The bombings actually had more meaning than simply ending the war. Each interpretation of the bombings has an obvious link to the interests of the United States. Because of these special interests, the morality and ethics of the bombing is questionable. It is obvious that the United States was the only country who stood to gain anything from the bombings.

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Some may say that we had to end the war so that we could put ourselves in a better position in the world; this position would later enable us to help other countries. Others argue that our actions were selfish, ruthless, and outright destructive. Although there are many opinions on the atomic bombing of Japan, we cannot change history; we can only reflect upon our past actions and strive to be better.

Military Reasons for Bombing

One of the most popular explanations for the bombing was for military reasons, to end the war immediately. Ending the war promptly prevented the need for future invasions, which saved more lives in the long run. Based on previous battles with Japan, the United States knew that more battles would result in a great deal of bloodshed. (Oh, n.d.) The Japanese army was determined to fight us with everything they had, which meant there were a lot of casualties.

End the War Quickly by Forcing Surrender

Shortly before the atomic bombs were dropped, it was obvious that Japan was near defeat but they were not necessarily ready to surrender. There was no question that we would defeat Japan, but the United States wanted to do so more quickly than it was happening. The atomic bomb was more about ending the war as immediately than it was about defeating Japan. (Cooper, 2000)

Keep Russia Out of the War

Russia was eager to join the war in order to help us defeat Japan, but we did not want their help. The United States feared Russian involvement because we did not want Russia to feel entitled to gaining anything, such as territory in Asia, from the imminent defeat. To allow such a territorial gain would surely mean the spread of Communism, which the United States did not want because we considered Russia one of our greatest enemies at the time. One of the main motivations for dropping the bombs was to force Japan to surrender; we knew that this tool was key in getting the Emperor to end the fighting. (Cooper, 2000)

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Political Reasons for Bombing

In addition to military reasons, there were also many political reasons behind the bombing of Japan. The creation and testing of the atomic bomb was a very expensive project, so many government officials felt that the value of the bomb must be demonstrated by using it in the war. (Oh, n.d.) If it was not used, then it would seem like a waste of government funding because its true potential would not be seen. The United States felt that the physical and psychological power of the bomb needed to be demonstrated to the world.

Intimidation Tool 

Not only did we want other countries to know we had a powerful weapon, we wanted them to fear it. Many people suggest that one of the reasons we used the bomb was to intimidate the Russians, which has some truth to it. Soviet Russia was considered an enemy of the United States; the bomb showed them and the rest of the world what we had in our arsenal. One of our greatest fears was that Russia would attempt to expand into Asia. The bomb obviously had political implications on the rest of the world, especially Russia. The United States showed the world that we did not need Russia’s help to defeat Japan and gave us a strong hand for future negotiations. (Oh, n.d.)

Social Reasons for Bombing

There are also social reasons behind the bombings of Japan. At that point in history, the average American disliked Japan and the Japanese people a great deal. These tensions had been building ever since the 19th century and eventually peaked when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. (Oh, n.d.) The bombing of Japan can be viewed as retaliation; the United States bombed them because of Pearl Harbor and their terrible treatment of American prisoners of war.

POW’s were tortured and killed during this time in history and the American people were outraged. Despite the obvious dislike between the United States and Japan, this social reason alone is not why we bombed Japan. The government insists that the bomb was originally intended for Nazi Germany, but the bomb was not ready prior to their surrender on May 7th. (Oh, n.d.)

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Was it Justified?

Every attempt to justify the bombing of Japan is met with resistance. We can see that the decision to bomb Japan was not based on one reason, but rather a culmination of reasons from different points of view in the United States government. The military, politicians, and the American people each had their own reasons for supporting the bombing at the time. Although each of these reasons together are historically why Japan was bombed, it does not mean that all of them were fair and justified. This piece of our history illustrates America as arrogant and powerful. Although we may not consider arrogance a good trait, at that time it was necessary. The bombing of Japan played a key role in the end of WWII and subsequent history, despite seemingly compromised morals and ethics.

References

Cooper, J. (2000) Truman’s Motivations: Using the Atomic Bomb in the Second World War. Retrieved on August 9, 2011 from http://www.johnwcooper.com/papers/atomicbombtruman.htm

Oh, J. (n.d.) Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Decision to Drop the Bomb. Retrieved on August 9, 2011 from http://www.umich.edu/~historyj/pages_folder/articles/Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki/pdf

The explosion of a nuclear bomb or takes the form of a mushroom cloud. You atomique champignon , which the French say. But … why take that curious way and not another?

This species of mushroom-shaped cloud is formed when an explosion generates a bubble of hot gas, in the case of nuclear detonation by a high X-ray emission that ionize and heat the surrounding air, which is called aball fire .

Hot air weighs less to be more excited, more energetic, and separate its molecules and thus rises and expands.Being a very sudden change, and very extreme, very hot air rises very fast creating a very strong updraft and dragging more air and materials with him, forming the foot of the mushroom cloud.

In the dentral of the fireball are concentrated at higher temperatures, causing convection in a circular motion interacting with the cold air from the outside, material swirling outside and grow hacienco diameter of the bulb or mushroom head .

Of all the atomic bombs, which form a “hat” are flat and huge thermonuclear bombs or hydrogen bombs, fireball which rises so high that hits the tropopause is the boundary between the troposphere and stratosphere.

In this layer there is a signifivativa atmospheric temperature difference with the two boundary layers mentioned above, which prevents them from mixing too. And so, when the fireball reaches the tropopause does not have enough heat to get through, so it flattens and spreads out too much horizontally rather than vertically.

One of the presidents of the United States who served between 1913-1921 was Woodrow Wilson, when World War I broke out he said, “I promise you that this will be the final war, the war to end all wars.”

All of us know that wasn’t true because 20 years after he made that promise, World War II broke out. This brought more death and destruction than the first, and it was true to the fact that the hope of reining in peace as stated by the president was wrong. The advances that were made resulted in vain and mankind was set on killing each other. At the end of World War II, world leaders realized that war was bigger than ever. They knew they couldn’t continue to fool themselves because what they saw before their eyes was alarming.

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In 1945 General MacArthur stated, “We have had our last chance. If we do not devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at out our door.” He knew that the atomic bombs that were dropped in the final days of World War II on Nagasaki and Hiroshima had devastated those cities. The destruction added a new meaning to the word “Armageddon.” The nuclear aftermath could possibly be the end of life on planet earth.

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When the leaders started thinking about this by the 1960’s, they had put together a strategy of “mutually assured destruction.” They wanted to make sure they had enough missiles that would guarantee the demise of at least 25% of their enemy’s civilian population and 50% of their industrial capacity. They didn’t care who started the conflict, they were set on accomplishing it.

Ever since that happened, man has been worried about people killing each other with nuclear weapons. Nowadays almost every country has them and despite saying they’re allies, they will not give them up in case they need them to wage war against the other, leaving people to be concerned about a nuclear holocaust that could end mankind. Few have been reassured in political leaders’ strategy for world peace. It brings little comfort to know a madman has nuclear weapons at his disposal and can use it any minute.

All of us know the anguish the Japanese suffered with the Fukishima plants, they put their own lives at stake when they decided to build them and have others live in close proximity. Today many are in the same situation.

People don’t believe nuclear weapons will bring peace for mankind, if anything they’re afraid of what it can do because they know what it’s done. Since it seems that so many countries have already acquired nuclear missiles, the political systems are prepared to use them if they have to. Is this the way to finally establish peace for many that long for it, what is the definition of “Armageddon” and how will it come about? Part 2 will explain this.

War in the Pacific : VJ Day

VJ- Day is the abbreviation for Victory over Japan Day. This was the celebration of the Surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945, which ended World War II.

The Japanese call this day Shusen-kinenbi which means “Memorial day for the end of the war”.

Japan’s Modernization

Japan began to modernize at the end of the 19th century in to the beginning of the 20 th century. It annexed Korea and Manchuria, all while China was ensuing in a political chaos. With warlords controlling parts of china and a central government without any real power, all led to a weak China for Japan.

A military general by the name of Chiang Kai-shek united China by defeating all the warlords. Japan felt the warlord of Manchuria was going to ally himself with Kai-shek and intervened. They created the puppet state of Manchukuo with an emperor.

War with China

A military general by the name of Chiang Kai-shek united China by defeating all the warlords. Japan felt the warlord of Manchuria was going to ally himself with Kai-shek and intervened. They created the puppet state of Manchukuo with an emperor.

Later on, Japan left the league of nations. They wanted to express their military power due to their need for a steady supply of resources. One popular idea was that Japan and not China was the true heir of classical Chinese civilization.

The war ensued between Japan and China and Japan committed many atrocities such as medical and chemical experiments on the Chinese population much like the Nazis did. 

Allied Intervention

In an effort to discourage Japan’s war efforts in China, the United States, Britain, and the Dutch government (in exile) stopped selling oil and steel to Japan. This was known as the ABCD encirclement (American-British-Chinese-Dutch) designed to deny Japan of the raw materials needed to continue its war with China.

Japan Enters World War Two

On December 7, 1941, Japan launched simultaneous surprise attacks on Thailand, Malaya, Hong Kong, and Pearl Harbor. The United States declared war on Japan the next day.With these actions Japan allies itself with the Central Powers.

Japan also attacked Wake Island, an American Territory in the Central Pacific. On December 8, they attacked the Philippines. Six months after attacking Pearl Harbor, Japan had achieved nearly all of their naval objectives. All of the USA’s battleships in the Pacific were damaged or sunk by the Japanese. The British and Dutch Far Eastern fleets had been destroyed, and the Royal Australian Navy had been driven back to port.

Japan also attacked Wake Island, an American Territory in the Central Pacific. On December 8, they attacked the Philippines. Six months after attacking Pearl Harbor, Japan had achieved nearly all of their naval objectives. All of the USA’s battleships in the Pacific were damaged or sunk by the Japanese. The British and Dutch Far Eastern fleets had been destroyed, and the Royal Australian Navy had been driven back to port.

Japan Starts to Lose the War

Japan started losing the war in the Pacific after the losses at the battles at Coral sea and Midway. The battles of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands saw the first defeat of Japanese land forces since 1939. Guadalcanal was an ill fated attack from the Japanese which proved very costly, resulting in the losses of many men. The Japanese soldiers referred to this place as the “Island of Death”. 

The Battle of Leyte Gulf – 1944

The Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle in history. The main territory in dispute was the island of Leyte in the Philippines  from where many battles took place. It featured the first use of Kamikaze aircraft. It was also the first time large battleships engaged each other in direct combat. A victory for the allies would ensure them control of sea routes and from South Asia to Japan. This would cut off supply lines to Japan. Many battleships and aircraft carriers with hundreds of planes were involved in this war. A victory would ensure the naval power of either party. In the end an ally victory was imminent and this victory broke the back of the Japanese Navy.

The End of the War

Battles in the islands of Iwo-Jima and Okinawa resulted in severe casualties on both sides. The Japanese eventually retreated but their Kamikaze attacks increased because of Japan’s desperate attempt to inflict more casualties to the allies. A staggering third of the US fleet was hit. Bombing raids on Japanese cities reduced the industrial production. A firestorm in Tokyo caused by bombings on May 9-10, 1945 killed a 100, 000 people.

The end of the war finally came when the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, August Sixth in the same year. A request to Japan to surrender from the US was not accepted which prompted the US drop a second atomic bomb three days later on Nagasaki. The death toll reached 330,000 people killed, 476,000 injured and 2.5 million buildings destroyed.

Japan Surrenders

Japan surrenders on August 15, !945 as Soviet Troops had decided to join the Pacific War as part of the allies.

The ceremony took place on a ship called Missouri and the ceremony lasted 23 minutes. It was broadcast all over the world.

It was signed at 9:04 am on September 2nd, 1945

The surrender took place at Tokyo Bay

By Conrado D. Fontanilla   

Pontoon bridge

It is a floating bridge. Simply, a platform is laid over floats which could be drums or inflatable rubber. This was used by the Allied forces in invading Normandy, France in 1945 in an assault to the heart of Hitler’s Germany. It is installed at the mouth of a ship that crossed over to the beach. Tanks, weapons carriers, war personnel and other war materiel were transported on the pontoon bridge. It may not be a secret weapon because Napoleon Bonaparte had used the pontoon bridge before but its massive production by the Allies came as a surprise to the Axis powers.

On D-Day over Europe, some 156,000 Allied soldiers landed on Normandy. In the movie, “The Longest Day,” you can see pontoon bridges where tanks, jeeps and army trucks rolled over to the beach.

Hodge podge

“One (German) U-boat would shadow a convoy (of Allied ships) and summon others by radio, and then the group would attack, generally on the surface at night.”

As WWII progressed U-boats were fitted with snorkels through which the crew could breathe that enabled them to stay under water for a long time.

The aircraft was ineffective against the U-boat because the pilot could hardly see it, if at all. The only telltale of its presence was its small snorkel and small eddies of water in its wake.

The hodge podge stopped the U-boat. It is like a big lollipop. A pack of explosives corresponds to the ice candy, the handle to the wooden stick with which to hurdle the whole thing. A lot of hodge podge is showered on a U-boat by mechanized launcher. When it hits the target, it explodes causing damage to the U-boat. The explosive is strong enough to breach the submarine. A severe damage to the snorkel is enough to force a U-boat to surface. To hit a U-boat was a hearty game for the navy crew of the allies!

“In World War II Germany built 1,162 U-boats, of which 785 were destroyed” (Encyclopedia Britannica). The rest were captured when Hitler’s Germany surrendered.

Radar

Radar was first invented by Gulglielmo Marconi. When he was propagating electromagnetic waves across a street he found that a passing car interrupted transmission. Although Marconi helped Benito Mussolini in the Axis side, he was half-British because his mother was a British. In fact, he developed the wireless in England before the war (Smith, M. 2003. Gulglielmo Marconi).

“Britain commenced radar research for aircraft detection in 1935…. By September 1938 the first British radar system, the Chain Home, had gone into 24-hour operation, and it remained operational throughout the war” (Encyclopedia Britannica).

The Hurricanes and Spitfires of the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom, in dogfights with the German Luftwaffe, made up for their  inferiority in number with superiority in accuracy, thanks to the radar.

Angled stones over iron clad

Iron-clad warships were already in use in the American Civil War in 1861-65. But on the onset of WWII, the iron armor of ships could be pierced by machine gun fire. An ad hoc research team to develop weapons based in the United Kingdom found a way to deflect the bullets. Angled hard stones were cemented over the iron clad. The stones deflected the bullet that it would not go straight through the iron clad. The stone clad saved a lot of warships, destroyers, merchant ships, and lives.

Electromagnetic field reversal

A warship, or submarine, has its own electromagnetic field that is installed. Even a torpedo has an electromagnetic field. If the torpedo’s electromagnetic field did not match that of the target warship, the torpedo would miss the ship. The Allies changed the electromagnetic fields of their ships very often. Even at close range the torpedo could not find its target if it had been installed with a reverse electromagnetic field.

Atomic bomb

This was secretly developed. Its formula was no secret, however. The formula is E = mc2 that Albert Einstein came up with in 1906, at the tail of his special theory of relativity published in 1905. But that formula was only a hypothesis which was first verified by Enrico Fermi, an Italian, who himself could not understand what he had done. In 1936, Fermi’s findings were confirmed by other scientists and his discovery was called nuclear fission, a new concept.

Some scientists were alarmed that the Germans could be capable of exploiting the potentials of fission as demonstrated by their launching of missile V-2 in Europe.

The V-2 rocket “was first successfully launched on October 3, 1942, and was fired against Paris on September 6, 1944. Two days later the first of more than 1,100 V-2s was fired against Great Britain….”(Encyclopedia Britannica 2009).

In 1939, Einstein, persuaded by some scientists, wrote President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States to to convince him to tap fission for military purposes. “In February 1940, $6,000 was made available to start research under the supervision of a committee headed by L.J. Briggs, director of the National Bureau of Standards.”

Fermi and his wife had escaped from the Nazis and fled to the United States in 1936 during ceremonies awarding him the Nobel Prize for Physics. He supervised the physics part of the development of the atomic bomb in a project directed by J. Robert Oppenheimer.

July 16, 1945, in the morning, saw the first explosion of an atomic bomb in New Mexico. Two of them would be dropped over Japan in August 1945.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur, army commander of the Southern Pacific theater, who had jurisdiction over Japan, thought that the atomic bomb was not necessary. The Japanese fleet had already been scuttled in the Naval Battle of Leyte gulf in the Philippines by the allied navy commanded by Admiral Chester Nimitz. The allied army including remnants of the United States Armed Forces in the Far East and Filipino guerrillas under Gen. MacArthur’s command had already secured the Philippines. It was only a matter of time and allied forces would invade Japan.

PERT

Can we call a procedure a weapon if it enabled one to produce an instant warship? The PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) was developed in WWII. It was mainly responsible for building a warship in 56 days in 1943. In 1940, it took 355 days to build a ship (Taylor, D. 2002. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, page 44).

Secret documents revealed by WikiLeaks show that the talibans hide a nuclear bomb in Europe and an Al-Qaeda commandant sustain that it will be detonated if Osama Bin Laden will be captured or killed.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, imprisoned at Guantanamo since 2003 is considered the one that planned the attacks from 11 September 2011.He told the investigators that Al-Qaeda will unleash ”the atomic hell” in Europe if Osama Bin Laden will be killed.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Osama Bin Laden was killed Sunday night during an operation of the American Special Forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.The information was also confirmed by the American President, Barack Obama.Until now, no official photos of the terrorist leader were presented.

Read more: Osama Bin Laden is Dead.the Terrorist Killed in Abbottabad by American Forces

                  The Photo Showing Osama Bin Laden Dead is a Fake

A critical mass requires that a certain weight of fissionable material must be assembled to sustain a chain reaction. When the critical mass is attained, the nucleus of the uranium or plutonium atom is bombarded with tremendous amounts of slow-moving neutrons. Some neutrons are successfully absorbed and split the nucleus. The result is the formation of lighter elements, the emission of more neutrons, and a violent release of energy. As more neutrons are multiplied, more nuclei are split—thus accounting for the term “chain reaction.” This entire reaction takes place in a fraction of a second. The size of the explosion depends upon the efficiency of the chain reaction.

The first atomic bomb explosion was performed near Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July16, 1945, atop a steel tower. The blast was so powerful that the tower disintegrated as a result of vaporization and the sand in an 800-yard radius fused to glass.

Explosions of this type are characterized by a blinding flash of light, a heat wave, a tremendous shock wave, and a huge ball of fire rising rapidly in a mushroom-shaped cloud. The destructive force of this device is caused by three distinct actions:

v     Blast effect – a violent wind first blowing out from the point of explosion and then reversing its direction, creating a vacuum. Most damage is caused by the side effects, such as flying glass and falling walls.

v     Thermal radiation – the “flash” heat caused by absorption of heat energy for a very brief instant. In Japan, persons one and one-half miles from the blast were burned on surfaces facing the blast. Burning is caused by ignition of combustible materials.

v     Ionizing radiation – called radioactivity, and causing the least amount of damage. A transfer of energy is affected whereby the human tissues undergo a biophysical and biochemical change.

Because of their vast power, atomic bombs are graded by the equivalent weight of TNT required to release the same amount of energy. The bomb’s power is expressed in kilotons (thousands of tons).

The fusion, or thermonuclear, bomb was first tested in November, 1952. Because the explosion is created by the fusion reaction of hydrogen isotopes, deuterium and tritium, the weapon is called hydrogen bomb.

A fusion bomb of about 100 kilotons provides the great heat needed to sustain a thermonuclear reaction. The intense heat transforms the deuterium and tritium atoms into atoms of helium—a heavier element than hydrogen. The weight of helium atoms formed is less than the total weight of hydrogen atoms consumed in the fusion reaction. The difference in weight is the mass given off in the form of a violent release of energy. The fusion reaction is not limited like ordinary explosives since heat, not mass, initiates the release of nuclear energy.

Hydrogen and cobalt bombs are many more times as powerful as atomic bombs. Bombs as great as 50 megatons (millions of tons) already have been exploded.

A recent idea is the neutron bomb. It has probably not yet been made. In theory, the N-Bomb will be a fusion explosion like the hydrogen bomb. Unlike the H-bomb, however, the blast will develop into a burst of neutrons instead of a great ball of fire resulting in a radioactive cloud. The neutrons can penetrate solid materials, destroying life but not damaging the buildings.

#9: The Internet (N/A, started in 1957) – The Internet was first created by Russians, by launching a satelliate. Through time, the Internet expanded. Instead of simply commanding a satelliate, the Internet is an essential in today’s life. You can play games, socialize, manage finance, obtain knowledge, create websites and many more. It has added much more convienience to our lives.

#8: The Airplane (Wright Brothers, 1903) - When the Wright brothers made the first airplane, it looked rather like a mess. But that mess could sustain itself in the air for 11 seconds, and gave inspiration. The jet engine was created soon afterwards, and aircraft weren’t just an achievement anymore. They could transport large amounts of goods, people, and bombs. Today, the Boeing 747 allows people from all over the world to travel to distant places in comfort.

#7: The Pill (Margaret Sanger, 1960’s) - When Margaret found out that a mixture of two hormones could stop birth, she released it into the world on a different reason than what it did. It was originally made to stop poor familes from reproducing, but the pill actually guided women to the workforce. Now, women could control when they were pregnant, and with the decreased amount of pregnancy, the women found jobs. It was discovered that they could do the jobs as well as men, so it became irreversible.

#6: The Telephone (Alexander Graham Bell, 1876) - The telephone was considered an ingenious invention at that time. The ability to move human voice across large spaces was marvelled at. It was a breakthrough, and it encouraged other thinkers to create groundshaking inventions too.

#5: The Automobile (Joseph Cugnot, 1769/Henry Ford, 1893) - Joseph Cugnot made the vehicle for the French military, but the car used today was started by Henry Ford. It allowed humans to move about distances that would take hours to walk in minutes. It was available whenever you needed it, since it was personal property.

#4: Nuclear Weaponry (USA, during WWII) - The immense power of an atomic bomb literally demolished any other weapon. The giant amount of land surrounding “ground zero” would be totally abolished, while the radiation spread kilometres away. The entire world was posed with a threat, a nuclear holocaust. If any country, no matter how powerful, was attacked with nuclear weapons, it would be almost certain doom. The atomic bomb gave every country in the world a potential threat; caution had to be used.

#3: The Light Bulb (Humphry Davy, 1809) - No, the first light bulb wasn’t invented by Edison, but it was Edison the improved and patented it. The light bulb allowed the night to be illuminated, increasing nocturnal activity. It brightened the future, being able to be used for decoration, entertainment, and productivity.

#2: Gunpowder (N/A, approx. 9th Century) - Gunpowder allowed warfare to move past the preliminary stage of bows and swords. Gunpowder led to cannons and guns, both of which had amazing destructive skills. At such an early stage of time, the might of gunpowder was almost considered godly.

#1: The Steam Engine (James Watt, 1760’s) - The first steam engine was invented by Heron of Alexandria, in Ancient Greece. The modern steam engine was made by James Watt, in the 18th century. The steam engine was what fuelled the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution refaced the world. It transformed it from an agricultural society to an urban and industrial one. The world can’t go back, from this live-changing revolution.

 At the time of their arrest other spies that were caught were not executed, Ethel Rosenberg’s brother David Greenglass was found guilty of supplying documents to his brother in law Julius. At the time Greenglass worked at Los Alamos and only served 10 of his 15 year sentence. Others convicted served 15 and almost 18 years.

Both Rosenberg’s came from Jewish backgrounds, Julius became a leader in the Young Communist League, USA. He met Ethel there in 1936 and they married three years later. He joined the Army Signal Corps in 1940, in 1945 he was fired from the military after his communist past was discovered. Part of his work had been research on guided missiles during WW2. Ethel before meeting Julius had been an aspiring actress and singer.

The trial began on the 6th of March 1951 and they were convicted on the 29th of the same month. One week later they were sentenced to death, they denied the charges against them even as the day of their going to the electric chair drew closer. The Judge, Irving Kaufman claimed they were responsible for giving the information to the Russians years before their own scientists had predicted the Russians would be able to produce an atomic bomb. He also claimed their actions had helped fuel the communist aggression in Korea and they were responsible for US deaths in the Korean War.

Some people began to believe the Rosenbergs were in fact innocent or at least had too harsh a sentence imposed on them and in the months leading to their execution a campaign was launched to halt the executions amid claims of anti-Semitism. Claims were made that it was a legal lynching and that the US was afraid of the shadow of its own bomb. It was also dubbed as the US’s own Dreyfus Affair. Pope Pius XII appealed to the US President Dwight D Eisenhower to spare the lives of the couple, that and any other appeals were unsuccessful.

One of those arrested around the same time as the Rosenberg’s, Martin Sobell claimed in 2008 that any information passed to the Soviets at that time was of no value to them and that Ethel, although aware took no part in the espionage activities she was executed for.

Many reports coming out of the former Soviet bloc in recent years claim that the Rosenberg’s were killed for nothing and that the information provided by them was of no use to the Soviets and that their personal information on the development of atomic weapons was a matter of trial and error until they had the information to develop it for themselves.

The Rosenberg’s two sons, themselves orphaned by the execution of their parents believed the case was riddled with misconduct by the prosecution and judicial system and their mother was found guilty on the flimsiest of evidence to put pressure on her husband and neither deserved the death penalty.

The uranium was less than 1% of the weight of the Hiroshima bomb 

Chain reaction 
The bomb had two triggers: one time and another fired as the air pressure. They fired a projectile of uranium as a bullet, hit a target, also uranium, to start nuclear fission. Chain reaction, matter disintegrated and released energy equivalent to 20,000 tons of TNT 

Army during the flight 
To avoid accidents, Little Boy was armed during the flight. About 15 minutes after takeoff, Captain Parsons armed explosive charges of gunpowder, the size of a loaf of bread in the back of the pump. The assistant Dick Jepson replaced three green pins for red, allowing the firing of the detonator 

Bomb on board 
Aboard the USS Indianapolis, the Little Boy crossed the Pacific in ten days, until the island of Tinian in the Marianas Archipelago, 2740 km from the Hiroshima (about six hours flight). The island was the largest air base in the world: its four runways housed more than 500 B-29 bombers, aircraft with 30 meters in length 

Active principle 
The bomb, with a nucleus of uranium-235 (the number indicates the mass of uranium, lighter than that found in nature, whose mass is 238), carrying almost 10 kilograms of the substance. What was played on Nagasaki three days later, was made of another material, plutonium-239, also lighter than the natural mass 244. After the end of the 2nd World War, they created the hydrogen bomb, a thousand times more potent than the original 

Shooting 
At 2:45 a.m. the morning of August 6, 1945, the B-29 Enola Gay took off from Tinian. After five and a half hours, threw the bomb at 9600 meters altitude in Hiroshima 

A million degrees 
The bomb exploded in the air above a hospital. In the center of the explosion, the temperature was 1 million oC. The 3 km away, the fireball was a hundred times more luminous than the Sun

Death blow 
The explosion caused a wind that swept over Hiroshima at 1 500 km / h. Within a radius of up to 2 km from the epicenter, most people died within hours. The figures below were collected in 1946 and relate to civilians.