A Little Boy atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, followed by a Fat Man bomb on the city of Nagasaki on August 9. The Japanese government ignored this ultimatum.īy August 1945, the Allied Manhattan Project had developed and tested atomic bombs, and the United States Army Air Forces 509th Composite Group was equipped with Silverplate Boeing B-29 Superfortress that could deliver them from Tinian in the Mariana Islands. Together with the United Kingdom and the Republic of China, the United States called on Japan to surrender in the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, 1945, threatening 'prompt and utter destruction'. The war in Europe ended when Nazi Germany signed its instrument of surrender on May 8, 1945, but the Pacific War continued.
The two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.įollowing a firebombing campaign that destroyed many Japanese cities, the Allies prepared for a costly invasion of Japan.
The atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan were conducted by the United States during the final stages of World War II in 1945.
