An atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima: 6 August 1945 Posted on: 6 August 2015
Mushroom cloud over Hiroshima (US National Archives)
The historian John Ehrman, who wrote an account of the atomic bomb and British policy based on privileged access to government records,1 wrote in 1953 that there were five questions that needed to be asked about the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan on 6 and 9 August 1945:
Why were the bombs dropped? Why were they dropped on the particular dates, 6 and 9 August? Why were they dropped on the particular targets, Hiroshima and Nagasaki? How far were the British consulted on 1? How far were the British consulted on 2 and 3?
Although it is not possible to answer them in detail in a short blog, these questions make a good framework in which to examine the context of dropping of ‘Little Boy’ on Hiroshima on 6 August and ‘Fat Boy’ on Nagasaki on 9 August, the first ever use of atomic weapons that killed more than 200,000 people, devastated large areas and brought about Japanese surrender and the end of the Second World War. Why were the bombs dropped? The short answer is that they were available. Once an atomic bomb had been produced and tested successfully, there was little doubt that it would be used. As Henry Stimson, US Secretary of State for War, wrote: ‘it was our common objective, throughout the war, to be the first to produce an atomic weapon and use it’2. Huge amounts had been spent on the Manhattan Project. Congress would want to see value for money. The ending of a devastating global conflict by conclusive force might deter future aggression, as well as demonstrating US dominance. In the short term, the bombs were dropped to bring an end to the war with Japan. The objective of the Combined Chiefs of Staff (American and British) had been the surrender of the Axis Powers, and then of Japan. The first was achieved in May 1945: the second looked much more problematical. Although there was a peace party in Japan, the military were adamant that unconditional surrender, insisted on by the Americans, was equivalent to national extinction. Dropping the bomb—a demonstration of overwhelming force—might be the only way to compel Japan to accept defeat. The long-heralded Soviet attack, planned for early August, not only seemed uncertain to bring about Japanese surrender, but also increasingly unwelcome in the light of Russian behaviour
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