Pardon me if this has been asked before here (pretty new to this site) but, were the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan absolutely, 100% necessary? Could there have been another way to end the war quickly or whatever the reason was?
Thanks in advance.
This is a topic which comes up on /r/AskHistorians a lot! The subreddit is also very lucky to have the incredible /u/restricteddata, who is a historian of nuclear science and technology, and who has answered similar questions quite a lot. There's a part of our Frequently Asked Questions section that is devoted to similar questions (which we've subtitled 'questions /u/restricteddata has answered'). In particular, I'd direct you to two of /u/restricteddata's answers:
What are historians' opinions on Alperovitz and Hasegawa? (Alperovitz and Hasegawa both having argued, to different extents, that the Japanese fear of Soviet invasion played a big role in their surrender)