Read More. The city is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture located in southwestern Japan on the island of Honshu. Peace Memorial Park. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is located atop the busy commercial district obliterated by the atomic blast and contains monuments dedicated to the thousands killed in the explosions. The organization described the structure as "a stark and powerful symbol of the most destructive force ever created by humankind; it also expresses the hope for world peace and the ultimate elimination of all nuclear weapons.
Room for reflection: The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum reopened on April 25, , following an extensive two-year renovation. Click through gallery for more photos:. Hide Caption. Personal impact : The restored space includes personal artifacts and clothing that belonged to bomb victims. Visitors gather: The museum, which originally opened in , attracts more than 1 million visitors a year. Emotional experience : It's estimated that the Hiroshima bomb killed around , people.
Visiting the space is an emotional experience. When the United States dropped the bomb on August 6, , it exploded just above the building. He called for a "world without nuclear weapons. Population in Between ,,, according the Department of Energy and the City of Hiroshima website. The bombing. Then-President Harry S. Truman authorized the attack on Hiroshima. Why did the US do it?
American scientists working on the Manhattan Project had successfully tested a working atomic bomb in July of after the surrender of Nazi Germany in May. Truman had tasked a committee of advisers , chaired by Secretary of War Henry Stimson, to deliberate whether to use the atomic bomb on Japan. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri, told CNN: "At the time, there was a wide consensus in support of the decision to strike among the members of the committee.
Stimson was very adamant that the bomb be used. Charles Maier, a professor of history at Harvard University, said that while it was possible for Truman to have made another decision, he said "It would have been hard to justify to the American public why he prolonged the war when this weapon was available. Maier, who teaches a course on World War II, said Japan was not ready to surrender unconditionally and there was a concern that a weapons demonstration would have not done the job.
Such a demonstration would have detonated a nuclear weapon in a non-inhabited but observable area to compel Japan to surrender, an approach that was favored by a group of scientists and Assistant Secretary of War John McCloy, according to Rushay. He added that Truman and his military advisers feared a "very costly invasion" of Japan. Maier said, "Suicide attacks are fairly common today, [but] at the time, the Japanese use of suicidal Kamikaze attacks had made a strong psychological impact on US military decision-makers who reckoned that the whole country would be mobilized to defend the home islands.
Maier said some historians have speculated that the possibility of the Soviet Union's entry into the war helped spur the decision to bring the war to a quick end by using the bomb.
Rushay said that Hiroshima was one of four potential targets and that Truman left it up to the military to decide which city to strike. Hiroshima was chosen as a target because of its military importance.
Nagasaki was bombed a few days later. The US remains the only country to have used nuclear weapons. What was the result? At least 70, people were killed in the initial blast, while approximately 70, more died from radiation exposure. US Army Air Force photo. Meanwhile, in Hiroshima, Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto awoke at 5 a.
Hiroshima time, which was an hour behind Tinian time. Tanimoto remained in the city to remove the transportable objects in his church to the safety of a suburban estate. He had slept poorly because of several air raid warnings the previous night.
Hiroshima had not yet endured an American bombing raid, but its good fortune was not expected to last. That morning, Tanimoto had agreed to help a friend move a large armoire filled with clothes out to the suburbs. As the two men trundled the piece of furniture through the streets, they heard an air raid siren go off. The alarm sounded every morning when American weather planes flew overhead, so the men were not particularly worried.
They continued on with their handcart through the city streets. The morning was still; the place was cool and pleasant. Hiroshima time, the Enola Gay arrived over the city. Ferebee took control of the bomber and opened the bomb bay doors. Just after a. The plane jumped nearly 10 feet at the sudden loss in weight. Tibbets immediately resumed control of the plane and banked it sharply on a degree turn.
He had practiced this difficult maneuver for months because he had been instructed that he had less than 45 seconds to get his plane clear of the subsequent explosion. Not even the scientists who designed the bomb were sure if the Enola Gay would survive the shock waves from the blast.
Little Boy fell almost six miles in 43 seconds before detonating at an altitude of 2, feet. The bomb exploded with the force of more than 15, tons of TNT directly over a surgical clinic, feet from the Aioi Bridge. The temperature at ground level reached 7, degrees Fahrenheit in less than a second. Home Topics Africa. Middle East. North America. International Relations Religion Education Sports. Search form Search. Connecting History. Hot off the Press. History Talk.
Printer Friendly Version. By Craig Nelson The atomic age began between heartbeats at am on August 6, when the Japanese city of Hiroshima was leveled by an atomic bomb. The dropping of the bombs over Hiroshima left and Nagasaki right resulted in towering mushroom clouds. This structure was one of the few left standing after the bombing in Hiroshima.
It is now known as the Atomic Bomb Dome. Hiroshima in the wake of the bombing. This woman's burns resulted from exposure to thermal radiation, a by-product of the blast at Hiroshima. It was untouched by the blast. Gracing one of Tokyo's largest subway stations Shibuya Station , this mural "The Myth of Tomorrow" presents a chilling take on the concept of progress.
RSS Feed. Email alerts. Defining and Responding to Domestic Violence. Read Article. Featured Book Review. Russia: The Story of War. Read Book Review.
0コメント