I feel like the Death Star existing at all ruins all of Star Wars, from a certain point of view.
The Americans have built (and used) the nuke, what does everyone else do? They build their own, of course! Why doesn’t the Republic start building Death Stars after VI, or, better yet, why doesn’t the Empire build like 20 after their rise to power? Realistically the sequel trilogy should be about two sides having nuclear bombs pointed at each other yelling.
But it’s Star Wars, so it doesn’t need to make realistic, logical sense. The expanded universe tells us all the reasons that this doesn’t happen. Moviegoers don’t get that info, but they don’t care because the story is about the characters.
The Atomic Bomb is different because it has never been used by bad people. It’s two proper uses were the lesser of two evils at a time of world war. But if North Korea started decimating cities with no weapons, I’d bet the entire world would illegalize nukes once North Korea’s dealt with.
My sweet summer child…
Geneva Convention?
There is good evidence the bombs did not have to be dropped and that the US did so to let the USSR know they had them.
I agree that the U.S had an ulterior motive for using the bombs. But it’s not like Operation Downfall was a great looking alternative, and that’s what it would come to if much of the Japanese army leadership had their way.