Major Powers And Nuclear Bombs

Major Powers

The United States. Since the mid-1930's, some U.S. military planners have considered airpower a means of ending a war quickly. Before World War II, they thought that a war could be shortened by using bombers to strike a quick, crushing blow against an aggressor's homeland. During World War II, this airpower theory led the United States to drop many conventional bombs on Germany and Japan. However, this did not end the war. Germany surrendered only after its army was defeated by Allied ground troops. Japan surrendered after two nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

U.S. supporters of the airpower theory thought that the successful use of nuclear bombs against Japan confirmed the theory. As a result--and because nuclear weapons are far cheaper to build and main...