The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Great Historic Disasters)

128 Pages·2008·6.72 MB·english

by  J. Poolos

The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki
The Black Death
The Dust Bowl
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871
The Hindenburg Disaster of 1937
Hurricane Katrina
The Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004
The Influenza Pandemic of 1918–1919
The Johnstown Flood of 1889
The San Francisco Earthquake and Fire
of 1906
The Sinking of the Titanic
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
J. Poolos
The ATomic BomBings of hiroshimA And nAgAsAki
Copyright © 2008 by Infobase Publishing
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Library of congress cataloging-in-Publication data
Poolos, J. (Jamie)
The Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki / J. Poolos.
p. cm.—(Great historic disasters)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7910-9738-0 (hbk.)
1. Hiroshima-shi (Japan)—History—Bombardment, 1945—Juvenile
literature. 2. Nagasaki-shi (Japan)—History—Bombardment, 1945—
Juvenile literature. 3. World War, 1939–1945—Juvenile literature. 4. Atomic
bomb—History. I. Title. II. Series.
D767.25.H6P66 2008
940.54'2521954—dc22 2008004953
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Contents
Introduction: The Site of Destruction 7
1 Prelude to the Bomb 9
2 The Origins of War in Europe 22
3 The Conflict Takes Shape 36
4 The War in Europe 47
5 The Pacific Theater 65
6 The Manhattan Project 81
7 Dropping the Bombs 94
8 The Legacy of World War II 104
Chronology and Timeline 114
Glossary 117
Bibliography 120
Further Reading 122
Picture Credits 123
Index 124
About the Author 128
Every year on August 6, people gather in Hiroshima’s Peace
Memorial Park (above) to leave flowers and remember the victims
of the atomic bombings of the city. One of the few buildings to
remain standing was renamed the A-bomb Dome and preserved as
a reminder of the damage and destruction caused by the attack.
introduction:
the Site of
destruction
I
f you walk down the main street in Hiroshima,
Japan, today, it is almost impossible to tell that it was
ever anything but a peaceful, tranquil city. Automobiles
and scooters move over tree-lined streets. Lush gardens line
the gently flowing river. Despite a population of more than
one million people, residents and visitors create a relaxed
but active environment. Modern office buildings are a sign
of Japan’s thriving economy, as are the many restaurants and
shops that dot the downtown area.
Only a few signs of what some historians call the most sig-
nificant event in modern world history remain. The Hiroshima
Peace Park is a place that draws many visitors from all nations.
The centerpiece of the park is the remains of a concrete building,
one of the few buildings in the city left standing after the most
powerful bomb attack ever seen. The blown-out windows and
framework of the dome remain as a reminder of what the city
looked like in 1945. The building stands as a memorial to the
tens of thousands of victims. Each year on August 6, Hiroshima
Day, ceremonies are held here to remember these people.
It is hard to believe that fewer than 70 years ago the city
lay leveled in its own smoldering waste, with up to 140,000
7
 AtOMic BOMBings Of HirOsHiMA AnD nAgAsAki
reported dead by the end of the year. Thankfully, scenes of
such horrific destruction have not been seen since. The Hiro-
shima Peace Park remains as a symbol of the vast lengths to
which humankind will go to stop dictators determined to rule
the world.
pprreelluuddee ttoo
tthhee BBoommbb
T
he story of the atomic bomb begins in a set-
ting as unlikely as any: a man standing at the cor-
ner of an intersection, waiting for the traffic light
to change. The man was Hungarian-born physicist Dr. Leo
Szilard. The place was Southampton Row, in London, Eng-
land. The time was September 1933. It was while on one of
his frequent, ambling walks that Szilard envisioned an atomic
chain reaction much like a series of traffic lights all chang-
ing to green in rapid sequence, allowing traffic to flow again.
Szilard had a playful mind, and thoughts such as these served
as both stimuli and entertainment.
Szilard was reminded of a novel he had read shortly
before he fled Germany at the time Adolf Hitler was rising to
power. The book was The World Set Free, written in 1913 by
H.G. Wells. In the novel, Wells describes a global nuclear war
that lays waste to 200 cities by atomic bombs. Szilard tried to
imagine the intense energy created by a nuclear bomb. He had
some experience in the theories of superweapons, gained the
previous year when he was a researcher at the Kaiser Wilhelm
Institute in Berlin, Germany. It was there he studied and
worked with the great Albert Einstein, with whom Szilard
9