69 years of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

It has been 69 years since the day that two American products of the Manhattan Project, Little Boy and Fat Man, were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on 6 and 9 August respectively, changing the world forever. The atomic bombs that blew up the cities in a mushroom cloud killed 1.6 lakh people in Hiroshima and 80,000 in Nagasaki. Although Nagasaki was bombed three days later, the effects of the event rippled through time and history, echoing in people’s minds and hearts forever.

It was the US President Harry S. Truman who ordered the nuclear strike on the two cities, to bring about an end to the Second World War. His decisions as a world leader has been questioned through the ages, all reiterating a single simple point: Was it really necessary?

War has always been the game of politicians, while soldiers bore the brunt of the job, and did all the dirty work. Such has been the tradition since the days of Achilles and Agamemnon. But the killing of innocents although nothing new has been looked down upon since the days of old, be it Adolf Hitler, or President Truman. 

6 August is celebrated as Hiroshima Day, in memoriam of the sad incident, which although changed history and shaped the world as it is today, also crippled the soul of a nation for generations to come.

Today Hiroshima Day is an occasion to focus on anti war and anti nuclear discussions. While war still rages on somewhere on this planet, where people are still killing people, this day marks the reminder of the horrors that war can bring.

Photo: Internet/Hiroshima Peace Memorial Meuseum

Tathagata Mitra

2nd, MA Mass Communication

Tathagata Mitra

Born in Calcutta. Writer. Blogger. Storyteller.

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