An aerial photograph of Hiroshima shortly after the "Little Boy" atomic bomb was dropped in 1945
Universal History Archive/UIG/Getty
In May 1945, during the final months of World War II, Germany had surrendered to the Allies but Japan refused.
President Harry Truman wanted to finish the war quickly. His government decided to drop the world's first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
On August 6, the atomic bomb "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima, instantly leveling five square miles and killing an estimated 80,000 people.
On August 6, 1945, a 10-foot-long uranium bomb that weighed 9,788 pounds called "Little Boy" was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
The explosion wiped out five square miles of the city, including 62,000 buildings. Up to 80,000 people were killed instantly. The explosion was so powerful people were vaporized leaving nothing behind except for their "nuclear shadow."
It has gone down as one of the deadliest days in Japanese history. There has also been renewed debate around whether the attacks were necessary to end the war.
Director Christopher Nolan's film "Oppenheimer," which was released in July, is about the work that went on to build an atomic bomb in the years leading up to Hiroshima.
Here's how the bomb drop played out and why it wasn't enough to end the war by itself.
On May 7, 1945, after World War II had been fought for almost six years, Germany surrendered to the Allies—including Britain, China, the Soviet Union and the US—but instead of following suit, Japan continued to fight. They made it clear they would fight until the bitter end.
Celebrations in New York on May 7 1945 after Germany announces its surrender towards the end of World War II.
The Allies' casualties grew worse during this period. Between April and July, the Japanese killed as many as half of the total casualties they had inflicted over the previous three years of the war.
A photo of the fall out after a kamikaze plane strike in May 1945 near Okinawa.
In April, President Harry Truman was sworn in. Until then, he had not known about the work being done by J. Robert Oppenheimer and his team on the Manhattan Project to build an atomic weapon. But with Japan's refusal to surrender, he soon came around to the idea of using it.
President Harry Truman in 1945.
MPI/Getty
Some generals argued the war should have been ended with a final invasion into Japan, but they also advised that it could result in the deaths of up to 1 million US troops.
Truman didn't wanted more US soldiers to die so he chose to proceed with the atomic bomb if Japan wouldn't surrender.
Many military leaders believed the atomic bomb was unnecessary and that Japan would surrender without the use of atomic bombs.
But a committee of advisors, led by the Secretary of War Henry Stimson, argued there was a consensus that backed the bomb and that it needed to be dropped to end the war.
On July 16, a test atomic bomb was successfully detonated in New Mexico. Less than a fortnight later, on July 26, Truman made the Potsdam Declaration. He told Japan to unconditionally surrender or face "prompt and utter destruction."
President Harry Truman with Soviet leader Josef Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the Potsdam Conference on July 17, 1945.
AP Photo
Japan ignored Truman's demand for surrender.
US intelligence also showed that Japan, which had 2.5 million troops, was preparing for an American invasion.
Japan had readied thousands of suicide planes and more than 560,000 soldiers for an expected US invasion. Reports also showed that Japan planned on executing all US prisoners as soon as US armed forces landed in Japan.
The plan to use the atomic bomb proceeded. A crew of 12 was assembled on a US military base on Tinian, an island in Northern Marianas in the Pacific. Colonel Paul Tibbets was named pilot and Captain Robert Lewis was his co-pilot.
Enola Gay, the B-29 plane from which the first atom bomb was dropped, taken in April 1946.
Art Edger/NY Daily News Archive/Getty
Captain William Parsons was weaponeer and Second Lieutenant Morris Jeppson was the electronic test officer.
On August 5, the crew was briefed about their mission. Hiroshima, a city of approximately 350,000 people, which had an active military base, had been chosen for bombing.
A briefing held on August 5 led by Captain William Parsons and Colonel Paul Tibbets.
PhotoQuest/Getty
Tibbets told the crew they would be dropping bombs on the city, but he didn't tell them they would be dropping an atomic bomb.
On August 5, Little Boy was loaded onto an American B-29 bomber Tibbets had called "Enola Gay" after his mother. It was confirmed that the drop would take place the next day.
Men around the Little Boy bomb the day before it was dropped in 1945.
At 12:15 a.m. on August 6, the crew listened to a prayer composed for the occasion. At the time, there was no certainty that the flight would survive the explosion.
Colonel Paul Tibbets waves from his cockpit before takeoff from Tinian Island, on August 6, 1945.
At 2:45 a.m., Enola Gay and two other B-29 observation bombers took off. Because Enola Gay's cargo was so heavy, it required the entire 2 mile runway to take off.
The Enola Gay in August 1945.
Corbis/Getty
Three weather planes also left Tinian.
Each one flew to a potential target city—Hiroshima, Kokura and Nagasaki—to check if weather conditions would permit a bomb drop.
At 3 a.m., Parsons and Jeppson began to arm Little Boy. They inserted gunpowder and a detonator into the bomb. At 7:15 a.m., they removed the safety devices and inserted arming devices. Little Boy was ready to be deployed.
Two men inspect Little Boy in August 1945.
Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty
At 7:30 a.m., Tibbets told his crew, "We are carrying the world's first atomic bomb."
A portrait of Colonel Paul Tibbets taken on January 1, 1940.
Corbis/Getty
At 8:24 a.m., the weather plane over Hiroshima relayed that it was fine to proceed. Tibbets told his crew it had been confirmed. He said, "It's Hiroshima."
A photo-diagram of Hiroshima issued by the US army on August 9, showing Hiroshima and the levels of damage caused by the atomic bomb.
AP Photo
The plan was to drop the bomb on the Aioi Bridge, a T-shaped bridge that Tibbet had earlier said was, "the most perfect aiming AP (aim point) I've seen in this whole damn war."
At 8:15 a.m. local time, Little Boy, the world's first atomic bomb used in battle, was dropped from 31,060 feet in the sky. It fell nearly six miles in 43 seconds before exploding 1,900 feet from the ground.
The atomic bomb explosion on Hiroshima in 1945.
Roger Viollet/Getty Images
Witnesses recalled a flash of blinding light before a giant mushroom shaped cloud filled the sky.
The fireball grew 900 feet in diameter. The power of the blast was the equivalent of 12-15,000 tons of TNT.
Tibbets pulled a sharp 155 degree turn as soon as the bomb was dropped, knowing there was less than 45 seconds to get away.
By the time the bomb exploded, Enola Gay was 11.5 miles away.
The mushroom cloud reached about 2,500 feet into the sky. At the core of the fireball the temperature was 300,000 degrees Celsius, while the surface was 7,000 degrees Celsius.
An aerial view of Hiroshima on August 7, 1945.
Hulton Archive/ Getty
Tibbets later wrote about the explosion in his memoir, describing the mushroom cloud, as "boiling upward like something terribly alive."
At the time, it was then the most destructive bomb used in the history of war. The explosion instantly wiped out five square miles of Hiroshima, including 62,000 buildings. Up to 80,000 people were killed instantly.
Two victims of the atomic bombing sit in a converted hospital in October 1945.
AP Photo
Another estimated 55,000 or so people would die by the end of 1945 from the effects of the explosion, including radiation poison and burn wounds.
According to the US Department of Energy's Manhattan Project history, the final death count over the next five years was almost 200,000.
The explosion was so devastating people were vaporized leaving nothing behind except for their "nuclear shadow." These shadows were actually what the surfaces looked like before the blast, but appeared dark in comparison to everything else that was bleached by the atomic heat.
Human shadow on bank steps, in Hiroshima after the explosion of the atom bomb in August 1945, Japan.
Universal History Archive/Universal Image Group/Getty
After the explosion, the Enola Gay circled the city three times before turning back towards the base. It wasn't until they were 368 miles from the city that they could no longer see the mushroom cloud.
An aerial view of the mushroom cloud from the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
At 2.58 p.m., the Enola Gay landed back on Tinian. The mission had only taken about 12 hours, and while it was not enough to end the war, it had changed the world.
The Enola Gay lands back on Tinian after dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
About 16 hours after the bomb was dropped, Truman told Japanese leaders if they did not "now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this Earth."
Survivors of the atomic bomb in hospital in 1945.
Universal History Archive/Getty
He said the US was now "prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city."
"We shall destroy their docks, their factories, and their communications. Let there be no mistake; we shall completely destroy Japan's power to make war," he said.
Three days after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a second, more powerful bomb known as the "Fat Man" was dropped on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 70,000 people including those who later succumbed to the effects of the bomb by the end of 1945.
On August 14, 1945, Japan surrendered and World War II was officially over. The Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender via a recorded radio message.
Japanese prisoners of war in Guam bow their heads after hearing Emperor Hirohito's announcement of Japan's unconditional surrender.
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