This Day in History 1945

« When life hands you kelas…. :+: Be Indian, Boink Indian. »

History

This Day in History 1945

By: Santosh :+: Under: History
On: ⋅ August 6, 2007 ⋅

Email this post ⋅

Print this post ⋅ Post a comment
Discuss in our off-topic forums

Looks like you are new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

62 years ago, the United States of America on August 6th 1945 dropped the atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima and 3 days later on Nagasaki, effectively bringing an end to World War II.

The bomb killed around 80,000 people on the spot injuring another 35,000 while levelling the entire city within a matter of seconds. This is the worst instance of human massacre ever in recorded history in terms of speed and efficiency. Another 60,000 died from the nuclear fallout within a few months. Since that day (thankfully), an atomic bomb has never been employed in combat. During the cold war chances of a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union were always trumped by respective governments but besides the Cuban Missile Crisis, the nukes served as a deterrent rather than provocation.

Nuclear proliferation has ensured that multiple nations, including India, now possess these weapons. While the chances of nuclear weapons being used in international conflict is highly unlikely, what is worrisome is that some nations with an unstable political environment, like Pakistan, also possess these weapons. In North Korea, is another despotic regime that is suspected to be in possession of this technology. The lack of security for nuclear weapons in some breakaway former Soviet Republics like Ukraine combined with the rise of international terrorism in the past decade is perhaps the single biggest nuclear threat to the civilized world today, cue The Sum Of All Fears.

What do our readers think about nuclear weapons in general? Are they a necessary evil? Is it ok for nations like India and (especially) Pakistan to possess these terrible weapons? Is it not a big deal for India and Pakistan to have these weapons since they mostly serve as deterrent?

Uber Trivia:
- The pilot of Enola Gay, Paul Tibbets, was posted as military attachÃ© in India but was withdrawn after all political parties protested his posting. (via Wiki)
- Sidhu points us to this amazing story of Japanese soldier, Miyoji Yamane, who survived both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Discussion

8 comments for “This Day in History 1945”

1: +: etcetera :+ -- The silence is deafening | August 6, 2007, 4:02 pm | Direct Link

[...] years ago, this day, the US dropped something on Hiroshima. Hasn’t the main stream media in this country done such an amazing job at inundating you with [...]

2: Sidhu | August 6, 2007, 4:51 pm | Direct Link

AN old news story here

3: Santosh | August 6, 2007, 4:59 pm | Direct Link

Sidhu,
That is an amazing story. Thanks for sharing.

4: LeftyProf | August 7, 2007, 4:52 pm | Direct Link

62 years ago, the United States of America on August 6th 1945 dropped the atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima and 3 days later on Nagasaki, effectively bringing an end to World War II.

Actually, this idea that it was the dropping of the atom bombs that ended WWII is debatable. The fact is that Japan had already surrendered prior to the bombs being used. The U.S. claimed that Japan had not agreed to all the terms of the surrender, and rejected it. As it turned out, after the bombs were dropped, the U.S. accepted the Japanese surrender, on identical terms as before!

Why is this important? Because the U.S. justifies its use of nuclear weapons (remember, the only country in the world to have actually used them!) by saying that it was necessary to end WWII.

But historians have since disputed this claim, and suggested that the atom bombs are not to be seen as the “closing shot” of WWII, but as the “opening shot” of the Cold War. In other words, the U.S. basically destroyed two Japanese cities and hundreds of thousands of lives simply to demonstrate to the world (and to the USSR in particular) the destructive capabilities at their disposal.

Absolutely disgusting, for sure, which is why we need to question the version of history that the victors put out there, and not simply repeat them. Peace.

5: Santosh | August 8, 2007, 6:57 am | Direct Link

But historians have since disputed this claim, and suggested that the atom bombs are not to be seen as the â€œclosing shotâ€ of WWII, but as the â€œopening shotâ€ of the Cold War. In other words, the U.S. basically destroyed two Japanese cities and hundreds of thousands of lives simply to demonstrate to the world (and to the USSR in particular) the destructive capabilities at their disposal.

Leftyprof,
That is an angle on the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki I’ve seldom heard before.

As for the claim that the nukes ended WWII for lack of better evidence I’m going by what the history books tell me.

6: LeftyProf | August 8, 2007, 9:45 am | Direct Link

Santosh,

Here are some articles that give a different interpretation:

http://www.isreview.org/issues/10/good_war.shtml
http://www.isreview.org/issues.....saki.shtml
http://www.newscientist.com/ch.....n7706.html

Check them out, I’m sure you’ll find them interesting. (Oh, and before you call them “biased,” remember that ALL interpretations of history are “biased” in one way or another. There is some truth to the idea that history is written by the victors, no?)

7: Santosh | August 8, 2007, 10:01 am | Direct Link

LeftyProf,
Appreciate the links. I’ll keep an open mind while reading them. I’m a history buff and like reading different historical interpretations.

There is no truer statement than history being written (or rather dictated) by the victor. Take for instance the Indian Freedom struggle and assume the British had somehow prevailed. In the current day and age we would be learning their version of history in which folks like Bhagat Singh were terrorists, not freedom fighters.

But in modern day India, Bhagat Singh is worshipped as a freedom fighter. I’m a big fan too but that does not blind me to the fact that it could’ve easily been the other way round. Unfortunately, any version of history is not without prejudice.

8: uber desi dot com » Blog Archive » Japanese PM meets controversial Indian judge’s son | August 23, 2007, 1:56 pm | Direct Link

[...] posts by UberDesi on Japan and World War 2. crimes, History, japan, politics, radhabinod pal, shinzo abe, world war twocrimes, History, japan, [...]