Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
- Submitted by: suphomedawg
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- Category: History: World Wars
- Date Submitted: 08/15/2011 10:30 AM
- Pages: 5
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“The creation of the atomic bomb and its use in Japan during the Second World War has transformed all our lives. It led to fear during the Cold War era and still poses a huge threat to all of us today.”
World War II was a war that was fought by nearly every continent on this planet. Eventually, two opposing sides were formed, namely the Allies and the Axis. The Axis was made up of Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria; the Allies consisted of China, France, Britain, Poland, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, America, Brazil and Mexico.
It eventually came down to the USA versus Japan. The United States had intensely fire-bombed Japanese cities and towns for six months, yet the Japanese had not surrendered. The Americans were desperate to end the war, and called for a surrender of Japan in July of 1945, to which the Japanese did not respond. Therefore, the American president, Harry Truman, ordered American pilots to make use of the newly developed nuclear weapons- nuclear bombs. The first town they attacked was Hiroshima, with a bomb called Little Boy. The nuclear bomb they used weighed 3600kg, was 3m long and had the power of 12.5 kilotons of TNT.
They chose to bomb Hiroshima first because it had not yet been bombed with fire bombs, and therefore it would be easy to assess the damaged caused, impressing the Japanese government. The second (and last) town they bombed was Nagasaki. That bomb was nicknamed Fat Man and killed approximately 37 000, and injured 43 000.
This nuclear weapon was deadly, and could destroy the whole world. It caused a huge amount of damage (not only in Japan) and we still see some of the long term affects of this bombing today.
People near the centre of the explosion were burned or vaporized immediately- they completely disappeared, as if nothing had ever been there. Other people who were further away were burnt or blinded. All buildings within a ten kilometre radius were burnt down, and the sun disappeared from view...
World War II was a war that was fought by nearly every continent on this planet. Eventually, two opposing sides were formed, namely the Allies and the Axis. The Axis was made up of Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria; the Allies consisted of China, France, Britain, Poland, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, America, Brazil and Mexico.
It eventually came down to the USA versus Japan. The United States had intensely fire-bombed Japanese cities and towns for six months, yet the Japanese had not surrendered. The Americans were desperate to end the war, and called for a surrender of Japan in July of 1945, to which the Japanese did not respond. Therefore, the American president, Harry Truman, ordered American pilots to make use of the newly developed nuclear weapons- nuclear bombs. The first town they attacked was Hiroshima, with a bomb called Little Boy. The nuclear bomb they used weighed 3600kg, was 3m long and had the power of 12.5 kilotons of TNT.
They chose to bomb Hiroshima first because it had not yet been bombed with fire bombs, and therefore it would be easy to assess the damaged caused, impressing the Japanese government. The second (and last) town they bombed was Nagasaki. That bomb was nicknamed Fat Man and killed approximately 37 000, and injured 43 000.
This nuclear weapon was deadly, and could destroy the whole world. It caused a huge amount of damage (not only in Japan) and we still see some of the long term affects of this bombing today.
People near the centre of the explosion were burned or vaporized immediately- they completely disappeared, as if nothing had ever been there. Other people who were further away were burnt or blinded. All buildings within a ten kilometre radius were burnt down, and the sun disappeared from view...