Advancements: The Development Of Nuclear Weapons During World War II

As the development of nuclear weapons during World War II gave rise to an age of great technological advancements, it also created an era of panic because if in the wrong hands, it could potentially lead to the destruction of the world. Both Allied and Axis powers devised several programs to construct weapons of mass destruction, but were in dire need of a single key ingredient that was scarcely available in large enough quantities. As Nazi submarine, U-234, surrendered to U.S forces on May 16th, 1945, the United States seized a considerable amount of uranium necessary to contribute to the atomic bomb tests conducted under the Manhattan Project. Therefore with the confiscation of German uranium, the United States was then able to utilize the uranium in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs initiating a nuclear age of warfare thus changing the course of not only military history, but U.S. history as well.
Both countries exchanged information regarding the progress of advancements in warfare technology and aided one another with desperately needed materials. Since Japan required a substantial amount of enriched uranium oxide to further their atomic research, Germany agreed to send the Japanese the needed amount of the raw element. So on March 25th, 1945, the Nazi submarine, U-234, set voyage from Kiel, Germany to Tokyo, Japan carrying the secretive and vital shipment that would then be delivered to the head of the Japanese nuclear weapons program and renowned physicist, Dr. Yoshio Nishina. However, when word reached Lieutenant Johann Fehler who was in command of the submarine, about Germany’s unconditional