why didn’t they begin with dropping the atomic bombs outside cities as a warning?

Question

Why did they not drop the Atomic bombs in rural areas as a warning/show of strength before using them on cities?

In: 2423

Answer 1

There actually was some discussion about dropping it above Tokyo Bay or in a remote forested region. Fundamentally they didn’t because they were at war with Japan. They had killed a hundred thousand people in a single day of aerial bombing of Tokyo (Operation Meetinghouse), so the idea that the atomic bombs would be a huge jump up doesn’t really make sense.

They did choose not to use it on Kyoto, the original target of the Nagasaki bomb. Kyoto is a cultural heart of Japan and also was much more populous than Nagasaki. So in some sense they actually were warnings – the damage could have been much worse.