The Atomic Bomb During World War II - 1924 Words

During World War II, Japan refused to surrender to the Allied Powers due to the fact that the fate of their leader, Michinomiya Hirohito, was uncertain. The United States wanted to end the war quickly and prevent lives being taken because of an invasion of Japan. This led to the creation of the atomic bomb with the Manhattan Project. President Truman’s order to drop the atomic bomb on Japan ended the war. However, using the atomic bomb resulted in conflicts such as the Cold War, and present day problems such as the Iran Deal and North Korea. The creation of the atomic bomb began with the Manhattan Project. During World War II, the United States were fearful that Germany would use a nuclear weapon so they created the Manhattan Project†¦show more content†¦On August 6th, 1945 the United States dropped a nuclear bomb called Little Boy in the town of Hiroshima. The Little Boy was the heaviest bomb at the time weighing 9,700 pounds and with a length of 10 feet. The task of dropping the first atomic bomb was carried out by the 509th Composite Group (Little Boy and Fat Man Web). However the dropping of Little Boy caused major casualties, the bombing of Hiroshima killed 180,000 people (Kennedy, Chapter 36). Three days later, on August 9th, 1945 the second and final atomic bomb that would ever be dropped on a city was called Fat Man which destroyed Nagasaki casing 80,000 deaths (Kennedy Chapter 36). The Manhattan Project was eventually absorbed into the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). After the bombs destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki other nations scrambled to get their hands on weapons of mass destruction. This would eventually lead up to the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. Even though the Manhattan Project is now gone, the terrible consequences of its invention of the atomic bomb still linger today (â€Å"Key Issues: Nuclear Weapons: History: Pre Cold War: Manhattan Project† Web; â€Å"Little Boy and Fat Man† Web). The Cold War was a conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union that occurred from 1947 to 1991. There are many reasons on why the Cold War occurred between the two countries such as: the conflict between communism and capitalism, which country