Essays on Hiroshima

6 August and 9 August 1945

Hiroshima, Japan

On August 6, 1945, during World War II (1939-45), the United States detonated the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion killed 80,000 people immediately and tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure.

In 1940, the American government began funding its own atomic weapons development program. The "Manhattan Project" was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. Two types of atomic bombs were developed concurrently during the war: a gun-type fission weapon and an implosion-type nuclear weapon.

Hiroshima was a manufacturing center with population of 350,000 people, was selected as the first target. A modified B-29 bomber "Enola Gay", dropped the bomb—known as “Little Boy” at 8:15 in the morning. A blast was equal to 12-15,000 tons of TNT, and destroyed five square miles of the city.

Some 70,000–80,000 people, were killed by the blast and resultant firestorm, and another 70,000 were injured. Japanese officials determined that 69 percent of Hiroshima's buildings were destroyed.