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It is said that there are two views about the use of the atomic bomb, orthodox and revisionist. The orthodox view is one of solely winning the war, while the revisionist view is one of intimidating the Soviet Union. While I do not believe that the atomic bomb was a necessary weapon in this war, I do think it helped the US “kill two birds with one stone”. I think it both won the war …

…the war as orthodox views dictate, it was not needed to end the war. Japan was likely to surrender, and they posed no threat of atomic warfare. But there were definite fears by US officials of soviet expansion that needed to be resolved. I think that the revisionist views of Soviet expansion fueled the decision to build the bomb, but the orthodox view of ending the war is what sparked the decision to drop it.