In August 1945, a uranium-type atomic bomb was dropped by the United States on Hiroshima, Japan, during the final stages of World War II. In the months after the bomb was dropped, many people were killed by burns, radiation and other injuries. These effects lasted about 4 to 6 months. Approximately 90,000 to 166,000 people died instantly or permanently. On August 15, just a few days after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan announced its capitulation to the Allies. Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain the only two cities atomic bombed during wartime. On a clear, sunny day on August 6, 1945, there was a single American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, piloted by a 29-year-old Air Force colonel. named Paul W. Tibbets, who had trained for months before the atomic bomb was dropped, nicknamed "Little Boy." He had spent these months dropping equivalent simulations made of explosives and concrete on Utah or the Pacific Ocean. There were no Japanese to challenge this deadly aircraft. The target of this bomb was the Aioi Bridge, which spanned the Ota River in the heart of the city. At 8:15 a.m. Hiroshima time, the crew of the Enola Gay dropped the bomb. Forty-three seconds later, at an altitude of 1,900 feet, the Little Boy exploded in an impressive cloud of fire and smoke. At this time, and this time, we look at the bombing of Hiroshima with absolute simplicity: one bomb, one city. , and punishment of the Japanese for attacking Pearl Harbor. But of course, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima was not so simple. There was a lot of conflict and this discussion is fraught with emotion. Americans both felt deep satisfaction and deep anxiety and these feelings have coexisted ever since. Part of us wants to believe we did the right thing... middle of paper ... Was it right to drop a bomb to "punish" Japan's civilians? Yet despite all this, the weapon of mass destruction ended the war and saved more lives than it ended; it was vital to end the war; the Japanese cabinet had pledged to sacrifice as many lives to defend their homeland. The devastating firebombing of Tokyo did not cause those responsible to hesitate. Only something as powerful as an atomic bomb was enough to convince Emperor Hirohito to end the war on reasonable terms. Even though it was an American hand that dropped the bomb and the Japanese died en masse, the bomb was everyone's problem and their offspring. If the Japanese, Germans or British had developed the bomb first, they surely would have used it. No one had completely clean hands. Many deplored and rejoiced at the destruction of Hiroshima, making it the world's bomb...