Essay Sample on The Effects of the Atomic Bomb

On August 6, 1945, over two years after the majority of the axis powers surrendered The United States dropped an atomic bomb nicknamed “Little Boy” on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later when the Japanese Empire continued to refuse to surrender, the United States dropped another atomic bomb nicknamed “Fat Man” on the city of Nagasaki. This marked a monumental moment not only in the history of the US and Japan but also showed the world the consequences of nuclear warfare and just how destructive it could be. The devastating effects of the bomb caused the Japanese empire to surrender to the allied powers on September, 2nd 1945 and officially end WWII. The bombings had many detrimental affects on Japan such as economic losses, large amounts of casualties and injuries, and it cause a large amount of damage due to Radiation related illnesses.

One of the effects the bombings had on the Japanese empire was major economical losses which were in the form of destroyed or damaged buildings and in the form of lost workers which were killed or permanently injured. "Altogether an area of 13 square kilometers was reduced to ashes and 80% of the 76,000 buildings in the city were burned down. 60,000 buildings over 90,000 were completely demolished." ("Economic effects of the atomic bombs" 2012). "The mass destruction caused by the bombs cost many billions of dollars and many years of rebuilding" ("Economic effects of the atomic bombs" 2012) this was devastating to a country which was short on both economic resources and able bodied people to assist in the rebuilding of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

An additional effect the bombings had on the Japanese empire was the massive amount of casualties which further spread the population thinner as the empire had already had a massive amount of casualties due to deaths of over 2 million soldiers and over 1 million civilians due to other war related instances. "It is estimated that around 140,000 of Hiroshima's population of 350,000 were killed in the bombing, and it is estimated that around 74,000 people died in Nagasaki." (Morris, 2020). The sheer number of deaths especially of young men and the growing population of elderly citizens not of reproductive years greatly decreased the number of births for many years to come.

The last effect the bombings had on the Japanese empire was illnesses and physical disfigurement such as burns related to radiation which typically resulted in death due to the limited medical knowledge related to radiation. some people who were exposed to radiation were shocked to see the physical disfigurements caused by the radiation such as Taeko Teramae who was 15 at the time of the bombing. She states in an interview conducted by The Smithsonian Magazine "I was so surprised I found my left eye looked just like a pomegranate, and I also found cuts on my right eye and on my nose and on my lower jaw,” she recalled. “It was horrible. I was very shocked to find myself looking like a monster.” Yasujiro Tanaka who was three at the time recounts "Thankfully, I survived. But since that day, mysterious scabs began to form all over my body. I lost hearing in my left ear, probably due to the air blast. More than a decade after the bombing, my mother began to notice glass shards growing out of her skin – debris from the day of the bombing, presumably. My younger sister suffers from chronic muscle cramps to this day, on top of kidney issues that has her on dialysis three times a week." (Solly, 2020).

In conclusion The Allied bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had a great impact on the empire of Japan in the form of great economic consequences, hefty death tolls, and the radiation caused illnesses and disfigurement in survivors. The bombings not only put an end to World War Two but, also gave the world an important lesson in the consequences of nuclear weapons. The lesson learned by the bombings are the inspiration for many modern day nuclear weapons regulations and policies.