The Atomic Bomb On The World War II - 1437 Words

On August 3, 1945, President Truman authorized the use of a weapon that would ultimately end almost 200 thousand lives. Three days later, a B-2 bomber dropped the atomic bomb on the Japanese city Hiroshima, ending World War 2 and beginning a new era of warfare. In the following decades, open warfare between nations possessing atomic technology became impossible and a political rift opened between nuclear and non-nuclear nations. In the late 1930s, global tensions crystallized into war and a quest for a new super-weapon quietly began around in the world in numerous, underfunded laboratories. As Europe crumbled under the might of the Axis powers, American scientists began to explore the possibilities of nuclear fission in warfare.†¦show more content†¦The subsequent explosion was described as â€Å"... an intense flash of light, a sudden wave of heat, both followed by a powerful shock wave.† A plume of radioactive fire preceded a massive mushroom cloud that extended over the valley after the test. The results confirmed that the most powerful weapon in the world had been created. A month later, two other atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki with a shockwave felt for miles in the surrounding regions and a political shockwave felt around the world. Long before the atomic detonations above Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Stalin was aware of the American nuclear program. Following the detonation, it was not the technological significance of the bombs that shocked Stalin, who already had spies in the Manhattan Project, rather, it was the alacrity with which the Americans used the weaponry that proved surprising. In what Stalin later described as a â€Å"rare misjudgement†, the Soviet dictator admitted to underestimating the American ambition for victory. Fundamental idealistic differences between the Soviet Union and the United States, no longer overshadowed by the threat of Germany, immediately began to brew conflict following the surrender of imperial Japan. As America celebrated victory, the Soviet Union accelerated its ongoing nuclear program and prepared for another war. Back in the United States, the next big story was Soviet espionage in the