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Nuclear Weapons And The Bombing Of Hiroshima

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The panel presentation that I will be reflecting and be debating on is the development of nuclear weapons and the bombing of Hiroshima. The origin of the nuclear age started with the scientific discovery of nuclear fission by German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann in 1938, and theorists Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch made the development of an atomic bomb a theoretical possibility. Nuclear Fission was the theory that if a neutron was fired at an atom of radioactive isotopes, such as uranium or plutonium, it would split the atom causing a chain reaction which releases massive amounts of energy and heat. A few years before the discovery of nuclear fission, A Hungarian physicists Leó Szilárd patented the idea of the world 's first …show more content…

The test was a success and within a month of that test, the weapon would be put to use. Going back to the war, the United States would not get involved with in the conflict for most of the war. However, we did eventually supply arms to the British and mobilized with the first peacetime draft. The last straw for the U.S was Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor is a naval harbor located on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes and submarines launched a surprise attack on the United States Pacific fleet at the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii. The bombing of Pearl Harbor is one of the most important events in US history and led directly to the US entry into World War 2. Eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged and the Japanese also sank or damaged 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. A total of 188 U.S. aircraft were also destroyed and a further 159 aircraft were damaged. The attack on Pearl Harbor resulted in the loss of 2,403 Americans including 68 civilians. The number of Americans injured totaled 1,178 including 35 civilians. Once the US and Russia along with the British, waged war against Germany, the Allies fortune went up. The war in the European theater ended before the conflict in the pacific was settled. Harry S. Truman ascended to the presidency after Franklin D Roosevelt died in office. Japan was the last hostile left in this war and they refused to surrender to the US, so

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