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Btw. just to the WW II discussion. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not the most devastating bomb attack on the Japanese soil during the WW II.
That happened when several months earlier Kyoto was bombed with firebombs creating a circle of fire that burned down the whole center of the city, built almost exclusively from wood. With no means of escape.
This cost more than 100 000 casualties that night and is most likely, by today, the most devastating bomb attack of all time.
Even after the nukes were used, several high commanding Japanese officers orchestrated an attempted coup trying to continue the war. All of those committed suicide after.
As terrible as it was, without using the nuclear power a ground invasion would likely be necessary. A paradox is that this horrible act most likely, at the end of the day, actually saved more Japanese lives than it cost.
Just for illustration the ratio between US and Japanese casualties during the Pacific war stood at 1:14.
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