By: Kory Dercks and Trevor Gay
Introduction
In the summer of 1945, the American military displayed the makings from their Manhattan Project and inflicted immense damage on one of their World War II counterparts, Japan. On August 6th, an atomic bomb called Little Boy was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. Three days later, a second atomic bomb called Fat Man was dropped less than 200 miles away in Nagasaki, Japan. The ethical justification of dropping these bombs is still under deliberation. However, the influence that these bombs had on history is immense, especially in World War II in which they influenced Japan’s surrender. Likewise, the way that these very bombs affected the lives, the geography of the areas, lifestyles of the people, and the way that wars are fought is not debatable. This research paper is intended to take an analytical look at the bombings from pre-planning, through the attack, through today and how Japan has been affected. Throughout this paper, we will discuss the historical impact, the bombings and destruction, the radiation afterwards, the geographical impact on Japan, and how these two bombs differed from other attacks on Japan. Likewise, we will look at the bombs and their explosions in a geographical form and analyze the consequences from them. We will also examine the flight paths that the planes took in dropping the bombs and take a look at other cities that could have been targeted as well as other locations that were affected by American attacks.