- The nuclear bombs dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan in August of 1945 were the first and currently the only use of nuclear weapons in warfare in history.
- The devastation caused by these bombs is virtually immeasurable, as its effects and aftermath are still reaching even into the present day.
- The decision to drop the bombs was made by then American president Harry Truman.
- It is estimated that as many as 140,000 people were originally killed in the blast at Hiroshima, and 23,800 at Nagasaki, but many more would eventually die from injuries or from health problems brought about by the radiation exposure.
- These bombings led to the surrender of Japan, and the end of World War Two.
- The bombing of Hiroshima was strategic because it was an urbanized region of Japan that had remained virtually untouched during the war, so the impact of the bomb could be visible and measurable.
- The bombing of Nagasaki was strategic because it would force Japanese surrender without the added loss of American lives that would have been caused by an invasion, and many believe that the use of the "fat man" nuclear bomb actually decreased the number of Japanese lives lost as well because it led to immediate surrender as opposed to a drawn out continued time of fighting.
- The Japanese surrendered on August 10, 1945, one day after the bombing of Nagasaki.
Mushroom cloud from the blast of the bomb dropped on Nagasaki.