The war had already been won thanks to Stalingrad. Dresden was entirely unnecessary, and many of its participants agree. The same goes for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki- Japan had already offered terms of surrender prior to the bombing, with the one bugaboo being they got to keep their emperor (which they ended up doing even after those two cities were bombed). In both instances, certain individuals wanted to test out their new toys before the war ended and they were made redundant.
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