Nuclear
weapons possess enormous destructive power from nuclear fission, or a
combination of fission and fusion reactions. Building on major scientific
breakthroughs made during the 1930s, the United States, the United Kingdom,
Canada, and France collaborated during World War II, in what was called the
Manhattan Project, to build a weapon using nuclear fission, also known as an
atomic bomb.
The atomic
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the detonation of two atomic bombs over
the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945 by the
United States, standing to date as the only use of nuclear weapons in
hostilities.
1- Japan’s unwillingness to surrender unconditionally. Japan wanted to keep their emperor and conduct their own war trials and did not want to be occupied by U.S. forces. However, the United States wanted unconditional surrender, which thus meant the continuation of the war. Japan refused to surrender after multiple firebombing campaigns such as the Bombing of Tokyo on March 9–10, 1945.
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2- The U.S.
wanted to force a quick surrender by the Japanese to reduce the number of
American lives lost. In addition, it was secretly decided at the Yalta Summit
in February 1945 that the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan. Using
the atomic bomb before that entry was intended to assure U.S. supremacy in the
post-war world order. The U.S. also wanted to test the world's first atomic
bomb in actual combat to ascertain its effectiveness.
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3- On August 8, 1945, two days after the Hiroshima bombing, as agreed to by Joseph Stalin during the Tehrān and Yalta conferences in 1943 and 1945, respectively, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. It is possible that U.S. President Harry Truman ordered the atomic bomb to be dropped on Nagasaki not only to further force Japan to surrender but also to keep the Soviets out of Japan by displaying American military power. Distrust and a sense of rivalry had been built up between the two superpowers that ultimately culminated in the Cold War.
How many
died in Japan in a single night
Although the
precise death toll is unknown, conservative estimates suggest that the
firestorm caused by incendiary bombs killed at least 80,000 people, likely more
than 100,000, in a single night.
The two
bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were
civilians, and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict.
The Bombing of Tokyo alone claimed tens of thousands of lives and is often cited as one of the most destructive acts of war in history.
