Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
By Jacinta Teigeler 1002
View of Hiroshima, August 6, 1945, from the Enola gay. Educational portal, Mark Pearcy, 2015 <http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/the-bombing-of-hiroshima-facts-aftermath.html> last accessed 17/02/2015
What was the Event?
In 1945 towards the end of World War 2, the United States bombed two major cities in Japan, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was originally thought that these atomic bombs were dropped to end the war quickly. However it is now also thought that these were dropped to frighten the Soviet Union.
When did the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki occur and what happened?
It was the 6th of August, 1945 when the U.S. president made the risky decision to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and then three days later, Nagasaki (Allsop, 2011). This was done even though Japan was going to surrender from World War 2 anyway. More than 100 000 civilians were killed in the firebombing in Tokyo, months before these two bombings happened. Japan couldn't afforded to loose any more citizens then they have (Allsop, 2011). At exactly 8:15 the American aircraft 'B29' also known as 'Enola Gay' dropped the atomic bomb with the nick name 'little boy' (CND, N.D).
How did other see this event, what was their perspective?
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It has caused big debates. Was the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki really necessary, some believe so. This is because Japan may have fought through until the last man was standing resulting in many more deaths. The atomic bombs did save many lives in the long run, specifically many Americans (Jones, 2011). However, others say Japan was going to surrender anyway, doing this is against Japanese culture (Allsop, 2011). Japanese military messages regarding their surrender were decoded by American leaders, so the U.S knew that Japanese were likely to surrender (Jones,