Building The Atomic Bomb

The beginnings of the Nuclear Age started when Albert Einstein wrote to President Franklin Roosevelt warning him of a dangerous weapon the Nazis had begun researching, known as the atomic bomb. (1) Though, when President Roosevelt first read this letter, he was too preoccupied with events in Europe to be bothered with such ideas. He at the time did not take the creation of such weapon to seriously, nor did he believe America had the resources for such a task. (2) Finally, on October 19, 1939 President Roosevelt wrote back to Einstein stating that the United States had begun to research the power of uranium. (2) With the help of the British, whom reluctantly gave the United States leadership on this project, in June of 1942 the Manhattan Project had begun, though most of the world had no idea that this was even happening, not even Vice President Truman. (2)

1. The bombings killed 129,000-246,000 people in total over two to four months. The Japanese army managed to kill over 300,000 people in a single city over a span of just over a month. People really shouldn't be calling the bombings truculent when Japan's allies, the nazis, started the Holocaust and committed genocide .2. The US even gave Japan a chance to surrender before the bombs were dropped by issuing the Potsdam declaration which stated that if they didn’t surrender, Japan would face “prompt and utter destruction”. Japan did not surrender so they had to face the consequence. The US could have just dropped the bombs without any warning, but they decided to give Japan a chance to surrender first. This shows that the US were not inhumane in the bombings of Hiroshima and

The invention of the atomic bomb took several years and after many trials and errors the invention was finally complete. Albert Einstein wrote to President Roosevelt in 1939 about

Part of the city was virtually leveled by the time the dust had settled. Thousands more people died months and years after from injuries and radiation poisoning. The second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan just 3 days later on August 9th, 1945. The original target for the second bomb, codenamed "fat man", was the city kokura but the target was obscured by clouds over it. This time, over 3.5 square miles of the city was destroyed and over 60,000 people were killed instantly. Also like last time, thousands more people died years after from injuries and radiation poisoning. These two bombs brought about the end of WW2, but they also brought the beginning of the nuclear arms race.

With the new working bomb, during World War II American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first atomic bomb called the little boy weighing 9,000 pounds on Hiroshima, Japan instantly killing eighty-thousand people then killing over tens of thousands of people after due to radiation exposure. Three days later another bomb

The first atomic bomb that Japan was to get a glimpse of was on August 6th, 1945, during World War II in the city of Hiroshima. The explosion annihilated 90 percent of the city; without hesitation killed 80,000 people. More than tens of thousands of people would have eventually died due to radiation exposure. Within three days of the attack, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb in another location known as Nagasaki, killing an estimation of 40,000 people. Hirohito, Japan’s emperor announced his country’s unequivocal surrender in WWII in a radio address on August 15th, in allude to the calamitous power of “a new and most cruel bomb.” President Truman had to make one of hardest pre arrangements that he had ever faced. Truman based this decision off of the results of to justify the cost of the Manhattan project, in response of

On August 2, 1938, in the heat of World War II, Albert Einstein, a physicist born in Germany, sent a letter to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States. The letter suggested America to build an atomic bomb before the Nazi Germany does. However, it took more than two months for the letter to reach Roosevelt. On October 19, 1938, Roosevelt agreed, replying, “I found this data of such import that I have convened a Board … to thoroughly investigate the possibilities of your suggestion regarding the element of uranium” (“President Roosevelt's response to Dr. Einstein”). As a result, America held a secret program, code named Manhattan Project, and started to build new, destructive weapons in a laboratory in Los Alamos,

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture and is the largest city of Chūgoku region of western Honshu which is the largest island of Japan. On August 6, 1945 at 8:15 A.M. during World War II the United States Army Air Forces ( otherwise known as USAAF) dropped an atomic bomb on the city and the city became known as the first city in history to be targeted by a nuclear weapon. The atomic bomb dropped by the United States on the city directly killed about 70,000 people including 20,000 Japanese combatants and 2,000 Korean slave laborers but by the end of the year due to radiation and injury the death count had leapt to approximately 90,000-166,000. Along with the fatalities about 70% of the cities largest buildings were

The creation of the atomic bomb, and subsequently the Manhattan Project, was created in response to the belief that the German Government was in the process of creating atomic weapons. This belief was expressed to President Roosevelt in a letter written to him by Albert Einstein, who introduce Roosevelt to the ability of atomic weapons and shared with him that the German Government had stop selling the crucial ingredient of uranium from their recently

On August 2, 1939, just before the beginning of World War II, Albert Einstein wrote to then President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Einstein and several other scientists told Roosevelt of efforts in Nazi Germany to purify uranium-235, which could be used to build an atomic bomb. It was shortly thereafter that the United States Government began the serious undertaking known then only as "The Manhattan Project." Simply put, the Manhattan Project was committed to expediting research that would produce a viable atomic bomb.

Demarko Gates Mrs. Dean English 3 1 May 2015 The Atomic Bomb Threescore and fifteen years ago, America dropped the first nuclear bomb on two civilian cities in japan. Hiroshima and nagasaki, adding up to a sum of over 200,000 civilian casualties(compton). Several questions have arisen about the development, whether or not dropping the bomb was necessary, why did America decide to bomb two entire populated cities and what may have happened if America had not dropped the bombs .

Citizens do play a role in warfare. Every single victim in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not innocent in the war efforts. Many of them probably worked in the manufacturing plants and arms factories. However, they are doing no different from what Nazi Germany did, the Soviet Union, and the United States. During a war, there is a necessity for weapons. Wartime is a major cause of increasing domestic manufacturing. These civilians were following the orders of their government. They were doing their job in creating weapons for the army. The citizens should not be penalized and victimized simply because they are making weapons to support the government’s wishes. The Truman Administration provided numerous warning to the Japanese, they chose to

America, along with their allies, Britain and the Republic of China called for Japan’s surrender. They said failure to comply would result in utter destruction. Japan chose to ignore the request and proceeded with business as usual. Dr. Robert Oppenheimer and staff came together to discuss the plan of attack, but the final decision fell squarely on the shoulders of Harry Truman, President of The United States who had taken office only a few months before (“J. Robert”). The United States followed through on their threat. One of the first two Atomic Bombs created by the Manhattan Project, “Little Boy,” was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945; it developed an explosion corresponding to a 15 kiloton TNT explosive. The bomb generated such a mighty heat of 7,000 degrees. “Little Boy” weighed 9,700 pounds and was ten feet long and had a diameter of twenty eight inches. “Little Boy” was responsible for killing about 200,000 people. People perished and the uranium contained in this bomb immediately penetrated people’s bodies closing down bodily functions, the kidneys being one of the first things to fail. Toxic damage to the blood stream gave people very little chance of recovery (“Little Boy”).

Through the efforts of the “Manhattan Project” and the scientists within it, several nuclear bombs were created. Two of which, “Little Boy” and “Fat Man,” ended up being dropped on Japan. “Little Boy,” the only uranium bomb created was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 (Batchelder 99-105). “Fat Man,” the second nuclear bomb ever used in warfare, detonated above Nagasaki on August 11, 1945 (Batchelder 95-105). The leaders of the United States, decided that dropping the newly developed atomic bombs on Japan was the smartest action they could take at the time, given the current situation that the United States and the world was in. Dropping the bombs on Japan was mainly motivated by the belief that human lives could be saved. A massive invasion of the Japanese mainland was the only other option if no bombs were going to be dropped. The fact that the Japanese main army of approximately two million had never before been defeated on top of the Japanese terrain which was much better suited for guerrilla warfare than the mechanical ways of the U.S. put estimated American deaths alone well over the deaths at Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined (Batchelder 114-118).

On August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber named Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb, "little boy" on Hiroshima, Japan. Hiroshima had been almost eradicated with an estimated 70-80,000 people killed. Three days later, a second, more powerful bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, killing over 100,000 people. Since Japan was economically and militarily devastated by the late summer of 1945, the use of the atomic bombs on an already overcome Japan was unnecessary and unwarranted in bringing about a conclusion to the war in the Pacific.