Ep 137: Richard Frank on Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and World War II’s Endgame

Richard Frank, historian and author of Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire and Tower of Skulls: A History of the Asia-Pacific War: July 1937-May 1942, joins the show to talk about the controversial legacy of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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Times 

    •      02:05 Introduction 

    •      02:15 Soldier/Lawyer/Historian

    •      09:19 Early controversy 

    •      14:55 Counting all the dead    

    •      21:54 Contemplating invasion

    •      30:10 1:1 ratio, recipe for a bloodbath

    •      38:03 Why unconditional surrender? 

    •      40:48 Two steps to end the war

    •      46:54 A combination of forces 

    •      51:08 How many bombs?

    •      54:01 Thinking as your enemy does

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Find a transcript of today’s episode on our School of War Substack