How do you think WWII might have ended if the United States didn't drop the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Agreed with the statements above, but let's also be
clear.  The war would have ended the same way - with a Japanese surrender to the United
States.  Consider the military position Japan was in by early August 1945, with no
remaining air force or much of a navy to protect the home islands with.  Vulnerable to
all other kinds of bombing as well, as they had been for a year or
more. 

While historians consistently argue that the war
ended sooner with a lower cost in lives, we will never know this for sure.  The war
ended not because of the atomic bombs, but because the Emperor of Japan told the
military to lay down their weapons.  Who is to say that the Emperor would not have done
so after five more firebombings of Tokyo?  How can we accurately say what was in his
mind in early August before the bombs were dropped, or how strong his will was by that
moment?  We will never know, and at least part of why we argue that the bombs saved
lives, in my opinion, is because we find a need to justify our actions as the only
country ever to use nuclear weapons in war.