The Cold War arms race had begun, and nuclear testing and research became high-profile goals for several countries, especially the United States and the Soviet Union. The United States responded by launching a program in 1950 to develop more advanced thermonuclear weapons. On August 29, 1949, the Soviets tested their first nuclear bomb. had obtained-through a network of spies engaging in international espionage-blueprints of a fission-style bomb and discovered regional sources of uranium in Eastern Europe. Within just a few years, however, the U.S.S.R. The Soviet Union initially lacked the knowledge and raw materials to build nuclear warheads. The United States was the only country with nuclear weaponry in the years immediately following World War II. American planes then turned toward their secondary target, Nagasaki.Ĭiting the devastating power of “a new and most cruel bomb,” Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s surrender on August 15-a day that became known as ‘ V-J Day’-ending World War II. American bombers initially had targeted the city of Kokura, where Japan had one of its largest munitions plants, but smoke from firebombing raids obscured the sky over Kokura. Nagasaki had not been the primary target for the second bomb. The “Fat Man” killed an estimated 40,000 people on impact. When the Japanese did not immediately surrender, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb three days later on the city of Nagasaki. Tens of thousands more would later die from radiation exposure. The “Little Boy” exploded with about 13 kilotons of force, leveling five square miles of the city and killing 80,000 people instantly. On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped its first atomic bomb from a B-29 bomber plane called the Enola Gay over the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The declaration promised “prompt and utter destruction” if Japan did not surrender. In late July, President Harry Truman called for Japan’s surrender with the Potsdam Declaration. While the war in Europe had ended in April, fighting in the Pacific continued between Japanese forces and U.S. Scientists at Los Alamos had developed two distinct types of atomic bombs by 1945-a uranium-based design called “the Little Boy” and a plutonium-based weapon called “the Fat Man.” (Uranium and plutonium are both radioactive elements.)
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