Hiroshima and Nagasaki The Atomic Bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Background: After the German surrender on May 8, 1945, the Americans wanted to end the war in the Pacific as quick as humanly possible. Though the Japanese forces were incapable of standing up to the Americans, they still owned large amounts of land.

Alternatives Planned: The US wanted to avoid a campaign of “Island-Hopping” whereby they go from island to island and conquering the Japanese. However, this strategy would take a very long time and cost a lot of lives. The use of chemical and biological weapons (such as Mustard Gas) was also considered by the USA.

The Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project began in 1939 and it was the secret development of atomic weapons. It was feared that the Nazis would develop these weapons first, as they had a head-start on developing them. Albert Einstein did not help design Atomic weapons, but he told the US President about their risk and recommended that the US develop their own Atomic program. Einstein later said: “I made one great mistake in my life—when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made; but there was some justification—the danger that the Germans would make them .”

Approval To Bomb On July 25, 1945, the use of a “special bomb” was approved. The criteria for targets were: 3 Mile target zone Large Urban zone Unlikely to be reached via an “Island Hopping” campaign before August 1945 The selected targets were Kokura, Hiroshima, Yokohama, Niigata and Nagasaki There was discussion about warning the Japanese about the bomb, however it was decided that would make the psychological impact of the weapon inefficient and would reduce the chance of a Japanese surrender.

Just Quietly... Russian Spies had infiltrated the Manhattan project and were keeping a very close eye on things. The main reason why America was using the bomb was to end the war with Japan. However, it was also a show of force to the Russians.

The Bombers Hiroshima was targeted because it was a major sea port. Nagasaki was targeted because it was a large industry center. Also, one factory in Nagasaki built the Type 91 Torpedoes that were very successfully used against the Americans at Pearl Harbour. The bombs were delivered by a B-29 Superfortress. These planes could fly high enough to avoid detection by the Japanese and had been very successful at bombing Japanese cities previously. The “Enola Gay” was the B-29 that bombed Hiroshima and the “Bockscar” bombed Nagasaki

The Bombs Fat Man Little Boy Fat Man was the bomb used on Nagasaki. It used a detonation method that resulted in a larger explosion from a similar amount of radioactive material. It resulted in large amounts of radioactive fallout. It exploded with the force of 21 Kilotonnes of TNT. It had a blast radius of about 5 kilometers. It “missed” its target zone, but still managed to wipe out 70% of the industrial zone. Little Boy Little Boy was the bomb used on Hiroshima. It used a different detonation method, that did not result in large amounts of radioactive fallout. It exploded with a force of 16 Kilotonnes (16,000 tonnes) of TNT. Or the equivilant of 200 bombing runs. The blast radius was about 3 kilometers wide and had an impact which caused fires 6 and a half kilometres away. It was regarded as being inefficient and not powerful enough.

Hiroshima Before\After

The Blast Itself Some people were literally vaporised. Some left behind a shadow of where they were when the bomb hit and that’s all that is left of them. Nothing within the blast itself was left standing. The fireball reached a temperature of 6,000 Degrees. 3.2 kilometers of Hiroshima was on fire after the explosion. This fire consumed all evidence of human life in some parts. 166,000 People were killed 6000 People were killed later on due to radioactive fallout.

Nagasaki Before\After

The Nagasaki Bomb: Stats on the Nagasaki bomb blast were not published. The Fat Man design was “kept” and further Nuclear weapons were built based off its design. Bear in mind that the bomb used at Nagasaki was even more powerful than the one used on Hiroshima. 80,000 people were killed in Nagasaki, despite the bomb landing “off-target”

The End Result: The Nagasaki Bomb was dropped on August 9. On August 12, Japan agreed to surrender. Emperor Hirohito said: “The enemy now possesses a new and terrible weapon with the power to destroy many innocent lives and do incalculable damage. Should we continue to fight, not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization.” The official surrender and end of World War 2 was September 2, 1945

Your Task: Why did America decide to use the Atomic Bomb? In a paragraph, describe what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki What happened after the Bombs were dropped? In 3 Paragraphs, explain if you think using the atomic bomb was the right idea and why. Think about who was targeted, what alternatives there were, what the result was and whether or not “it was worth it”.