Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The decision to use nuclear weapons on Japan was made after an analysis showed that more than a million people—combatants and civilians of both nations—would die if Japan was invaded by Allied forces. The nuclear bombings, while shocking and unprecedented, actually paled in comparison with the Operation Meetinghouse firebombing of Tokyo on March 9/10, 1945, which killed 100,000 civilians and destroyed 16 square miles in a single night. Doing nothing or waiting for surrender was not an option because hundreds of thousands of combatants, civilians, and prisoners of war were dying each month in the territories of the Empire of Japan.