Introduction
“Little Boy” and “Fat Man”, the world’s first two nuclear bombs were dropped in two major cities in Japan: Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the 6th and 9th of August 1945. This “experiment” by the United States Government completely demolished the two cities, killing over 150,000 people instantly and nearly 50,000 people died from aftermath as well as radiation.
The City of Hiroshima
At first, four cities were chosen to be possible targets of the two atomic bombs: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Niigata and Kokura. Hiroshima was the first selected city due to its military and industrial values. It was an extremely important military center, having the 2nd Army Headquarters set inside.
Hiroshima is not only a significant military center but also a communication center. Being one of the major seaports in Southern Japan, many ships and boats come and leave everyday, making it to have a population more than 255,000. Its landscape also made it stand out to be the chosen city. It is surrounded by mountains meaning that it will increase the level of destruction making it a better potential target.
The City of Nagasaki
Nagasaki was a major shipbuilding city and a large military port. It had a lot of military industries including ships, military equipment and many other materials necessary for war.
Unlike Hiroshima, Nagasaki has been bombed several times before meaning that the casualty will be much fewer in Nagasaki. Kokura was chosen instead of Nagasaki for this reason, but due to the haze that morning, the plane flew to its second target. Even though, “Fat Man” was much larger than “Little Man” it still did less damage in Nagasaki due its terrain and how the civilians were prepared for bombings already.
The Manhattan Project
The M...
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...d not surrender quickly and the war will drag into a long-drawn-out time. It will force and lead to Truman’s alternative: invade Japan. This would not only increases the resources used, but also more importantly pushes the death count up by an extensive amount of number. The Japanese still had over 4 million troops and 4,800 kamikaze pilots for suicide bombings and missions. In addition, these figures show that the invasion will cost more lives than just dropping the atomic bombs. In addition, 1,700,000 – 4,000,000 American casualties, including 500,000 fatalities, and 5,000,000 – 10,000,000 fatalities were estimated to take the US to conquer the whole of Japan (Frank 1999). This is incredibly higher than the casualties caused by the two atomic bombs: 200,000.
Another major reason for dropping the two atomic bombs is that it showed everyone the horror of mankind.
... the Japanese were unpredictable. If Harry Truman had not dropped the bombs over Japan it would have only brought on further casualties.
At that time, the schedule was delayed for fifteen minutes. Bockscar carried the atomic bomb which was Fat Man. The top target was Kokura and Nagasaki was the second target for dropping the atomic bomb. The captain who operated Bockscar had orbited for forty-five minutes around Yakushima. Then he decided to go to Kokura. At 10:20 a.m., Bockscar was flying over Kokura; however, Kokura was covered by heavy clouds and smoke because on August 8 at night, B-29s had dropped the bombs at Yawata. The captain of Bockscar thought that dropping the atomic bomb was extremely difficult and it had a chance to fail. Also, Bockscar did not have enough fuel to keep flying. Then, Bockscar changed the target from Kokura to Nagasaki. At 11:02 a.m., the second atomic bomb was dropped at Nagasaki (Harder). From a height of 9600 meter, the atomic bomb was dropped and exploded at a height of 503 meter. The power of the atomic bomb was more than the first atomic bomb. However, the damage was less than Hiroshima because of the geographical features of Nagasaki. Nagasaki was surrounded by mountains, so the mountains blocked the heat rays, radiation, and blast ("Overview.") In short, the damage in Nagasaki was less than Hiroshima even Nagasaki was exploded by the atomic
The atomic bombings left the victims and survivors with psychological scars (Sawada). The atomic bombs could have been dropped on two of Japan’s less populated cities, but because the atomic bombs were dropped on two of the Japanese’s most populated cities, many lives were lost. The bombs then could have resulted in less casualties, if dropped on a less populated city.
The city of Hiroshima was an ideal target for various reasons. First, Hiroshima is situated at the wider, delta of river Ota making it nearly level and rising a little over the sea level.
Atomic Bomb The use of the atomic bombs on Japan was necessary for the revenge of the Americans. These bombs took years to make due to a problematic equation. The impact of the bombs killed hundreds of thousands of people and the radiation is still killing people today. People today still wonder why the bombs were dropped. If these bombs weren’t dropped on the Japanese the history of the world would have been changed forever. The Atomic bomb took 6 years to develop (1939-1945) for scientists to work on a equation to make the U-235 into a bomb. The most complicated process in this was trying to produce enough uranium to sustain a chain reaction. The bombs used on the cities cost about $2 billion to develop, this also making the U.S. wanting to use them against Japan. “Hiroshima was a major military target and we have spent 2 billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history- and won.” (3) The bomb dropped on Hiroshima weighted 4.5 tons and the bomb used on Nagasaki weighted 10 kilotons. On July 16, 1945, the first ever atomic bomb was tested in the Jamez Mountains in Northern New Mexico, code named “Gadget.” The single weapon ultimately dropped on Hiroshima, nicknamed “Little Boy,” produced the amount of approximately twenty- thousand tons of TNT, which is roughly seven times greater than all of the bombs dropped by all the allies on all of Germany in 1942. The first Japanese City bomb was Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. An American B-29 bomber, named Enola Gay, flown by the pilot Paul W. Tibbets, dropped the “Little Boy” uranium atomic bomb. Three days later a second bomb named ”Fat Boy,” made of plutonium was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. After being released, it took approximately one minute for Little Boy to reach the point of explosion, which was about 2,000 feet. The impact of the bombs on the cities and people was massive. Black rain containing large amounts of nuclear fallout fell as much as 30km from the original blast site. A mushroom cloud rose to twenty thousand feet in the air, and sixty percent of the city was destroyed. The shock wave and its reverse effect reached speeds close to those of the speed of sound. The wind generated by the bombs destroyed most of the houses and buildings within a 1.
After Truman decided to bomb Japan, they had to plan it out. They first had to decide where to release the bomb. They ended up choosing Hiroshima, Japan and Nagasaki, Japan as their two locations. Hiroshima was a significant military city in the war. It confined two army headquarters and was Japan’s communication center (World War 2 Atomic Bomb 1). Hiroshima was also a huge industrial city and had not been bombed before so it would let Japan see the wrath of the United States (Koeller 1). The planning and actual event of the bombing went great. On August 6, 1945 at 8:15 in the morning the bomb was dropped. The bomb that landed in Hiroshima was called the “Little Boy” (World War 2 Atomic Bomb 2). The bomb ended up killing about 170,000 people. 70,000 people died the first day and 100,000 people died in the next few months due to the radioactivity of the bomb and burns fro...
We had fireballed over 100 different Japanese Cities and Japan was ready to surrender, bomb or no bomb. Truman’s decision to use nuclear weapons was ultimately a sign of strength from the US. To show the devastation, a survivor named Mr. Akihiro Takahashi recounts seeing his friend hurt by saying “the soles of his feet were peeling and red muscle was exposed” and “he had to crawl on his hands and knees”. Previous battles between the US and Japan almost ended with an exponentially more causalities. The average ratio was about 22 dead Japanese soldiers for 1 dead American
Do you question why America dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima? Have you wondered what happened when it hit? Have you known what it’s like to lose everything? Well in, 1945 the United State and Japan were at war with no one coming close to a surrender. Someone had to do something to make this come to a stop and that is when the United States came to the conclusion to drop the first atomic bomb. The Hiroshima bombing shows why president Truman made his decision, the effects from it, and the burden the surviving people had to face.
Firstly, the bombings were unjustified because of the locations where the bombs were dropped. Neither cities were military or naval bases. Hiroshima was “… on a river delta and had been a fishing settlement for centuries” (Lawton) while Nagasaki was a shipbuilding city. Furthermore, Nagasaki had been bombed five times in the twelve months previous to the assault by the U.S. (“The Bombing of Nagasaki”). Both cities were also highly populated leading to high casualty levels. Before the attacks, Hiroshima had a population of 255,000 people and Nagasaki was home to 195,000 people. When these cities were attacked, 70,000 out of those 255,000 died in Hiroshima and 42,000 out of 195,000 perished in Nagasaki. This means that the bombings whipped out 27% of Hiroshima and 22% of the Nagasaki population (Total Casualties).
This one was larger than the first and given the nickname of “Fat Man” as a reference to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Nagasaki initially was not a city targeted by America due to where it was located geographically. Nagasaki was located over a stretch of hills and valleys, and was determined to be problematic as the landscape would dampen the blow of the bomb not allowing the greatest affect to be reached. An article on the History Learning Site, “The Bombing of Nagasaki”, gave the following explanation why it was a secondary target as well as some of the presumed issues with it as a target for attack. “Nagasaki was a major shipbuilding city and a large military port. But it was not a favored target as it had been bombed five times in the previous twelve months and any damage caused by an atomic bomb would have been difficult to assess. Also, the way Nagasaki had grown as a port meant that the impact of a powerful bomb might be dissipated as the city had grown across hills and valleys (Trueman, 2000).” In the aftermath of this bombing it was determined that around 74,000 were killed and about the same amount of individuals were wounded. After Japan was struck these blows by America it surrendered to the Allies shortly after on the 14th of
Dropping a bomb on an urban area would really show the effect of there new creation, basically that's what they were going for. Although many say that the bombing was justifiable because it would end the war quickly and would save many people. Really the bomb wasn't meant to hit a city with industrial military warfare but just the city itself because its population.(3) The bombing of Hiroshima was not right and there is nothing that can make it justifiable because it killed thousands of innocent people not a military base. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a way that the United States could show off their new weapon and demonstrate that they were a powerful
In August of 1945, both of the only two nuclear bombs ever used in warfare were dropped on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. These two bombs shaped much of the world today.
The morning of August 6, 1945 in Hiroshima, Japan did not begin in any exceptional way; in fact the people had no idea that they were about to be part of one of the most significant mornings in all of history. At 8:15 am, the United States Army Air Forces dropped the first atomic bomb, ironically called, when one considers the enormity of the bomb's significance, the "Little Boy" Three days later the U.S. dropped a second bomb nicknamed the "Fat Man" on the town of Nagasaki, Japan. Historically, the use of the atomic bombs is seen as a decision that the United States made during WWII in order to end the war with Japan. Regardless of the motivation for using the bombs, they left a death toll of 210,000 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This essay will focus on the first bombing in Hiroshima. The bombing of Hiroshima, Japan not only changed the physical and emotional health, and culture of the Japanese people, but also changed the world. The inhumane bombing of Hiroshima had severe short and long term effects on Japan due to the reckless and inconsiderate actions of both President Truman and the United States.
Dropping the atomic bomb was a decision that no man would want to take on. Truman went with all the facts and his gut feeling. There was Great loss for Japan but even some of the Japanese soldiers were happy that the United States dropped the bomb. For it most likely saved their lives the emperor was willing to sacrifice everyone so he wouldn’t have to surrender. Whether you decide to agree with the bomb dropping or not it wasn’t about the bomb it was about ending the war. The atomic bomb is what ended the war quicker than any other options the United States had making it the best choice.
When the “Little Boy” was dropped on Hiroshima in less than a second it the fireball had consumed 900 feet of land. The damage only got worse from there on. As time ticked by two-thirds of Hiroshima’s buildings were destroyed and a black rain fell down on places untouched by the bomb. Black rain is dirt, dust, soot and highly radioactive particles that were sucked into the air at the time of the fireball. At this point America knew what is was doing yet they continued to wreck Japan. When the second bomb, “Fat Man”, was dropped on Nagasaki the terror was just the same. In seconds 40 percent of Nagasaki was in ruins. Not only did it blow apart everything in sight, but it also haunted the crops and lives for years after the bomb. “Two years after the bombing plants growing at ground zero presaged the frightening