The big difference is Japan doesn’t even exist as a nation or culture due to Operation Downfall, starvation and insanity. The reason is without nukes, the invasion of Japan would begin, and one of the most important characteristics they had is both an entire generation under propaganda, which is enough to change cultural values, and their near fanaticism of honorable death. Death and battle was frankly over glorified in Imperial Japan, and soldiers would virtually never surrender. The result is the non existence of Japan in several years.
This assumes nuclear weapon caused Japan to surrender, and without nuclear weapon Japan would not have surrendered. Such assumption is plausible but by no means certain.
The surrender was really the Emperor having a way out, and giving “the most cruel bomb” statement via a discontinuous power scale. Even so, a group of 20 year olds tried to continue the war, and the reason it failed was the Emperor chose surrender, and to Japan, the Emperor was basically as important as the God Emperor of Mankind has in the Imperium of Man from 40k. Japan had up to this point despite steadily getting worse still couldn’t surrender, and I think it was the fact that everything got worse continuously, there was no moment where it was strong enough as a rupture moment to force surrender into their heads.
I’ll grant you this though, this isn’t inevitable as a scenario. Obviously without hindsight and nukes it’s really hard to deal with, but it may not happen at all.
The big difference is Japan doesn’t even exist as a nation or culture due to Operation Downfall, starvation and insanity. The reason is without nukes, the invasion of Japan would begin, and one of the most important characteristics they had is both an entire generation under propaganda, which is enough to change cultural values, and their near fanaticism of honorable death. Death and battle was frankly over glorified in Imperial Japan, and soldiers would virtually never surrender. The result is the non existence of Japan in several years.
This assumes nuclear weapon caused Japan to surrender, and without nuclear weapon Japan would not have surrendered. Such assumption is plausible but by no means certain.
For people unfamiliar with this debate, I consider Debate over the Japanese Surrender a good introduction.
The surrender was really the Emperor having a way out, and giving “the most cruel bomb” statement via a discontinuous power scale. Even so, a group of 20 year olds tried to continue the war, and the reason it failed was the Emperor chose surrender, and to Japan, the Emperor was basically as important as the God Emperor of Mankind has in the Imperium of Man from 40k. Japan had up to this point despite steadily getting worse still couldn’t surrender, and I think it was the fact that everything got worse continuously, there was no moment where it was strong enough as a rupture moment to force surrender into their heads.
I’ll grant you this though, this isn’t inevitable as a scenario. Obviously without hindsight and nukes it’s really hard to deal with, but it may not happen at all.