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Hiroshima,

1950

HIROSHIMA The First Atom Bomb in History Hit Hiroshima in August 6, 1945

The U.S. dropped "Little Boy," the first atom bomb used in warfare on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

The Hiroshima atomic bomb devastated an urban area of five square miles when the U.S. dropped it on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 in the war against the Empire of Japan, that was part of the Axis Powers alliance.

The Japanese city of Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest

city in the Chugoku region of western Honshu, the largest of Japan's islands.

More than 60% of the cityÃs buildings were destroyed by the atom bomb that was known as "Little Boy" after the United States's President Roosevelt. The bomb contained the equivalent of as much as 15,000 tons of dynamite.

At the time, official Japanese figures put the civilian death toll at 118,661, however, later estimates suggest a more accurate, and more hideous, toll of 140,000 (of Hiroshima's population of 350,000 including military personnel and those who died later from radiation poisoning). Thousands also suffered long-term sickness and disability.

Three days later, the U.S. launched a second, larger atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. The device, referred to as, "Fat Man" after Winston Churchill, weighed nearly 9,000 pounds. Because Nagasaki is surrounded by mountains, the level of destruction was confined to about 2.6 square miles. The "Fat Man" mushroom cloud resulting from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rose nearly 12 miles into the air from the "hypocenter." Tragically, nearly 74,000 were killed and a similar number were injured.

The two atomic bombs, along with the Soviet declaration of war against Japan on August 8, 1945, left the Japanese no choice but to surrender to the Allies on August 14, 1945. However, the role of the bombings in Japan's surrender, as well as the effects and justification of them, may be eternally debated. The prevailing view in the U.S. is that the bombings saved many lives by ending the war months sooner than it would have if the planned invasion of Japan - Operation Downfall - had taken place. Conversely, the Japanese tend to believe that the bombings were unnecessary, as their own civilian leadership was covertly seeking an end to hostilities.

The United States, with assistance from the United Kingdom and Canada, designed and built the first atomic bombs under the "Manhattan Project," which was begun at the instigation of European-refugee scientists -- including Albert Einstein -- and American scientists who feared that Nazi Germany would also be conducting a full-scale bomb development program (that program was later discovered to be much smaller and further behind). The Manhattan Project employed more than 130,000 people at its peak at over thirty institutions across the U.S. It cost nearly $2 billion, making it one of the most enormous research-and-development programs of all time. The cost in lives and of the impact of the aftermath of the bombings can never fully be calculated.