Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki facts for kids

The mushroom cloud over Hiroshima after the dropping of Little Boy

The Fat Man mushroom cloud resulting from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rises 18 km (11 mi, 60,000 ft) into the air from the hypocenter.

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear attacks on the Empire of Japan during World War II (WWII). The United States and the Allies were fighting against Japan and slowly winning. Two nuclear weapons were dropped on Japan, one on the city of Hiroshima and the other on the city of Nagasaki (the generals wanted to bomb Kokura instead of Nagasaki, but it was too cloudy over Kokura that day). U.S. President Harry S. Truman ordered these attacks on August 6 and 9, 1945. This was near the end of WWII. The atomic bombs had been created through the Manhattan Project. Nuclear bombs are much more powerful than other kinds of bombs. At least 66,000 people were killed in Hiroshima, while 39,000 were killed in Nagasaki, totaling the deaths to 105,000. Six days after the explosion over Nagasaki, Japan surrendered to the Allied Powers on August 15. Japan signed the surrender paper on September 2. This officially ended the Pacific War and World War II.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were chosen for several reasons. First, both cities were unsuitable for firebombing targets, mainly due to the river deltas preventing the firestorms from being very effective. Second, both cities had terrains which provided a good measurement for damage caused by the nuclear bombs. Third and finally, both cities contained strategic personnel and installations; Hiroshima was the headquarters of the 2nd General Army and 5th Division with 40,000 Japanese combatants stationed within the city's limit, and Nagasaki contained two large Mitsubishi armament factories and many other medium-to-small workshops and plants providing vital war components for Japan's war machine. In both cities, as with other Japanese cities, these targets were mixed in with civilian homes, schools, and temples. For example, at least 54% of the deaths in Hiroshima were combatants and slave laborers while 72% of the deaths in Nagasaki were war industry employees and slave laborers.

The vast majority of the people say that the atomic bombs actually saved many lives in the long run because it prevented the invasion of Japan. Without the bombs, the Allies would have had to invade Japan to end the war, which would drag out for years. More people would have been killed on both sides in a full battle in Japan. Allied generals believed that an invasion of Japan would have killed more than a million people on each side. Some say that the bombings were not necessary. People still argue about this. No nuclear weapon has ever been used in combat since August 9, 1945.

The decision to use nuclear weapons on Japan was made after an analysis showed that more than a million people -- combatants of both nations and civilians -- would die if Japan was invaded by Allied forces. The nuclear bombings, while shocking and unprecedented, actually paled in comparison with the Operation Meetinghouse firebombing of Tokyo on March 9/10, 1945, which killed 100,000 civilians and destroyed 16 square miles in a single night. Had not for the nuclear weapons, the U.S. would have resorted to firebombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki which would have caused equal amount of damage, but did not produce the shock value that nuclear weapons have. In addition, doing nothing or waiting it out for surrender was not an option because hundreds of thousands of combatants, civilians, and prisoners of war were dying each month in Japanese-occupied lands.

Partly because of the atomic bombings, after the war Japan adopted the Three Non-Nuclear Principles. These principles said that Japan could not create or try to get nuclear weapons.

Related pages

Images for kids

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  Situation of the Pacific War on 1 August 1945.     White and green: Areas still controlled by Japan included Korea, Taiwan, Indochina, and much of China, including most of the main cities, and the [[Dutch East Indies

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  A B-29 over Osaka on 1 June 1945

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  The Operation Meetinghouse firebombing of Tokyo on the night of 9–10 March 1945, was the single deadliest air raid in history; with a greater area of fire damage and loss of life than either of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima or Nagasaki.

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  Leslie Groves, Manhattan Project director, with a map of Japan

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  The "Tinian Joint Chiefs": Captain William S. Parsons (left), Rear Admiral William R. Purnell (center), and Brigadier General Thomas F. Farrell (right)

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  Aircraft of the 509th Composite Group that took part in the Hiroshima bombing. Left to right: Big Stink, The Great Artiste, Enola Gay

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  Various leaflets were dropped on Japan, three versions showing the names of 11 or 12 Japanese cities targeted for destruction by firebombing. The other side contained text stating "... we cannot promise that only these cities will be among those attacked ..."

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  The Enola Gay dropped the "Little Boy" atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Paul Tibbets (center in photograph) can be seen with six of the aircraft's crew.

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  Strike order for the Hiroshima bombing as posted on 5 August 1945

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  The Hiroshima atom bomb cloud 2–5 minutes after detonation

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  For decades this "Hiroshima strike" photo was misidentified as the mushroom cloud of the bomb that formed at c. 08:16. However, due to its much greater height, the scene was identified by a researcher in March 2016 as the firestorm-cloud that engulfed the city, a fire that reached its peak intensity some three hours after the bomb.

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  Leaflet AB12, with information on the Hiroshima bomb and a warning to civilians to petition the Emperor to surrender was dropped over Japan beginning on 9 August, by the 509th Composite Group. An AB11 is in the possession of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.

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  The Bockscar and its crew, who dropped a Fat Man atomic bomb on Nagasaki

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  The harbor at Nagasaki in August 1945 before the city was hit with the atomic bomb

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  Strike order for the Nagasaki bombing as posted 8 August 1945

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  Nagasaki before and after the bombing, after the fires had burned out.

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  Urakami Tenshudo (Catholic Church in Nagasaki) destroyed by the bomb, the dome/bell of the church, at right, having toppled off

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  The Nagasaki Prefecture Report on the bombing characterized Nagasaki as "like a graveyard with not a tombstone standing".

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  Partially incinerated child in Nagasaki. Photo from Japanese photographer Yōsuke Yamahata, one day after the blast and building fires had subsided. Once the American forces had Japan under their military control, they imposed censorship on all such images including those from the conventional bombing of Tokyo; this prevented the distribution of Yamahata's photographs. These restrictions were lifted in 1952.

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  Memorandum from Groves to Marshall regarding the third bomb, with Marshall's hand-written caveat that the third bomb not be used without express presidential instruction.

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  A telegram sent by Fritz Bilfinger, delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), on 30 August 1945 from Hiroshima

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  Torii, Nagasaki, Japan. One-legged torii in the background

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  Memorial at Andersonville NHS for the American airmen who died in the blast.

See also

In Spanish: Bombardeos atómicos de Hiroshima y Nagasaki para niños