THE Second World War it is among the most catastrophic events in human history, with a death toll ranging between 60 and 70 million. In this context, the episode of bombsatomic launched on Japanese soil, in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in August 1945, revealed to the world the extent to which man is capable of sowing destruction. To better understand the history of this tragedy, it is necessary for us to know about the development of nuclear technology in the context of war.
We know that the great discoveries about the structure of the atom took place in the beginning of the 20th century. Among the big names involved in these surveys were the Germans AlbertEinstein and WernerHeisenberg. The first went into exile in the United States because of the Nazi persecution of the Jews; the second, like many other German scientists at the time, continued his activities in Germany. Many projects to build powerful weapons were part of the yearnings of Adolf Hitler. The construction of the atomic bomb, as many sources indicate, was one of them. Heisenberg and other leading scientists would have been pressured to carry out this project.
At the same time, Einstein and another nuclear physicist present in the US, the Hungarian LeoSzilard, tried to warn the Americans of the imminent risk of a nuclear weapon being manufactured by the Nazis. Both wrote, in the early 1940s, a letter to American authorities reporting such a possibility. Szilard progressively played a more forceful role in this regard. he, the american physicist RobertOppenheimer and the general Lesliegroves they were the protagonists in the construction of the first atomic bombs in history.
The construction project for this type of weapon was called ProjectManhattan. Groves personally appointed physicist Robert Oppenheimer as head of the call areaY, a secret bomb building zone. Thousands of employees were required for the Manhattan Project to function fully. The first of the bombs built was called "trinity” and was detonated in the Los Alamos region of the USA on July 16, 1945.
With the end of the war in Europe and the suicide of Hitler, conflicts continued in Asia and the Pacific Ocean against the Japanese Empire. Two more atomic bombs had been built and were ready for detonation: one based on plutonium, called “Fatman”, and another one based on uranium, called “littleBoy”. These two bombs were used by the Americans against the Japanese in August 1945 to force their surrender and show the world the kind of deadly technology that had been conquered. The first city hit was Hiroshima, on August 6, 1945, where the “Little Boy” was launched. The description of the explosion and the destructive potential of this bomb can be seen in this excerpt of the book the men of the end of the world, by P. D. Smith:
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The explosive chain reaction of uranium-235 has bathed the city center in deadly radiation: alpha and beta particles, gamma rais and neutrons. High levels of radiation remained in the environment for at least three days, affecting those arriving in the city in search of relatives. An hour after the explosion, a black rain of soot began to fall on Hiroshima and its unfortunate inhabitants, which lasted until afternoon. Rain fell from the huge mushroom cloud that haunted the city like a vengeful god and spilled highly radioactive dust. For those who survived the initial impact and the unbearable heat, the word that came to them was Mizu! - Water. When the rain started, they turned their faces upwards, seeking relief, but in that radioactive environment, the rain was also poisonous. The relief it brought was only temporary, and the price was death a few days later. [1]
About 120,000 people died in Hiroshima alone. On the 9th of the same month, the other pump, the "FatMan", was launched over Nagasaki, causing the same kind of destruction and approximate death toll. The damage and after-effects continued for decades in the two cities as a result of the radiation produced by the detonation of the bombs.
GRADES
[1] Smith, P. D. The men of the end of the world – the real Dr. Fantastic and the dream of the total weapon. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2008, p. 360.
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
FERNANDES, Claudio. "Atomic Bombs in World War II"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/guerras/bombas-atomicas-na-segunda-guerra-mundial.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
