Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Description
During the final stages of World War II
in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic
bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945
and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear
weapons in war to
date. For six months before the atomic bombings, the United States intensely
fire-bombed 67 Japanese cities. Together
with the United Kingdom and the Republic of
China, the United States called for a surrender of Japan in the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, 1945. The Japanese
government ignored this ultimatum. By executive order of President Harry S.
Truman, the U.S. dropped the nuclear
weapon "Little Boy" on
the city of Hiroshima on Monday,
August 6, 1945, followed by the detonation of "Fat Man" over Nagasaki on August 9. The acute effects killed
90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki.
Information
Within the first two to four months of the bombings, the
acute effects killed 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki,
with roughly half of the deaths in each city occurring on the first day. The
Hiroshima prefectural health department estimates that, of the people who died
on the day of the explosion, 60% died from flash or flame burns, 30% from
falling debris and 10% from other causes. During the following months, large
numbers died from the effect of burns, radiation sickness, and
other injuries, compounded by illness. In a US estimate of the total immediate
and short term cause of death, 15–20% died from radiation sickness, 20–30% from flash
burns, and 50–60% from other injuries, compounded by illness. In
both cities, most of the dead were civilians.
Six days after the detonation over Nagasaki, on August 15,
Japan announced its surrender to the Allied
Powers, signing the Instrument of Surrender on
September 2, officially ending the Pacific War and
therefore World War II. Germany had
signed its Instrument on May 7, ending the war
in Europe. The bombings led, in part, to post-war Japan's
adopting Three Non-Nuclear Principles, forbidding the nation
from nuclear armament.
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