexing on the USSR. I’m gonna give a history lesson on the Pacific war and Japan’s ruthlessness during the war.
Before coming into war with the US, Imperial Japan had participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War, which was a war waged against the Republic of China. It is recognized that the Japanese invasion of Manchuria was what began the war.
The most well known even out of the Second Sino-Japanese war was the Nanjing Massacre, aka Rape of Nanking. Nanjing was the then capitol of China. Imperial Japanese forces invaded Nanjing and committed mass murder and mass rape of citizens within Nanjing. Around 40k-300k died.
This had posed Imperial Japan as a force to be reckoned with. The Second Sino-Japanese war eventually melted into the Second World War in what was called the China-Burma-India theater. It proved that Japan was a deadly force in the region.
During the later years of the war, the Pacific campaign was a series of island hopping raids that would drive Imperial Japan back to their home islands. The imperial Japanese had covered a lot of the pacific islands and had made numerous attempts at flattening US naval strength.
The attack on Pearl Harbor was arguably the most successful of the attempts to crush US naval strength in the Pacific, as eight of the naval battleships were damaged, four of them being sunk, costing many hundreds of lives on the ships and the surrounding harbor.
All of the ships minus one, the USS Arizona, were raised and repaired from the harbor. Six were returned to service and went to fight in the war. Imperial Japan had declared war on the US later that day on December 7th.
During and after the attack was carried out, Japan had begun a series of campaigns in Southeast Asia, attacking Hong Kong, Thailand, the Dutch East Indies, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Malaya, Singapore and more.
Their next attack on American controlled airfields was in the Philippines, in Luzon and Cavite Naval Yard near Manila, with both attacks virtually eliminating US air strength. After this, Japan had started landings in Luzon and Lamon Bay, south of Manila.
Japan started setting a huge presence in the Pacific, going so far as to eventually reach down to Australia. At the time, Australia had focused a majority of its power in the Mediterranean, leaving a hole in their home defenses, lacking any protective methods. See this poster:
This had left Australian Prime Minister John Curtin calling Churchill and America for support. But the support came too late, as Japanese aircraft attacked the town of Darwin, and almost a hundred more attacks from air took place on Australia.
The Japanese then invaded the Australian territory of Papua, putting all of Northern Australia within range of attack by Japanese bombers. Roosevelt ordered that Douglas MacArthur take command of Australian forces reinforcing them with American troops, setting down in Melbourne.
The Allied powers stationed in the Pacific regrouped and began the Pacific War Council. They didn’t make direct operational decisions, but decisions that were made were referred to the US-UK Combined Chiefs of Staff.
Japan had complete the First Operation Phase in the Pacific and were ready to move on to the Second Operational Phase, but the Naval General Staff, the Combined Fleet, and the Imperial Army all had different ideas on how to go about it.
Generally speaking, their methods were the same. Take control of New Guinea, New Britain, the Aleutian Islands, Midway Atoll, Fiji Islands, Samoa, and strategic points near Australia.
Admiral Yamamoto, following a few successes within the Second Operation Phase, recognized that the US Navy needed to be destroyed to finalize Japanese take over of the Pacific. His target was the Midway Atoll. But the first target to set their stage to Midway was Port Moresby.
Japan had launched the attack on Port Moresby from 60 ships led by two carriers, the Shōkaku and the Zuikaku, followed by a light carrier (the Shōhō), six heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and 15 destroyers, with 250 aircraft participating with 150 more on each carrier.
But the element of surprise was lost as Allied code-breakers deciphered Japanese messages leading up to the attack on Port Moresby. They sent the carriers USS Lexington and the USS Yorktown to stop the advance. For the next few days, both forces fought on incomplete recon info.
The Lexington was sunk with the Yorktown damaged. The Shōkaku was damaged, and the Zuikaku was undamaged, but losses from the Zuikaku had made it unable to support a landing and invasion on Port Moresby. The plan to isolate Australia was stopped dead in its tracks.
The time to take Midway was coming and Yamamoto was ready to take action, as it would destroy the US’s naval influence in the Pacific and would open up for peace talks with the US that was favorable to Japan. Four carriers were dispatched: Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū, and Hiryū.
June 3rd was the beginning of the operation, with US aircraft spotted the carriers and attacked. June 4th, 108 Japanese aircraft attacked the Atoll, but did not land a decisive blow. Eventually three Japanese carriers were sunk, and the last was destroyed later.
Additional battles would take place at the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and Guadalcanal. These were strategic failures for the Japanese, as the Solomons and New Guinea were recaptured and Japanese forces lost 20,000 in Guadalcanal, to the 7,000 lost by the Allies.
After Midway, the US used the time to vastly improve numbers of ships, planes, and trained aircrew. A series of Allied offensives followed and pushed Imperial Japan back to their home islands. From 1943 to 1945, Allies fought offensives and counter-offensives, sending Japan home
Eventually this lead to the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Iwo Jima was recognized to be of strategic value for America as bass that could deploy land-based Aircraft to protect the naval fleet as they moved through Japanese waters. That’s where this picture comes from:
Okinawa was the bloodiest and largest battle fought between Japan and America. Okinawa was captured, but losses were staggering. It costed 14,009 to 20,195 American personnel deaths, and 77,166 to 110,000 dead Japanese personnel, and so many more materials were lost on both sides
Towards the end of the war, Imperial Japan was reduced to its home islands, which were being invaded by US troops constantly. This put them in a state of panic, as almost all of their top pilots were eliminated. They began using Kamikaze tactics often to increase US casualties.
But the risk of a direct invasion of mainland Japan was too high. Okinawa was a bloodbath, and the Japanese there proved they were fierce enough to throw themselves at the enemy to halt them. Mainland Japan would be a worse bloodbath, essentially Okinawa times a dozen.
In essence, strategists and Truman saw no other option than to use the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki to put Imperial Japan in a position to unconditionally surrender. Before that, however, the US extended to Japan and asked for their surrender without bloodshed.
They disagreed, and as a warning, Truman claimed that Japan would face “prompt and utter destruction.”

On August 6th, 1945, the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. It was the first nuclear attack in human history.
Truman then warned again to Japan that they should surrender or “face a rain of ruin from the air, the likes of which never been seen in this Earth.” They refused yet again, but their foundation was fundamentally broken.
On August 9th, the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. This was the last nuclear attack in human history. Around 140,000 to 240,000 people died as a result of both bombings. But the necessity of the Bombings has along been debated.
Due to the US’s proximity to the mainland, a blockade around Japan and fire bombings have been theorized to have made Japan surrender. There’s no say for sure, but this could have lead to many more casualties than the two bombs alone.
The bombs also negated the use for commencing Operation Downfall. It also helped avoid a prolonged blockade and the need for conventional Bombing or invasion, which would have lead to higher casualties on both sides.
At this time as well, the Soviets had declared war on Japan 90 days after Germany surrendered. The Soviets, battle hardened from the war in Europe, transferred to Manchuria and decimated the Japanese forces.
Japan surrendered in accordance to the Potsdam Declaration, on one condition. That the Emperor may be a sovereign ruler.

The statement made by Emperor Hirohito is as follows:
“Should we continue to fight, it would not only result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization” -Emperor Hirohito.
In Japan, August 14th is the day considered to be the end of the Pacific War. In English speaking countries, August 15th is recognized as the end of the war in the Pacific as it is called V-J Day (Victory in Japan Day).
Following the end of the war, the Allies occupied Japan, with Douglas MacArthur overseeing the post-war development of the country from Tokyo.
Whether or not the bombs would have been necessary to put Japan into a surrender state is really up to anyone and their views.

Anyways, thank you all so much for reading this! It was a lot to go through.
I personally believe that the bombs were a necessity. There was no clear option that was better than the other. Death was going to follow, no matter what was going to happen.

But it does go without saying that humanity has changed due to those bombs.
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