You appear not to have a point. They could have surrendered w/ neither bomb. Thex didn't. They could have after 1. They didn't. Ergo, both were needed.
They did try and surrender and the allies said no.
If they wanted to surrender why didn't they just accept unconditional surrender?
The terms of unconditional surrender, specified in the Potsdam declaration were were:
1. the elimination "for all time [of] the authority and influence of those who have deceived and misled the people of Japan into embarking on world conquest" (removal of the militarist radicals basically; no mention of the Emperor.)
2. the occupation of "points in Japanese territory to be designated by the Allies"
3. that the "Japanese sovereignty shall be limited to the islands of
Honshū,
Hokkaidō,
Kyūshū,
Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine." As had been announced in the Cairo Declaration in 1943, Japan was to be reduced to her pre-1894 territory and stripped of her pre-war empire including Korea and Taiwan, as well as all her recent conquests.
4. that "[t]he Japanese military forces, after being completely disarmed, shall be permitted to return to their homes with the opportunity to lead peaceful and productive lives.
5. that "[w]e do not intend that the Japanese shall be enslaved as a race or destroyed as a nation, but stern justice shall be meted out to all war criminals, including those who have visited cruelties upon our prisoners."
And then there's' this:
1. "The Japanese Government shall remove all obstacles to the revival and strengthening of democratic tendencies among the Japanese people. Freedom of speech, of religion, and of thought, as well as respect for the fundamental human rights shall be established."
2. "Japan shall be permitted to maintain such industries as will sustain her economy and permit the exaction of just reparations in kind, but not those which would enable her to rearm for war. To this end, access to, as distinguished from control of, raw materials shall be permitted. Eventual Japanese participation in world trade relations shall be permitted."
3. "The occupying forces of the Allies shall be withdrawn from Japan as soon as these objectives have been accomplished and there has been established, in accordance with the freely expressed will of the Japanese people, a peacefully inclined and responsible government."
So they called on Japan's government to restore civil liberties to the people, guaranteed that Japan would keep non-military industries, and agreed to leave as soon as Japan was stable. While this declaration didn't come up during the Soviet-Japanese talks, the Japanese could have at least accepted these terms, or tried to discuss them. Instead, the Japanese government rejected it.
To me it seems that they knew they were going to lose, and saw "negotiations" as a way to get more than they were entitled to. It didn't go their way, so they decide to throw a tantrum, as well as their peoples lives away.
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