> Navy Admiral William F. Halsey, Third Fleet commander, was quoted in the press as saying that the Japanese had been on the verge of surrunder before the atom bombs were dropped in the summer of 1945 and that the "atomic bomb was an unnecessary experiment..."
I suspect that the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were as much to impress Stalin as for any other purpose.
At the time of the bombings, there were literally millions of battle-hardened Soviet troops in Eastern Europe. They were also commanded by very able generals (see Zhukov).
If Stalin wanted them to, they could have easily rolled west, and the American and British armies would have been no match for the Soviet Red Army.
However, the USA had the bomb. I think Hiroshima and Nagasaki were at least in part about demonstrating the awesome power of the atomic bomb to Stalin and forestalling any temptation he might have to continue west.
I suspect that the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were as much to impress Stalin as for any other purpose.
At the time of the bombings, there were literally millions of battle-hardened Soviet troops in Eastern Europe. They were also commanded by very able generals (see Zhukov).
If Stalin wanted them to, they could have easily rolled west, and the American and British armies would have been no match for the Soviet Red Army.
However, the USA had the bomb. I think Hiroshima and Nagasaki were at least in part about demonstrating the awesome power of the atomic bomb to Stalin and forestalling any temptation he might have to continue west.