History Unplugged Podcast

Scott Rank

Does Waging War Viciously Actually Save Lives? A Look at the WW2 Decisions to Firebomb Tokyo and Drop Atomic Bombs

March 8, 2022 ● 50 min

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This is a special episode, in which the microphone is turned around and Scott is interview. He was recently on Ray Harris’ History of World War Two Podcast. We discuss some of the biggest moral quandaries of the war. They include the Fire Bombing of Tokyo (in which hundreds of thousands of civilians died in a six-hour period), the justification for dropping the atomic bombs, and the likely casualties of an Allied invasion onto the main Japanese Islands.

We also discuss the quantum leaps in technology, such as the B-29 campaign, which cost more money than the Manhattan Project, and was so complex that more crews in the early use of the plane died from mechanical failure than enemy fire.

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