Hiroshima, the Atomic Bomb, and the Surrender of Japan

A couple of days ago, Morgenländer posted some quotes from General Eisenhower, in which the general said that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was unnecessary, because Japan was already defeated and they knew it.

Here is an article from Sunday's Boston Globe which tells of a historian who goes one step further and says it was actually the Russian declaration of war on Japan that was the determining factor in the decision to surrender.

If that thesis is correct, it bolsters the argument that is often made that our insistence on "unconditional" surrender was a motive for the Japanese to continue to fight even though they knew they were defeated.