1. By Hannah Massey Honor World History Period 1

2. Harry Truman came to office in early 1945. By now the Germans had surrendered in Europe but the Japanese had chosen to fight to the end in the Pacific region. Though the Japanese were losing they put up a fight, inflicting great casualties on the Americans. Since the Americans had already began a nuclear weapon project, the Manhattan Project, they had the resources to put a quick end to the war.

3. On the 6 th of August the Enola Gay took off to drop the atomic bomb that hoped to end the war. When the bomb was dropped it destroyed the city of Hiroshima and left a devastating effect on the city. Though it was nicknamed the “Little Boy,” it was a huge explosion. It took days just for the smoke to clear.

4. When the B-29 bomb was dropped, eighty thousand people died instantly. Over time over one hundred twenty thousand people died later due to diseases related to the nuclear bomb dropping. Along with killing thousands and thousands the bomb destroyed over five square miles of Japan’s most industrial city at the time.

5. Three days after the Hiroshima bombing, a more powerful atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. After skipping their first target of Kokura due to fog, the Americans drop another nuclear B-29 bomb on Nagasaki. This bomb was nicknamed the “Fat Man” because it was such an immense explosion. Though this bomb was more powerful, the city of Nagasaki wasn’t as big as Hiroshima, leaving less damage than the previous bombing three days prior.

6. Since the city was smaller, the atomic bomb only destroyed about two and a half square miles, unlike the five square miles that were destroyed during the bombing of Hiroshima. This attack killed over seventy thousand people. The attack was planned to be just after the bombing of Hiroshima, to give the Japanese no time to retaliate between the bombings.

7. As hoped by President Truman, these nuclear attacks did end the war. Emperor Hirohito surrendered on August 14, 1945. On September 2, 1945, Japan officially ended the war by signing the end of war terms. World War II had ended throughout the entire world. If it weren’t for using the atomic bombs the war would have dragged on for indefinitely. Many innocent lives were lost throughout those few days.