The Germans had surrendered, but the Japanese would not give up. The Americans wanted Japan to surrender without any terms, Japan could not do this. Even though Japan was willing to negotiate about surrendering, this was not good enough for the Americans. The Americans would not agree to any terms.
A lot of ideas came up about how to end the war, some recommended an invasion of Japan, some recommended a bombing. But the idea that seemed like the only one that would crush the resistance immideatly was the atomic bomb. The first test of the bomb was conducted on July 16, 1945 at a site near Alamogordo, New Mexico. After this trial people had an idea of how strong the atomic bomb actually was, but i don`t think anyone knew the full potential of the bomb.
In May 1945, The Target Committee at Los Alamos decided where USA should drop the bomb that was supposed to end the war. They recommended Kyoto, Hiroshima, Yokohama, and the arsenal at Kokura as possible targets. Kyoto was chosen because the committee felt that this was the intellectual center of Japan, and Hiroshima was chosen because of it`s large size and because of the army depot. Kyoto was removed as a target because of it`s cultural significance.
On July. 25 General Spaatz was ordered to bomb one of the following targets: Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata, or Nagasaki as soon as the weather permitted it and the remaining targets when more weapons were available.
On July. 26 the leaders of the allied forces represented an ultimatum to Japan, Japan would have to surrender without any dispute or the Allies would attack Japan resulting in “the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland”
The Japanese would not surrender because of this threat, and made an official statement about this two days later.
The Japanese had not taken their possibility to surrender and this was the first time Truman decided that the atomic bomb would actually be dropped over Japan. There are many possible theories on why Truman decided to drop the bomb, the official explanation is that the Americans wanted to end the war without losing soldiers on the battlefield. It is also likely that USA wanted to show strength by using this most powerful weapon of all time and especially to the Soviet Union, it was also important to Truman to be the one who invaded Japan first so that the USSR could not claim it and make it a part of the Soviet Union. Truman stated that his intention on dropping the bomb was to “bring about a quick resolution of the war by inflicting destruction, and instilling fear of further destruction, that is sufficient to cause Japan to surrender”
The main target of the first nuclear bombing mission was Hiroshima , with Kokura and Nagasaki being alternative targets. This day was chosen as this was the first day after the declaration from Truman with a clear sky.
This day, the B-29 “Enola Gay,” dropped the first atomic bomb in the history, the “Little boy”. The launch went on as expected. The radius of the bomb was 1.6 km, and 90 percent of the buildings in this area were demolished. About 70 000 people died on the day of the bombing, 70 000 more died due to damages and radiation. Most of these were civilians.
After the bombing of Hiroshima, the Americans also bombed Nagasaki. Six days after the bombing of Nagasaki Japan surrendered to the Allies. With USA getting the control over Japan. The Emperor were allowed to remain, but only if he rejected his divinity, which he did. In 1946 Japan held an election and got a new constitution. After the WWII Japan experienced a great economic progress, mainly because of the fact that they worked hard and cheap, and sold weapons to the Americans in the Korean war.
