Cold War Hiroshima Bombing

On the morning of August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber named Enola Gay flew over the industrial city of Hiroshima, Japan and dropped the first atomic bomb ever. The city went up in flames caused by the immense power equal to about 20,000 tons of TNT. The project was a success. They were an unprecedented assemblage of civilian, and military scientific brain power-brilliant, intense, and young, the people that helped develop the bomb. Unknowingly they came to an isolated mountain setting, known as Los Alamos, New Mexico, to design and build the bomb that would end World War 2, but begin serious controversies concerning its sheer power and destruction. I became interested in this topic because of my interest in science and history. It seemed an

Hiroshima was such an ideal target for American bombing. According to the book, this was because the city was considered an important place for establishing a military command center. Another reason was that it was a place where communication would be coordinated from. It was the perfect city for militaries to station their operations in.

When President Truman authorized the use of two nuclear weapons in 1945 against the Japanese in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II, the nature of international security was changed irreversibly. At that time, the United States had what was said to have a monopoly of atomic bombs. Soon thereafter, the Soviet Union began working on atomic weaponry. In 1949, it had already detonated it first atomic bomb and tensions began to heat up between the two countries. With the information that the Soviets had tested their first bomb, the United States began work on more powerful weapons1, and a fight for nuclear superiority had begun.

When the Soviet Union came into possession of a nuclear bomb, the realization that the horrific aftermath, much like the one in Hiroshima, could happen in America struck fear into Americans.

The United States decision to release the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a way to intimidate the Soviet Union. The United States did this by revealing to the Soviet Union what they were capable of doing during war. According to Document 3, Dwight D. Eisenhower did not want the Soviet Union to enter the war. Eisenhower believed that the United States did not need aid from the Soviet Union during war. Also, according to Document

The bomb impacted Hiroshima 800 feet from the intended target of Aioi bridge and directly impacted the Shima Surgical clinic. The bomb only delivered 13 Kilotons of energy with only 1.88 present fusion. This was far less than expected and considered a failure by the military. A little under four and a half square miles of the city was instantly destroyed (sixty-

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 USSR “perceived this as a serious threat” (Brezhkov), in comparison, Stalin's actions were viewed as threats to the West. With increased tensions between the two nations, the Cold War was soon to break out. Moving forward, in the year of 1952, the United States had successfully exploded a new hydrogen bomb “The detonation destroyed the island and sent up a three-mile-wide mushroom cloud” (Glider-Lehrman). Seeing the successful testing of a new bomb, that was supposedly stronger than an atomic one, would put any nation in a defensive state. Amidst the Cold War, the hydrogen bomb test of 1952 would result in the Soviets being constantly aware of the major threat the US has now imposed for many years to come.

Many in America believed that after the detonation of the atomic bombs that the Soviet Union will still be years away from creating it’s first. But they will soon learn that this is not the case. Just four years after the detonation of the atomic bombs over Japan, the soviet

Mankind is one of the biggest races on the Earth and with that many people, there are bound to be many mistakes. By far one of the biggest mistakes of humanity has been nuclear war and nuclear weapons. Even after copious amounts of death and destruction, mankind continues to threaten each other with these weapons of horrid violence. Some of the most notable bombings in history are the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Now things like this may happen in the future.

By then, the Soviet union was already in the process of creating their own weapons of mass destruction in order to prepare for The Cold War. America was determined to demonstrate that surrendering to the Soviet Union was not an option. As Donald Kagan states, "The bomb was dropped primarily for its effect not on Japan but on the Soviet Union. One, to force a Japanese surrender before the USSR came into the Far Eastern war, and two, to show under war conditions the power of the bomb. Only in this way could a policy of intimidation [of the Soviet Union] be successful" (Kagan, 1995). The detonation of these nuclear weapons would prove that America would not capitulate to a communist party. At the end of World War II, the relationship between the U.S and Soviet Union was badly compromised without much negotiations

Stalin felt that the bomb was a form of blackmail and intimidation and just America’s way of exerting power over the world. Truman no longer felt like America had to tolerate Russia. Towards the end of the completion of the atomic bomb Truman let it known that America would not give up their morals to keep peace with Russia. Truman was not going to let Stalin spread communism throughout the world. Stalin understood the power that the bomb held and did everything in his power to create an atomic bomb for Russia as quick as possible, so Russia and America had equal dominance. Because Stalin felt as if he was being treated unfairly by America, he began to blame World War II on capitalism and the victory of the war was due to socialism, or Russia. This built up tension ultimately led to the Cold War, a fight between socialism and communism. The atomic bomb did strain the relationship between Russia and America, but many things did stay the same between the

Truman did not have much information about the bomb, however his hatred against the Japanese, as common as the rest of Americans, with the advice of the Head of the military and in charge of the Manhattan project his decision seemed to be too easy. In fact, he gave the order to the military to employ the A-bomb as soon as it stood ready against whichever of five cities already picked out, before the Potsdam Declaration was even issued to Japan (World War II n.d.). Truman’s decision was not the correct one because there were many alternatives that could have been employed. There were arguments for using the bomb and arguments against using the bomb, nonetheless the decision happened so quickly and the American public was in the dark over the developments occurring regarding the development and exercise of the A-bomb. Americans did not learn of the bomb until after it was utilized and hidden broadly from the public for close to an entire year after the war was over (World War II n.d.).

Little Boy was an atomic made out of Uranium, it contained 140 lbs. of pure uranium.Its explosive force was equivalent as 15,000 tons of TNT. Little Boy was tested during World War II on Hiroshima in August 6, 1945.The “Fat Man” was a Plutonium bomb. Its explosive force was 10x stronger than Little Boy. Fat Man contained about 13.6lbs. of plutonium,it had the size of a soft ball! It was used against Nagasaki in August 9, 1945.

The atomic bombing of Japan was an unjustified decision that many considered was inhumane. Through the use of atomic bombs, many innocents were harmed in one way or another. Berger described the atomic bombing of Hiroshima as "a terrorist act" and that it was "evil". While Berger 's argument was extreme, the U.S. still remains unjustified because they did not know exactly how much damage the bomb would actually cause. Bombing Japan, the U.S. harmed thousands of civilians and displayed the effectiveness of the atomic bomb despite having other options to end the war.