Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Japan Surrenders
In 1939 German born scientist Albert Einstein informed US president Roosevelt about the possibility of making a super bomb that would cause an explosion that nobody had ever seen before. Large amounts of energy could be released by splitting an atom. Einstein and other scientists were afraid that the Germans could develop such a bomb first. In 1942 the Americans set up the Manhattan Project, a secret program to make such a bomb. The first atomic bomb was tested in the New Mexican desert in July 1945.
Even though the United States was winning the war against Japan some generals thought that they would have to invade the island nation to defeat the Japanese. Experts thought that hundreds of thousands of American soldiers might die in such an attack.
After the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt , Harry Truman became president. He learned about the successful test of the bomb. In July 1945 Truman warned the Japanese that the United States would destroy the country with a powerful bomb if they did not surrender at once. In spite of the warning Japan continued fighting.
On August 6,1945 an American bomber called the Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion killed about 70,000 to 100,000 people and destroyed about 13 square kilometres of land. Three days later a much larger bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. It killed about 40,000 people. Thousands of people died of injuries and radiation in the years that followed. On August 14, the Japanese government agreed to surrender. Many officers committed suicide. On September 2, 1945 World War II officially ended.
World War II - Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Causes of World War II
- The Rise of Adolf Hitler and the NSdAP
- Blitzkrieg and the Battle of Britain
- Battle of the Atlantic
- The Holocaust
- Operation Barbarossa - The German Invasion of the Soviet Union
- Attack on Pearl Harbour - America Enters the War
- D-Day - Allied Invasion of Europe
- Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Japan Surrenders
- Life During World War II
- End of World War II
- Key Figures of World War II
- Results and Aftermath of World War II
Online Exercises
- Multiple Choice Exercise 1
- Multiple Choice Exercise 2
- Multiple Choice Exercise 3
- Crossword Puzzle 1
- Crossword Puzzle 2
- The Holocaust - Gap Fill Exerercise
- World War II - Gap Fill Exercise
- World War II - Name Matching Exercise
- Match the Sentence Halves 1
- Match the Sentence Halves 2
- Vocabulary Matching Exercise 1
- Vocabulary Matching Exercise 2
- World War II - What Happened When - Match the Dates
Downloadable PDF Text- and Worksheets
-
Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Japan Surrenders - Text (PDF - 162 KB) - Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Japan Surrenders - Exercises (PDF - 106 KB)
- Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Japan Surrenders - Key (PDF - 9 KB)
Related Topics
Words
- agree = to say yes to something
- amount =how much of something
- at once = quickly, right now
- attack =to start fighting against an enemy with bombs, guns and other weapons
- cause = reason
- commit suicide = to kill yourself
- defeat =to win against somebody or another country
- desert = a large area of dry and hot land
- destroy =to damage completely
- develop = make
- even though =while
- government = the people who rule a country
- in spite of =without being affected by ….
- injury = if you are hurt
- invade = to enter a place with soldiers and take control of it
- possibility =something may happen
- radiation = the energy that comes out of an atomic bomb ; in large amounts it is dangerous to people
- release = set free
- scientist =a person who is trained in science
- secret = something that is not known by a lot of people
- soldier = person who fights for a country in a war
- split = to break apart
- square kilometre = one kilometer long in all directions
- surrender =to say that you want to stop fighting because you see that you cannot win