Hiroshima and Nagasaki: THe Long and Short Term Effects

On the 6 th and 9 th of August 1945, two atomic bombs were dropped by the United States of America in a successful attempt to cause Japan’s ‘unconditional surrender’ at the end of WWII (CNN, 2019). As well as causing the end of the war, the dropping of the bombs caused immediate devastation on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The more long-term effects include those on the Cold War and the possible long-term health effects people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki have experienced due to radiation exposure.

Both of the atomic bombs caused many casualties almost immediately after being dropped. The first bomb dropped on Hiroshima on the 6 th of August was named ‘Little Boy’ and the second bomb, named ‘Fat Man’, was dropped 3 days later (Atomic Heritage Foundation, 2014). It was estimated by the Manhattan Engineer District that there were around 199,000 casualties caused by both bombings and the Japanese made an early estimate that in Hiroshima 95% of deaths were caused by burns (Yale Law School, 2008). The percentage of casualties out of the entire population of Hiroshima was considerably higher than of Nagasaki this is due to the geography of the two cities, rather than the power of the bombs. At first glance these casualties seem very great, however some people believe that the bombings were perhaps no more damaging than other events during the course of WWII. Dr Tami Davis Biddle, stated that the use of atomic bombs on Japan wouldn’t have crossed ‘any moral lines that hadn’t already been crossed’ (Biddle, 2019) due to the Firebombing of Tokyo in March which had already killed around 130,000 people (History.com Editors, 2009). Moreover, British bombings on cities such as Hamburg, Dresden and Berlin are estimated to have caused over 100,000 deaths in total (Heziel Pitogo, 2015). In summary the deaths caused by the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were extremely devastating. However, there were also other bombing campaigns such as the Firebombing of Tokyo and the British strategic bombing of German cities that caused similar numbers of immediate casualties.

Another immediate effect of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the fact that they caused the ‘unconditional surrender’ of the Japanese on the 2 nd of September 1945 (The National WWII Museum - New Orleans, 2022). The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S Military defines unconditional surrender as ‘the surrender of a military force or nation without being able to set any limits on the subsequent actions of the victorious power’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2002). After Germany’s surrender in May of 1945 (Blakemore, 2020), the war in Japan continued. Before, the testing of the first atomic bomb, the Allies had planned a conventional invasion of Japan – the plan was named Operation Downfall. However, this plan didn’t go ahead because President Truman decided to authorize the use of an atomic bomb in Japan to avoid a large number of American casualties that were predicted to occur (Trueman, 2015). Although the atomic bombs did indeed reduce the number of American casualties in causing the surrender of Japan, it has been speculated that President Truman had other motives, such as highlighting the strength of the American arsenal to Russia (BBC, 2022).

Both of these immediate effects of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are significant. The large number of casualties caused when the bombs were dropped is very important because of the pain and poverty that it caused. However, what is possibly more substantial is the fact that, years after the bombing, people are still suffering due to the radiation caused by the bombing (War History Online, 2018). It was predicted by the Radiation Effects Research Foundation that ‘Within the first few months after the bombing between 90,000 and 166,000 people died in Hiroshima, while another 60,000 to 80,000 died in Nagasaki’, this includes those killed by the immediate effects of the bombing but it also includes the effects of radiation on a larger scale (Listwa, 2012). After the bombings, according to (War History Online, 2018), there were increases in many different illnesses, for example: cancers (including leukaemia, breast cancer and thyroid cancer), anaemia and cataracts. However, Lesley M.M Blume wrote an article on the National Geographic Website stated that when she visited Hiroshima in 2018, she was ‘struck by how ordinary it looked and felt’ (Blume, 2020). Furthermore, most of the radiation caused by the bombings decayed within a few days of the explosion, therefore it is completely safe to visit both Nagasaki and Hiroshima without risk of radiation poisoning (Listwa, 2012). This shows that, although the initial impacts of the bombings on human life were catastrophic, within a relatively short period of time, the health risks related to them have become significantly less evident.

After the surrender of Japan and, consequently, the end of WWII, the Cold War began between the United States of America (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR). The Cambridge Dictionary defines the Cold War as ‘a state of extreme unfriendliness existing between countries, especially countries with opposing political systems, which expresses itself not through fighting but through political pressure and threats. The expression is usually used of the relationship between the US and the Soviet Union after the Second World War’ (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022). The dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki meant that as the Cold War continued, a race between the two powers to have the most powerful weaponry (especially in terms of atomic bombs) began. The arms race led to the idea of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) which was the idea that because the use of the atomic bombs could end life on earth, no government would actually use them (BBC, 2022). Therefore, it could be argued that the use of atomic weapons in Japan in 1945 is the reason as to why nuclear weapons have not been used since.

To conclude, in order to analyse the significance of the 1945 atomic bombings it is important to understand both the immediate and long-term effects. The use of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had the desired effects of causing the unconditional surrender of the Japanese. In terms of health, the immediate effects seem more catastrophic than any lasting ones as Hiroshima and Nagasaki are no longer radioactive. Possibly the most significant effect of the atomic bombings is the idea of Mutually Assured Destruction which was caused by the race to create more atomic weapons by both the US and USSR. This means that, because of the fear that atomic weapons could end life on earth, it is less likely for them to be used on the same scale as at Hiroshima and Nagasaki again. Thus far, this has been demonstrated by the fact that nuclear weapons have not been used since. However, during the current situation in Ukraine many people believe that Putin may resort to using at least low grade atomic weapons. One of Putin’s advisors has stated the willingness to do so (Reuters, 2022) and the fact that Putin has already committed so many crimes against Ukraine including ‘the indiscriminate shelling of civilian neighbourhoods, preventing civilians from using humanitarian corridors to escape the fighting, using civilians as human shields and using autonomous killer drones’ (KHAN, 2022) indicates that he may be willing to use further force if the war does not progress in the way he would like.