Dropping the Atomic Bomb

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Dropping the Atomic Bomb

• A Turning Point in the War

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Manhattan Project

• Albert Einstein
• Developed the theory of relativity and set in
  motion the process of developing the atomic bomb
• Manhattan Project
• Committee that looked at the feasibility of an
  atomic bomb
• July 16, 1945 they test the first atomic bomb
  in the desert at Alamogordo, New Mexico
• The bomb left a huge crater in the earth and
  shattered windows up to 125 miles away

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Decision to Drop the Bomb

• The alternatives
• Invading main land Japan
• A naval Blockade and continued bombing
• Softening of the idea of unconditional surrender
• Dropping the bomb on a remote, deserted island to
  show its power

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Decision to Drop the Bomb

• The decision
• High casualties would result from invading Japan
• The bitterness that Americans felt towards Pearl
  Harbor
• The U.S. wanted to flex its muscles before the
  eyes of the communist rivals and the rest of the
  world

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The Bombs

• August 6, 1945, the first bomb, Little Boy, was
  dropped on Hiroshima
• August 9, 1945, the second bomb, Fat Man, is
  dropped on Nagasaki
• September 2, 1945, Japan surrenders

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Wherever you went, you didnt bother to take the
roads. Everything was flat, nothing was
standing, not gates, pillars, walls, or fences.
You walked in a straight line to where you wanted
to go. Practically everywhere you came across
small bones that had been left behind. -
Hiroshima survivor -