Atomic Bombs On August 6, 1945 a tragic event happened that shocked our nation and the world with

its unexpected and beyond devastating consequences. As an attempt to end the war with Japan, an American B-29 Bomber, Enola Gay dropped the world first deployed atomic bomb, Little Boy on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The explosion leveled almost 90% of the city, instantly killed 80,000 to 140,000 people and seriously injured 100,000 more. Sadly, even with Hiroshima in ruins, covered with heavy smoke and a tremendous amount of radiation, Japan still stubbornly refused to surrender. This led to the second bomb, Fat Man dropped on Nagasaki three days later. The bomb itself, while much complex and deadly than Little Boy, fortunately didnt caused as much fatalities and destruction due to Nagasakis hilly topography. However it seemed like only a small mercy as loss of lives remained horrifically high. The exact number of casualties was impossible to determine. The Japanese listed only those they could verify and set the official estimate at 23, 753 killed, 1,927 missing, and 23, 345 wounded. Both attacks weakened Japan greatly. Saddened by the heartbreaking loss of lives and catastrophic aftermaths, Japans emperor Hirohito announced his countrys unconditional surrender on August 15th. By May of 1945 the war in Europe finally came to an end when an exhausted and overrun Germany surrendered. But the war in Japan was still raging on. Americans soldiers and civilians were weary from four years of war yet the Japanese was still refusing to give up. In the Japaneses minds, there is nothing more shameful and dishonorable than giving up. In her entire history, Japan had never been invaded nor defeated. When Harry Truman (our president at that time) learned about the success of the Manhattan Project, he faced the most difficult decision in his life, to drop the atomic bombs on Japan. He believed the decision was necessary as it saved many Americans lives. He stated that the bombings would also potential saved Japanese lives as well since prolonging the war was not an option. The reasons why he chose

Hiroshima and Nagasaki was purely military. The cities had been relatively untouched during the war. Not to mention Hiroshima is a strategic target that it was a major port and military headquarters. The Target Committee wanted the first bomb to be sufficiently spectacular for the importance of the weapon to be internationally recognized when publicity on it was released. Whether or not it was the right thing to, the bombs did however bring an end to the most destructive war in history. To this day the attacks remained as the most controversial acts in military history. Some critics believed that Trumans decision was an immoral, barbaric and unnecessary act that brought negative long term consequences to the United States. The American government were accused of racism on the grounds that such a device would have never been used against white civilians. Other people claimed that Truman had ulterior motives. Rather than using the bombs to forces the Japanese to surrender, it was more like an intimidation against the Soviets. Regardless, the United States remained as the first and only nation in the world to have used a nuclear weapon on another nation.