The first Atomic Bomb.
During the Potsdam conference on July 26, 1946, Japan was offered an ultimatum with terms of surrender. Japan rejected the ultimatum and the decision to bomb the cities became final.
On August 6, 1945, a B-29 Enola Gay bomber took off from an airfield on Tinian island and headed for Japan. Hiroshima was the main target, Kokura and Nagasaki were the backup targets. Clear weather over Hiroshima determined the final choice and the bomb was dropped on the city.
In America, there were many opponents of bombing. Options were offered with dropping a bomb in the ocean or deserted areas of Japan, to demonstrate the physical properties of nuclear weapons and minimize casualties. However, for greater psychological effect and political pressure on the USSR, Truman ordered to bomb the populated territory of the country. At the time of the bombing Hiroshima had a population of 240,000. The city was the headquarters of field Marshal Shunroku Hata, who commanded the defense of southern Japan. Industry was located on the periphery of the city, the main development consisted of one and two-story buildings on a flat terrain.
The explosion occurred at an altitude of 530 meters. The power of the explosion was 14 kilotons in TNT equivalent. 70% of the city’s buildings were destroyed. On an area of more than 10 square kilometers, a fire started. About 80,000 people died in the explosion and about 100,000 as a result of injuries, burns and exposure to radiation sickness. More than 80% of the victims were civilians.
After the bombing of Hiroshima Truman issued a statement: “We are ready to destroy all Japanese ground production facilities in any city. We will destroy their ports, factories, and communications. We will completely destroy Japan’s ability to wage war. An ultimatum was issued in Potsdam to prevent the bombing. The Japanese leadership rejected the ultimatum. If Japan does not accept our terms now, let them expect a rain of destruction from the air the like of which has not yet been seen on this planet”.
On August 9, 1945, the bombing of Nagasaki took place. The explosion’s power exceeded twenty kilotons. On the same day Soviet troops launched the Manchurian operation.
On August 14, 1945, Japan surrendered.
I've just tried not to bother ppl with too much info)
As for the politics. Well, I consider myself a cosmopolitan. Cause good ppl are all the same -- Russians, Japanese , Americans, does not matter. They love their families, they do their work, they adore life and they respect / despise all the same qualities.
Politicians on the other hand are the most vile and twisted human material of the Earth. So I do not mix these two types) they are two different specimen.
The bomb was dropped and civilians got killed. That's the fact. But who did that? Some brainwashed regulars Joes? Or politicians? Surely the latter.
Myself, I’m trying to steer clear of political topics on forums like this one, but… Well, it’s not really a political observation I’m about to make: more like a cultural one. Since the WW2, the Japanese culture is the only—the only! — culture that is very, very different from the American one, that America grudgingly respects. I mean, look even at the movies they make about it: The Last Samurai is my absolute favourite, the best I’ve seen in years. Even when they disagree with some of the, shall we say, more extreme aspects of it, as in Ninja Assassin, there is still respect, and a great deal of admiration. Back then, this Little Boy wasn’t enough: Fat Man was required to make Japan surrender, along with the Soviet Union launching a separate operation against it—and look at the world’s map; how long does it take to even find Japan there? That’s not to excuse them starting the war in the first place, or the atrocities they committed during it: it’s just that I believe we—the civilised world—will soon need, very badly, that Last Samurai spirit which we found so hard to break back then, and which we still admire, even though most of us cannot, unfortunately, find it in ourselves now.