The End of WWII

Use of the Atomic Bombs in Japan

What is an atomic bomb?

• A nuclear weapon that creates mass destruction

• An atom of a heavy element (like uranium) is split and releases an enormous amount of energy

Why did the U.S. start thinking about an atomic bomb?

• 1905 - German physicist, Albert Einstein, theorized that a large amount of energy could be released from a small amount of matter

• Einstein: pacifist, Jewish, saw German atrocities

• August 2, 1939 (before WWII)– two German physicist, Leo Szilard and Eugene Wigner were

concerned that Germany was developing an atomic bomb.– They didn’t have much influence, so they explained their concerns to

Einstein– The 3 men wrote FDR to tell him they were concerned that Germany

might be working on an atomic bomb

Development of the Atom Bomb

• FDR receives letter – October 1939– (right after Germany invaded Poland)

• A committee is formed to study uranium atoms (Briggs Committee)

• Research was slow…people were unsure an atomic bomb was possible

Manhattan Project• Code name for the research going on around

the bomb• Research picked up pace• $2 billion spent on research from 1939-1945• Robert Oppenheimer

• This was a massive scientific invention/discovery

Oak Ridge, Tennessee Facility à

The Test (“The Gadget”)

• Finally, after $2 billion and over 600,000 people’s work (most had no idea what they were helping with)…

• Dud or Success?• Los Alamos, NM– July 16, 1945– Flash could be seen 180

Miles away

Reactions to the Test

• Oppenheimer: “A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent”

• When he saw it, he said he thought of two passages from Bhagavad-Gita– “If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst into

the sky, that would be the splendor of the Mighty One.”

– “I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds”• Some witnesses signed a petition to keep the

bomb from being used, but it didn’t go anywhere

Decision to Bomb

• FDR dies April 14, 1945 (President Truman)• Germany surrenders April 25, 1945

• Japan still fighting through summer– At a war conference allies told them to surrender or

they would face total destruction…they did not surrender

• Allies ready to end war…win in Iwo Jima and Okinawa opened way to invade Japan

Hiroshima

• An industrial area with military Bases, a source of communication,2nd General’s headquarters• Population: about 350,000• City previously left untouched

Bombing of Hiroshima

• Enola Gay (plane)• “Little Boy” (bomb)

• August 6th, 1945

• Radius of destruction: 1 mile…. 69% buildings turned to dust

• Deaths: 70,000 immediately• 90-140,000 estimated

deaths due to health problems caused by bomb

Nagasaki

• “Fat Man” dropped August 9, 1945– 3 days after Hiroshima

• Death toll estimates:– 40-75,000 immediately– Up to 80,000 in end

Long-term

• August 14, 1945 Japan surrenders

• WWII ends