Anniversary of dropping of atomic bomb on Hiroshima: what happened 77 years ago?
77 years ago, a fighter jet named Enola Gay caused Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, to experience ‘hell’ on earth. August 6th, 2022 it is the 77 th anniversary of the atomic bomb the United States dropped on HIROSHIMA city, in World War 2
This attack, which changed the course of history, caused the death and injury of hundreds of thousands of people – and mostly innocent.
A nuclear bomb with a force of 13 thousand tons of TNT (tri-nitro-toluene) equivalent, which destroyed 70 percent of Hiroshima, created a temperature of 3 thousand degrees Celsius in its center.
The bomb flattened everything in an area of 1.5 kilometers in diameter and killed 80 thousand people at the first stage and 140 thousand people by the end of 1945.
A large number of people died without receiving medical support, while those who went to bring help to the city were exposed to radioactive rain that formed after the explosion and died.
Why were bombs dropped on Hiroshima?
It is said that the reasons for the use of atomic bombs by then-US President Harry Truman during the war were the Soviet threat he foresaw in East Asia with a show of force to the Soviets.
Japan had announced in July 1945 that it would not surrender unconditionally, despite the Potsdam Declaration, which called for “surrender”.
From Manhattan to Hiroshima: how did the idea of an atomic bomb come about?
Japan made an offer of “negotiated peace” to the Alliance front at the beginning of August, but it was not accepted. Thereafter, HIROSHIMA was razed by an atomic bomb dropped on the city, on August 6.
In his message on August 15, the then Emperor of Japan Hirohito declared that his country had “surrendered unconditionally”, noting that “War would destroy the Japanese people”,
The Americans announced that the death toll was 117 thousand, while the Japanese said it was close to half a million. Also the victims of the bomb, called “Hibakusha”, suffered terrible wounds.
The bombs caused diseases such as cancer mainly and disfigurement and disability, as well as long-term psychological depressions. Hibakushas, whose numbers have decreased in recent years, remind their message about giving up nuclear weapons at memorial ceremonies held every August.
