A Brief History
On July 16, 1945, Manhattan Project scientists held their breath as the clock ticked down to the first man-made nuclear blast in history.
Digging Deeper
Over a period of almost six years from its feeble first steps (3 years as a project in earnest), through 130,000 people working on the project and $2 billion taxpayer dollars the finest scientists in the world had developed methods of enriching uranium to a state where its nucleus could be split and creating plutonium, the two materials needed for the two different types of atomic weapons being considered.
The uranium device would be a tube in which 2 chunks of enriched uranium would be launched at each other at high speed by conventional explosives, causing a critical mass to form in the blink of an eye, triggering a nuclear blast. This type of weapon is often referred to as the “gun” type.
The plutonium device would be a hollow ball of plutonium with precision explosives around the outside meticulously timed to blow up all at the same time causing the hollow sphere to implode, creating a critical mass in a fraction of a second and subsequently the desired nuclear blast, what is known as an “implosion” device.
(Note: Obviously, the descriptions of how nuclear bombs work are greatly simplified and the preceding paragraph is paraphrased in common vernacular.)
President Roosevelt had been warned by Albert Einstein that Germany (and maybe Japan) would be working on developing nuclear weapons and that if the US and Allies did not want to get blown off the map, we better develop such weapons first.
At 5:30 am on July 16, 1945, the entire point of the Manhattan Project was on the line as a plutonium implosion device suspended 100 feet above the desert was exploded. Although the nuclear physicists on the project were reasonably confident of their calculations, no one knew for sure how big the blast would be and whether or not the atmosphere would become part of the chain reaction, ending mankind. When the brilliant fireball and mighty blast went off, the equivalent of 20,000 tons of TNT, it left a 250 feet wide crater in the desert (with sand fused to glass), a mushroom cloud 7 ½ miles high, and the blast could be felt 100 miles away. People as far away as El Paso could hear the explosion.
The scientists and budget planners were right; a practical bomb could be made, and it would be a city destroyer. Now the question was, how and if to use it. Despite some opposition, and some sentiment toward giving the world a demonstration over an unoccupied target, President Truman and his advisers decided Japan must have a city destroyed by an atom bomb to convince them to surrender. The debate over whether or not this was necessary still rages today, with critics claiming the Japanese were on the brink of surrender anyway, and proponents saying that the terrible price paid to conquer Okinawa showed that an invasion of Japan would cost tens of thousands of American lives, probably hundreds of thousands. Besides, the Soviets were poised to make a land grab of as much Japanese territory as possible, and US planners may well have intended to impress and intimidate the Soviets as much as the Japanese.
Less than a month after Trinity, 2 Japanese cities lay in smoking ruins, and over 100,000 Japanese were dead, and more were dying.
Question for students (and subscribers): Was that the right thing to do? Give us your opinion in the comments section below this article. (In other articles we have discussed the morality of using atomic bombs on Japanese cities, including “August 9, 1945: Second Atomic Bomb Dropped on Nagasaki, but Was It Necessary?“, “October 22, 1943: What is Firebombing? Tactic or Terrorism? Allied Firestorm Bombing in World War II,” and also “July 23, 2014: 10 Things History Got Wrong!” among other times we have talked about the morals of bombing cities and the justification/rationalization for doing so.)
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Frank, Richard B. Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire. Penguin Books, 2001.
Kelly, Cynthia C. and Richard Rhodes. Manhattan Project: The Birth of the Atomic Bomb in the Words of Its Creators, Eyewitnesses, and Historians. Black Dog & Leventhal, 2009.
You can also watch a video version of this article on YouTube.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="3030 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=3030">115 Comments
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I feel like this is such a mixed issue. A majority of me believes that this was highly unethical and disturbing. Thousands upon thousands of innocents died because the actions of the “higher ups in their country. Now that it is done and over with, I most definitely hope that we have all learned from the terrible outcomes and will never use nuclear bombs again.
I feel as if this was necessary to a point. 2 atomic bombs did not have to get dropped, and it did not have to happen in major cities where tons of innocent people would be killed. Maybe if they would have warned Japan first and had them evacuate some people, i don’t know I feel like there could of been a more effective way.
Perhaps slight over kill however, we were attacked first and without warning. If you are gonna pick a fight than be prepared for the consequences.
Definitely horrific… but… was it just? There is only one who can answer that! — DAVID WARDLE
Horrible. It’s was over kill.
Just by seeing the picture shown just shows how deadly it is. People would have no chance to escape this type of science.
I wonder what the scientists were thinking just before the test bomb went off…
Built in response to aggression from Germany with urging by a german expatriate, and used first on the opposite side of the world against an all-but-defeated enemy.
Le sigh
It is amazing humans are capable of doing such a thing (knowledge wise). Hopefully we’ve seen the end of atomic bombs.
I wonder if any of the scientists had any regret when they seen the bomb go off.
The idea of a nuclear bomb and its chain effects are frightening. I wondered the same thing that some have already asked, if there is/was any regret by the scientists. I do not think that they were necessary. I understand that we were in the midst of a world war and I, surely, do not know all of the details; however, it seems like the US could have just bombed Japan without the nuclear warfare and it could have been effective. There have been many threats, throughout history, of the usage of nuclear weapons; however, the United States is the only country to use it as part of an attack on another country.
I did a project on the Manhattan Project and I personally think it was a bad idea to even create the bomb. There are many weapons in the world and they are increasingly becoming more dangerous for the public. When reading more into this I found that even the pilots didn’t realize the destruction that the bomb would have on the city.
Talk of nuclear weapons is unfortunately growing and this is a topic that can’t be taken lightly. Hopefully history is a lesson for the world.
Its crazy on the distance a bomb can explode. Also it amazes me how far you can hear an explosion from.
Too many innocent people died through this, I believe it was unethical.
I believe the bomb should have been tested in a safer environment. If Japan was on the brink of surrender as the article stated, all the deaths caused by this bomb were unnecessary.
I’m sure a lot was taken into consideration when the decision was made to drop the atomic bomb, I highly doubt it was a spur of the moment decision. While President Truman made the decision to drop the bomb it seems like he believed if he did not do it in Japan there was probably a threat that one would be dropped within The United States.
I wonder what would’ve happened if Germany had created a nuclear bomb first. I mean, I’m pretty sure America would’ve been on the list to be bombed. I guess it’s a good thing we did it first, but I’m not sure how I feel about the bombings on the Japanese cities.
It was interesting to read more into the scientific side of the nuclear bomb, as well as the thoughts leading up to the decision to release it upon Japan.
I believe that these attacks are unethical and caused more damage/death than needed.
I think that this attack was a good choice by the Americans. Because if we did not drop the bomb then everyone else would think we are a push over and think we are not serious about any attacks.
It made sense why they decided to make and test the bomb first.
I do not believe that world issues use be solved with bombs.
It’s crazy to think they would go ahead with the Manhattan Project even if they didn’t know if a chain reaction would occur that would end mankind.
Learning about bombs is interesting to me. These things can do some unfathomable destruction in the matter of seconds.
I believe that atomic bombs were a waste of time because they led to a huge chain reaction leading to now where now its like threats of atomic bomb wars
the explosion of these bombs has lead to a mass production in nuclear threats.
I don’t think they should have dropped the bombs, if the Japanese were close to surrendering then they didn’t need to take such a drastic measure and kill so many innocent lives.
I wonder if the U.S would have been able to win the war without the development of the atom bomb.
With only the information here it is hard to judge whether this was the right decision or not.
it was interesting to learn more about these bombs. but they are still pretty scary
Its crazy to think we now know what these bombs do
I would have dropped the bombs 11 out of 10 times.
after all the military camps they had. and turmoil they caused. i would have dropped the bombs.
The Atomic is tricky to me. I t is very powerful and can finish a fight quickly with all of its destruction but if anyone else gets a hold of it. It becomes useless because if anyone uses it everyone that have will too destroying everything.
Yes for two reasons the destruction showed if anyone else got one mutually assured destruction would mean noone would want to have wars without negotiating first preventing ww1 style conflicts and the japanese WOULD NOT SURRENDER even after the first bomb detonated they refused many americans and japanese would have died if the bomb did not fall sad but true
I am a little surprised that they tested a bomb of this magnitude on American soil when they were unsure of its full consequences yet. It seems like a major risk to take and endanger people in that area who are unaware. Its crazy to think it could be heard as far as El Paso.
Dropping the bomb was a necessary evil. In order to take the island of Japan countless American lives would have been lost. And that would have been the only way to cause the Japanese to surrender.
When one side is bombing the other it is always in protection of themselves. For the U.S. this bombing needed to happen. IT was a good outcome because the Japanese gave in.
It doesn’t seem right for any man, country or government to be able to end the world. I never realized that scientists thought there was a very small chance the testing of the bomb could end the world. I still cannot believe humans were able to develop this incredible weapon.
I think that this was both a great accomplishment and a great destruction for our world. Being the first to build a bomb of this magnitude was something that many of there other countries were working towards as well. The destruction these bombs cause is massive and dangerous, most of all, it’s scary to know that a country could do that to you. The U.S. decided that one of Japan’s cities needed this bomb dropped on them to end the war, but it seems to destructive.
This is always going to be the topic of huge debate. Honestly, had Germany or Japan researched and created the bomb before us, I have no doubt that they would have used it on us or our allies. That doesn’t justify it, but I also think that the world experiencing these bombs helped us avoid nuclear warfare in the Cold War, since everyone knew of the horror.
There will always be the debate about whether or not using bombs is necessary. It helped us win a war, yet it killed many innocent lives. On a side note, I found it interesting to read about how a bomb actually works.
This debate on whether or not we should have used the bomb has been going on for 70+ years strong. I personally believe it was the right call to make. While many Japanese lives were tragically lost, many more on both sides would have been lost if we did not. It is amazing that we as humans have the power to destroy the world we live on. That power should not be in the hands of everyone, but only for a few.
If the bomb was not dropped, more people would have died than the lives that the bomb took. People led to this though. Our hate for each other led to the destruction of so many lives. Lives that were not deserving of such a horrific death.
I can’t believe scientists had no idea how big the nuclear blast would be when they set off the first bomb in the desert. Scientists also did not know if the bomb would set off a chain reaction ending mankind! Its scary to think the creators of the bomb as well as the government were willing to risk that outcome and set the bomb off anyway.
I am not sure where I stand on the debate of whether or not the bomb should have been dropped. We will never know what could have happened in the war if the bomb was not dropped. Overall, I support the bomb dropping because it helped us win the war, but I do not support the horrific deaths of the many innocent people that this bomb killed.
The use of atomic bombs should not be allowed during war. Millions of innocent people died during the atomic bombs. There is no justification for the use of atomic bombs.
2 billion dollars of the tax dollar was used to fund the atom bomb project. The money the United States spends their money on is absurd. The use of atomic bombs are crazy and the idea should of never been invented. The fact that is power exists is terrifying.
Atomic bombs should never be allowed to be used during wars. I do not think the USA was right for blowing off an Atomic bomb but if it was to save the lives of their soldiers and to make the Japanese surrender then it is some what justified.
World War II was such a deadly war and the atomic bombs just added to it. It was not the right thing to do morally because so many innocent people lost their lives.
It needed to be done, as bad as atomic bombs are it was necessary during this time to secure the win for the US and protect ourselves from more harm.
I truly cannot believe scientists took such a big risk as to exploding a test bomb that they really weren’t sure what the outcome would be.
I can see why they wanted to test this bomb out. Just having the knowledge that you can drop an atomic bomb if you wanted to is comforting. Atomic bombs should not be allowed in wars in the first place but if other countries are making them it is important that our country knows how to as well.
Very risky to explode a test bomb, and not know the outcome of what you are getting from it.
It was very interesting to learn about the description of how nuclear bombs work. Scary to know that they are capable to take out an entire city and can be felt for up to 100 miles away.
Imagine a world without atomic bombs!
Unfortunately the atomic bomb was necessary. While I do not believe bombings and taking innocent lives is ever a good thing, I think that it ended up prevented even more lives being lost.
From a political standpoint it made sense. We flexed our military muscles for the whole world to see. From a philosophical and ethical standpoint, I don’t know where to begin.
The picture itself is breathtaking. A mushroom cloud nearly 7 and half miles high and a blast that could be felt 100 miles away its insane. I can see why the atomic bomb did some much damage.
Although the debate still fluctuates today, this action was a definite.
“The debate over whether or not this was necessary still rages today, with critics claiming the Japanese were on the brink of surrender anyway, and proponents saying that the terrible price paid to conquer Okinawa showed that an invasion of Japan would cost tens of thousands of American lives, probably hundreds of thousands.”
Atomic bombs should only be used in wars if it is 100% necessary and there are no other options. It is crazy that $2 billion taxpayer dollars went towards this nuclear weapon.
I had no idea the atomic bomb cost so much. I had never put much thought into how the bombs were paid for.
I was shocked that to create the bomb cost 2 billion and could kill all those in a 100 mile radius! That’s terrifying that the US created that.
The destruction that this bomb caused was devastating. Was it necessary? I don’t know. There had already been so many lives lost.
I guess I have never given thought to how bombs were paid for and how much all of the expensive chemicals would have cost.
The expense of this bomb is quite ridiculous, I would have never guessed it would cost that much.
It is scary to think that they set the bomb off not knowing if it could potentially be powerful enough to end mankind. I also was not aware that Albert Einstein was involved in the creation of nuclear weapons.
I found it interesting that the U.S. did not know how powerful a nuke would be. After seeing the power of the bomb was it morally right to drop it on Japan?
I can not believe that they set off this atomic bomb without knowing what kind of damage it would cause. Seems like a risk that we should not have taken.
I never knew about all of the facts relating to the atomic bomb. I found it very interesting that president Roosevelt was the president at the time when these bombs were created. I have always thought of President Roosevelt to be very harmless and caring.
Testing a bomb like that was very risky and President Roosevelt was lucky that it didn’t do more damage, like killing thousands of people.
I found it very interesting the Albert Einstein advised President Roosevelt to build nuclear warfare. I had no idea that the President would talk to a scientist about this, but it does make sense that Roosevelt would want to listen to Einstein’s advice.
The atomic bomb saved millions of american lives and i always supported this hard decision.
Setting off an atomic bomb without knowing what would happen is such a bold move. I would love to have been there to observe what would have happened. This would have been such an awesome part of history.
Atomic bomb as the most powerful weapon in the world should not be used any more. Although it played a significant role to stop the World War II, it also brought pain to people.
The atomic bomb picture looked beautiful, but it did that most and great damage.
I found Einstein’s input to be interesting. I wonder if the United States influenced other countries to develop their own version of the atomic bomb or if they were already in the developing stages?
I knew of Einstein taking part in the atomic bomb. I do not believe that the Atomic Bomb should ever be used again because it is so destructive. It works well for what it was intended to do, but it is a devastating weapon to use.
I find it interesting to learn more about these bombings.
I hope the atomic bomb is never used again, but it is interesting to learn more about bombs.
I am sure this was a very difficult decision because there had been no reason to trust the Japanese up to this point. This is another one of those ethical and moral issues of just or unjust.
My grandfather had orders that he would be part of the invasion of Japan so I’m extremely glad we dropped the bomb because if we invaded he probably wouldn’t be here today to talk about it.
This was a hard decision for the US military to make, but I’m very glad that they did, because of how untrustworthy the Japanese had been up to this point. It became an issue of moral versus ethical decisions.
Its kind of weird to think that bombs could be made to be even more powerful than this the initial tests. (Tsar Bomb)
you could tell this bomb was very expensive from the first description of work and fees, gesh but thank god we had that , like i said leaders make decisions which are only temporary. in other words always have a backup plan.
I can only imagine how difficult making this decision had to have been and I can’t say that it was the right one but somebody has to take on the responsibility of making risky decisions.
Its hard to talk about something so devastating that our country did but who knows how the person the decision felt. The affects also could have been underestimated. Mistakes are made and not all of then can be fixed.
I am sure the scientists knew the bombs would be devastating, but I wonder how they felt after seeing the amount of damage their creations had done to the cities.
It shocks me that we have a good relationship with Japan today even though we did such horrible things do them. It was a good decision at the time.
Its scary to think of the fact that Hitler was also trying to make an atomic bomb, and that he came very close to achieving that dream.
It’s a good thing that we created the Atomic Bomb before Hitler.
Einstein’s input was interesting. I never really knew he had a huge part in this. I hope these bombs or any bombs really get used again.
Who is ever to say it was the right thing to do. We needed the triumph and to put an end to the war. Without these, the world would not be as we know it today.
Bombs are scary and underestimated in my opinion. They’re not easy to make, but it is possible. The amount of countries and atomic weapons that the countries possess is quite terrifying in my opinion.
Nuclear warfare is a frightening thing, and I certainly wouldn’t hope to see any sort of advancement with this in the future.
Whose to say if a demonstration of the A-bomb would have made them surrender. It was a terrible tings, but the result saved thousands of American and Japanese lives.
The loss of human life is incomprehensible. We should never have unleashed this beast.
This is still the biggest most influential weapon that has ever been developed. It is now used as negotiation tactics because everyone is afraid of starting a nuclear war.
Whether you agree with the atomic bomb or not, you have to agree that it scientifically is amazing. The show Manhattan is about the Atomic Bomb, although, it of course has been doctored up with Hollywood drama, it is still really a cool show to watch. The project was kept so secret that most of the wives of the scientists had no clue what was going on.
Really $2 billion taxpayer dollars??? the finest scientists in the world had developed different methods.
The development of these bombs was the start of a new era including the start of the Cold War and many countries creating nuclear missiles in the future.
Incredible science went into creating these destructive bombs and a whole lot of money. It is necessary for our country to have the necessary weapons to protect ourselves. As you know good and well every other country has weapons just as deadly.
The use of an atomic bomb would be devastating. I hope that we never have to use this to protect our country from something just as destructive.
The now defunct show Manhattan was based on the scientists that worked on th e atomic bomb. While in practice, it destroyed lives for generations, but once can’t help but marvel at what it meant to science in general.
The Atom bomb is such an intimidating weapon, but more damage is done by repeated frequent bombings that so many Americans just don’t pay attention to. Not only that, but civilian casualties aren’t reported in full.
I wish the world had never progressed to the weapons we have today. It is scary to know how destructive one weapon could be.
If this bomb was ever used it would seriously be devastating. This bomb should never be let loose because it would be a lot of damage to follow.
I’m not sure how I feel about any of this. Yes, the bomb is devastating, but isn’t multiple mini bombs just as bad? Even just gun fire can be devastating with losses on both sides.
The video said that 50,000 people died in a matter of seconds at Nagasaki. It is just unfathomable the complete and utter loss this bomb created. Still now their is pain caused by the American bombing of Japan and visa versa.
It’s crazy how a nuclear bomb can destroy a city and the buildings like it did when the United States bombed the two cities in Japan.
It’s scary how dangerous some of these weapons are.. I mean really a nuclear bomb is incredibly dangerous and has very serious lasting effects.
US Explodes First Atomic Bomb was an famous history and news in the world, it was a great danger to people
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