Aug.

6, 1945 Atomic bomb dropped on

Hiroshima

The United States becomes the first and only nation to use atomic weapons during wartime when it drops
an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Though the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan
marked the end of World War II, many historians argue that it also ignited the Cold War.

Since 1940, the United States had been working on developing an atomic weapon, after having been
warned by Albert Einstein that Nazi Germany was already conducting research into nuclear weapons. By
the time the United States conducted the first successful test (an atomic bomb was exploded in the desert
in New Mexico in July 1945), Germany had already been defeated. The war against Japan in the Pacific,
however, continued. President Harry S. Truman, warned by some of his advisers that any attempt to
invade Japan would result in horrific American casualties (deaths), ordered that the new weapon be used
to bring the war to a speedy end. On August 6, 1945, the American bomber Enola Gay dropped a five-ton
bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. A blast equivalent to the power of 15,000 tons of TNT
reduced four square miles of the city to ruins and immediately killed 80,000 people. Tens of thousands
more died in the following weeks from wounds and radiation poisoning. Three days later, another bomb
was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, killing nearly 40,000 more people. A few days later, Japan
announced its surrender.

In the years since the two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, a number of historians have suggested
that the weapons had two goals. First, of course, was to bring the war with Japan to a speedy end and
spare American lives. It has been suggested that the second goal was to demonstrate the new weapon of
mass destruction to the Soviet Union. By August 1945, relations between the Soviet Union and the United
States had worsened. The Potsdam Conference between U.S. President Harry S. Truman, Russian leader
Joseph Stalin, and Winston Churchill ended just four days before the bombing of Hiroshima. The meeting
was marked by suspicion between the Americans and Soviets. Russian armies were occupying most of
Eastern Europe. Truman and many of his advisers hoped that the U.S. atomic power might offer
diplomatic advantage over the Soviets. In this fashion, the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan can be
seen as the first shot of the Cold War. If U.S. officials truly believed that they could use their atomic
power for diplomatic advantage, they had little time to put their plan into action. By 1949, the Soviets had
developed their own atomic bomb and the nuclear arms race began.

Citation:

History.com Staff. "Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima." History.com, A&E Network, 2009,
www.history.com/this-day-in-history/atomic-bomb-dropped-on-hiroshima.