Hiroshima

The Memorial Cenotaph in the Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima, Japan. Designed by Kenzo Tange to commemorate the 200,000 people who died in the blast of the atomic bomb in 1945. The stone casket beneath the cenotaph contains the names of those who were killed.

Atomic cloud mushrooms over Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. It was the first time a nuclear weapon was used in warfare.

The Atomic Bomb Dome, in Hiroshima. This building is all that remains of central Hiroshima after the atomic bomb that was dropped on it on 6 August 1945. It survived the blast because it was almost directly beneath the hypocentre of the explosion. It has been intentionally preserved as a reminder of the effects of nuclear warfare, and is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Industrial city and port on the south coast of Honshu Island, Japan; population (2005) 1,154,400. On 6 August 1945 it was destroyed by the first wartime use of an atomic bomb. The city has been largely rebuilt since then. The main industries include food processing and the manufacture of cars and machinery.

Towards the end of World War II the city, which was the seventh largest in Japan, was utterly devastated by the first US atomic bomb dropped by the Enola Gay; the strike on Nagasaki followed three days later. More than 10 sq km/4 sq mi were obliterated, with very heavy damage outside that area. Casualties totalled at least 137,000 out of a population of 343,000: 78,150 were found dead, others died later. By 1995, the estimated death toll, which included individuals who had died from radiation-related diseases in the intervening years, had climbed to about 192,000. An annual commemorative ceremony is held on 6 August.

In a national radio broadcast on 9 August 1945, US president Truman called Hiroshima ‘a military base’, chosen in ‘this first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians’. Although it seemed likely that he was not aware that Hiroshima was a city, according to the official Bombing Survey Report ‘Hiroshima and Nagasaki were chosen as targets because of their concentration of activities and population’. More than 95% of those killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were civilians. The two bombs had been built, and the possibility of using them to bring about Japan's surrender had emerged. For maximum psychological impact, the USA, with Truman's approval, decided they should be used in quick succession.

President Truman had also stated that the first atomic bomb was merely a ‘warning of things to come’ – a follow-up warning that a bomb would be dropped every three days on the Japanese islands until Japan capitulated. After Nagasaki was bombed on 9 August, Truman made another public statement to explain why the atomic bombs were used: ‘We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans.’ After determining that the Japanese would fight to the death, Truman decided to use the bombs to convince the Japanese to surrender. Truman always staunchly defended the atomic bombings, claiming that shortening the war, potentially saving thousands of American lives, and revenge were the main reasons he allowed the bombs to be dropped.

As more information has become available regarding the Japanese peace effort, the Japanese fear of losing their emperor (whom they believed was a god), and US advisors who offered other methods of winning the war, the debate has grown over whether the atomic bombings were necessary to save lives and win the war. Some historians have speculated that the decision was influenced by the USA's desire to exhibit the new weapon to the Soviets in preparation for post-war power struggles. However, it is now generally accepted that Truman's decision was based on the need to end the war quickly, avoiding the loss of American lives that a conquest of Japan would have necessitated.