The Necessity of Evil: War

St. Augustine of Hippo once said “the unjust make war because they want to, the just because they have to.” This documentary reenacts the events leading up to one of the most graphic displays of man’s evil; the dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The events raise moral and ethical questions to this day. Harry S. Truman was tormented, before, as well as after making the decision to drop the bombs, thus bringing World War Two to a close. It is thought, that despite the incredible devastation in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that fewer lives were lost by doing so, rather than if the war had continued.

The incredibly evil battles on the islands, such as Iwo Jima, brought many to feel that America could loose upwards of two hundred thousand of our own troops if we were to invade the mainland of Japan. This would not include the casualties of both military and civilians in Japan. I know my grandfather, who fought many of the island battles including Iwo Jima, held little remorse for Truman’s decision to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. To those of us sitting in the comfort of our homes, this may seem as a cruel viewpoint. Keep in mind that we don’t have to eat our breakfast amongst piles of corpses of our friends and enemies alike.

This documentary is a reenactment that also includes actual footage of the evil events, including the only five photographs taken on the days the bombs were drooped. The dropping of the atomic bombs changed the nature of war, and raised ethical and moral questions concerning the rules of war.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Two of the many evil nightmares of World War Two.