Dropping the Atomic Bomb on Hirohito and Hitler: What Might Have Happened if the A-Bomb Had Been Ready Early

Description

On 2 August 1939, the renowned theoretical physicist Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Roosevelt in which he declared that "it might become possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium." He went on to declare that "extremely powerful bombs of a new type may thus be constructed." Shortly after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Congress allocated substantial funds to allow research to be undertaken to follow through on Einstein’s idea and build an atomic bomb. Few, if any, could have imagined what they had agreed to support. But what if actual events had taken a different course? Dropping the Atomic Bomb on Hirohito and Hitler: What Might Have Happened if the A-Bomb Had Been Ready Early is a highly accurate, thoroughly researched, alternative history presenting a narrative of events exploring what might have happened if the atom bomb had been available somewhat earlier than it really was. What if the atomic bomb had been ready for deployment in, say, February 1945? Had the atomic bomb been ready sooner, how would this have affected the war in Europe, and in particular Germany’s surrender? What would the impact have been in the war in the Pacific against Imperial Japan, and how would the Soviets have reacted? And what would the following Cold War have looked like? These are all questions and scenarios that the author rigorously examines. Solidly based on real people and actual events, in this book James Mangi describes the Manhattan Project to build the atom bomb getting an earlier start after President Roosevelt appointed an energetic scientist, Walter Mendenhall, to study the feasibility of the bomb, instead of the more traditional bureaucrat, Lyman Briggs, he actually chose. This scenario, he reveals, might well have produced a war-ending atomic bomb earlier, the effects of which rippled through the post-war world. Cover Contents List of Illustrations List of Maps Preface PART I: ENDING THE WAR Chapter 1 Pathways to the Bomb Chapter 2 From Theory to Practice Chapter 3 The Manhattan Engineer District Chapter 4 How to Use the New Weapon Chapter 5 Atomic Timing Chapter 6 Soviet Planning Chapter 7 The Enola Gay and Bockscar Chapter 8 Soviet Advances Chapter 9 Last Days Chapter 10 Surrender and Occupation Chapter 11 German Rockets Chapter 12 Manchuria and Korea, Early 1945 Chapter 13 V Day PART II: POST-WAR GEOPOLITICS Chapter 14 Yalta Chapter 15 Korea 1945 to the Present Chapter 16 The Chinese Civil War Redux, 1945–1951 Chapter 17 Occupied Indochina, February 1945 Chapter 18 Indochina Restoration Chapter 19 Indochina Independence PART III: POST-WAR SCIENCE Chapter 20 Nuclear Research after the War Chapter 21 The Rocket Men – Germans and Russians Chapter 22 The Rocket Men – Americans Chapter 23 Soviet Rocketry after Stalin Chapter 24 Response to Sputnik Chapter 25 Missiles East and West Chapter 26 The Continuing Space Race Chapter 27 Alternative Speculation What Really Happened References Cited Index