LogFAQs > #970817850

The first bomb was used because Japan was not calming down. It was believed that a land invasion of Japan would have been the deadliest battle in human history. At least in that war for sure

We didn't need the 2nd bomb. Japan was in the process of surrender but the official message took time to get to us, and the official stated reason for the 2nd bomb was "Japan was too slow to respond"

But the real reason was to show off to the Soviets and make them fear us

Also if the land invasion had happened, Russia was going to join in and Japan probably would have been split like Germany, with half owned by the US and half by the soviets. Western Japan likely would have become a communist territory