6. Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Mentions – 3
This story number 6 on our list of most important historical events that changed the world forever is about the ‘Little Boy’, the ‘Fat Man’, and events on two summer mornings in Japan. It was August 6, 1945, when Enola Gay, a modified B-29 bomber dropped the ‘Little Boy’ a 9,000-pound A- bomb that exploded 2,000 feet above Hiroshima, a manufacturing center with the population over 300,000. At first, there was a blinding light accompanied by waves of heat and then the blast wave with a deafening boom. More than 80,000 experienced the instant death, while additional 20,000 died from the effects of radioactive fallout. Cancer and other long-term effects took more than 100,000 lives in following years. The similar scenario happened in Port Nagasaki, just three day’s later when ‘Fat Man’ killed more than 140,000. A week later Emperor Hirohito declared unconditional surrender of Japan to the forces of the Allied Powers, thus ending the World War II. The eternal question remains – was it justified? Because of its destructive power, such weapon hasn’t been used ever again.
