Japanese City of Hiroshima Nuclear Blast

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Robert Richardson

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MOMENT IN TIME: AUGUST 6, 1945,

NW-MIT-HIROSHIMA-0805
In this Monday, Aug. 6, 1945 picture made available by the U.S. Army via the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, a mushroom cloud billows into the sky about one hour after an atomic bomb was detonated above Hiroshima, Japan. (AP Photo/U.S. Army via Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum) NO SALES; MANDATORY CREDIT U.S. ARMY VIA HIROSHIMA PEACE MEMORIAL MUSEUM / AP
On the morning of Aug. 6, 1945, the blast from an American atomic bomb tore through the Japanese city of Hiroshima. In an instant, the heat and pressure killed up to 80,000 people. Three days later, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. It killed around 40,000. Together, the bombings helped push the Second World War toward its eventual end. These events would also kickstart a decades-long nuclear-arms race and the dance of mutually assured destruction between the United States and the Soviet Union if either unleashed their atomic weapons. Several other countries also started to build and test their own nuclear arsenals, which the international community is still attempting to mitigate through various treaties. Similarly, the debate about whether the U.S. should have dropped the bombs continues, especially given the high number of civilian deaths that resulted. Many struggled with social discrimination and illnesses stemming from radiation sickness, leading the death toll in Hiroshima to rise to 140,000 by the end of 1945 and even higher in later years. Since then, many of those who were affected by the bombs, also known as hibakusha, have pushed for the elimination of nuclear weapons worldwide. Alex Nguyen

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