Hiroshima Bombing Research Paper
In May of 1944, the Allied forces captured Berlin and defeated Germany, ending World War II in Europe. However, the United States had not yet defeated Japan, who vowed to never surrender. In response to the enemy’s stubbornness and pride, the United States issued the Potsdam Declaration, threatening Japan with “prompt and utter destruction” if they refused to surrender. When Japan’s militaristic government ignored the declaration, the United States targeted the Japanese manufacturing city of Hiroshima with the newly developed atomic bomb. The effects of the atomic bombing at Hiroshima left the city and its inhabitants in a different state from prior to the attack. When the American bomb detonated over Hiroshima, its strength was catastrophic
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Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge was within one mile of the center of the explosion, and spent the following months tending to and comforting the injured. Charged particles and high frequency waves remained in the area after the bombing, harming Father Kleinsorge and other inhabitants. “For the rest of his life, his was to be a classic case history of that vague, borderline form of A-bomb sickness in which a person’s body developed a rich repertory of symptoms, few of which could be positively attributed to radiation, but many of which turned up in hibakusha, in various combinations and degrees, so often as to be blamed by some doctors and almost all patients on the bomb.” (Hersey, 110). The atomic bombing of Hiroshima caused it survivors lives to be negatively impacted by illness. If the United States had not bombed Hiroshima, then Japanese survivors would not be affected by radiation sickness during their lifetime. Furthermore, the events associated with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima caused its inhabitants not only physical harm. Horrific events witnessed on the day of the bombing left survivors with psychological damage as well. For example, Mrs. Kamai from Hiroshima by John Hersey witnessed her infant daughter’s death from being buried in rubble. The emotional shock of her daughter’s death caused Mrs. Kamai to carry her the corpse for over one week. The horrific
Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge was within one mile of the center of the explosion, and spent the following months tending to and comforting the injured. Charged particles and high frequency waves remained in the area after the bombing, harming Father Kleinsorge and other inhabitants. “For the rest of his life, his was to be a classic case history of that vague, borderline form of A-bomb sickness in which a person’s body developed a rich repertory of symptoms, few of which could be positively attributed to radiation, but many of which turned up in hibakusha, in various combinations and degrees, so often as to be blamed by some doctors and almost all patients on the bomb.” (Hersey, 110). The atomic bombing of Hiroshima caused it survivors lives to be negatively impacted by illness. If the United States had not bombed Hiroshima, then Japanese survivors would not be affected by radiation sickness during their lifetime. Furthermore, the events associated with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima caused its inhabitants not only physical harm. Horrific events witnessed on the day of the bombing left survivors with psychological damage as well. For example, Mrs. Kamai from Hiroshima by John Hersey witnessed her infant daughter’s death from being buried in rubble. The emotional shock of her daughter’s death caused Mrs. Kamai to carry her the corpse for over one week. The horrific