August 9th 1945: Nagasaki bombed
On this day in 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, in the second nuclear attack in history. Whilst other Axis powers, including Nazi Germany, had already surrendered earlier that year - thus ending the war in the European theatre - Japan had continued to fight the Allied forces. Throughout the war, the United States had been working on the top-secret Manhattan Project, seeking to harness the destructive power of nuclear energy. The bomb was successfully developed, and nuclear attacks were deemed necessary by the United States government under President Harry Truman, to end the war and avoid a costly land invasion of Japan. On August 6th 1945, the American plane Enola Gay dropped the bomb called ‘Little Boy’ on Hiroshima, which killed around 70,000 people instantly. The effects of the radiation killed thousands more in later years, resulting in a catastrophic death toll of around 140,000 people. Three days later, the second bomb was dropped from the Bockscar plane. The initially planned second target was the city of Kokura, but poor visibility led to the ‘Fat Man’ bomb being dropped on Nagasaki instead, resulting in the loss of around 75,000 lives. In both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the vast majority of casualties were civilian. In the aftermath of the devastating attacks, Japan surrendered to the Allies on August 15th, ending the war in the Pacific theatre of World War Two. Today, the atomic-bomb scarred cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki provide a sharp reminder of the horrors of nuclear warfare.
70 years ago today
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