Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Preceding the use of both nuclear bombs, the USA, the Republic of China, and the United Kingdom had all been calling for Japan’s surrender. Many Japanese cities had been firebombed for months, yet still Japan did not surrender. All the while, the USA had been developing a powerful new weapon: the nuclear bomb. Many scientists, some of whom had even originally worked to develop the bomb, rallied against the use of the powerful weapon. The consequences of actually putting the atomic bomb to use were unknown, though it was clear that the results would be overwhelmingly destructive. Despite this, Harry Truman ordered that the first bomb, deceptively named “Little Boy,” be dropped over Hiroshima. His order was carried out on August 6, 1945, and the second bomb, “Fat Man,” was detonated over Nagasaki only 3 days later. The results were incomprehensibly devastating. Both cities were nearly annihilated almost instantaneously, taking over one hundred thousand lives in the process. Some of the victims were incinerated at the moment of the blasts, others died in a matter of hours or days, succumbing to burns, radiation sickness, injuries resulting from shrapnel, and many other horrors. The range of symptoms and injuries was so diverse, and the number of victims so massive that many Japanese were not able to access medical attention, as Japan’s medical resources were overwhelmed. On August 15, 1945, Japan announced its surrender to the Allies, and then signed the Instrument of Surrender on September 2, 1945, finally ending the war. The effects of the bombs did not cease after Japan’s surrender, though. For years after the two attacks, Japanese citizens that had previously thought they had escaped unharmed began to develop leukemia and other radiation related sicknesses. The overarching effects on human beings and the land itself that resulted from the detonation of the two bombs are not entirely understood, even today. The morality of allowing for the use of the bombs is still a widely debated, sensitive topic.