Question by robur_58: what effects did atomic bombs in Japan by US have on USSR?
I am now studying Cold war and as one of my requirements is to research one of the events during Cold War. I’ve decided to research on atomic bombs and I was wondering what kind of effects this had on USSR. I am sure that it has something to do with bombs by US at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which could be said to be the beginning of the Cold War, but I couldn’t find good websites for this….
Answers and Views:
Answer by Spellbound (bigredan *JPA)
Stalin knew about the atomic bombs before they were dropped – the USSR’s spy network had alerted the Soviets to them.
Stalin was at Potsdam when the Hiroshima bomb was dropped and publicly he was amazed and appalled, privately he had already put Beria (head of the NKVD) in charge of the Soviet effort to acquire their own atomic capability.
A really good source for the Soviet atomic effort is “Beria. My Father” by Sergo Beria, and these websites:
http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Russia/Sovwpnprog.html
http://www.bun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~suchii/Sci.Ethics/soviet.bomb.html
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TOM B says
This is a very difficult question to answer as there are numerous of books written on the subject. Also all three nations involved have three different focuses in their historiography. The central theme in Japanese history has been the dilemma that Hirohito was in and the censorship by the Japanese military. American has focus largely on this event as the pregame warm up for the Cold War (as many of sites and comments above maintain). The Russian trend has largely focused on the "coming of age" of the Soviet Union.
Probably the best work on the subject is Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan by Tsuyoshi Hasegawa
http://www.amazon.com/Racing-Enemy-Stalin-Truman-…
This book really changed the way we look at the end of the war as he draws on Russian, Japanese, and Us archival material. The basic argument is that the atomic bombs did not force the Japanese into ending the war, but rather Russian entrance in the war is the prime motivator. And the atomic bombs only increased the rate at which the Soviet Union grabbed land in East Asia.
I hope this helps!!!! If you cannot get a copy of the book through your local library let me know and I can email you my notes from the book.
superawesome PRIYA says
The fact that the US built and had atomic weapons was not known by many. Project Manhattan was a very top-secret, undercover project, so that it was known by Soviet spies is news to me. In fact, the US didn't want anyone (especially the Soviets) to know, since they considered the bomb their "secret weapon." Although the US & the USSR were both allies, they had their differences [a MAJOR one being democracy vs. communism.]
But after the bombs were released, and after the war ended, the US & USSR became the 2 superpowers. The Cold War began, and there was a huge movement of nuclear arms buildup. While both nations knew the effects of releasing a nuclear bomb, stockpiling these weapons were considered "power." The effect of the 2 bombs that the US dropped on Hiroshima/Nagasaki is the Cold War, which lasted from 1946 until 1988! And in between this time, there were so many conflicts between the 2 nations (Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, Berlin Wall crisis, and even Afghanistan.)
Hope thathelps.