Nagasaki was the site of the second and final atomic bomb to be detonated in warfare. Truman allowed bombs to be used on Nagasaki and Hiroshima after the Japanese government ignored the Potsdam Declaration. However, there is debate as to whether the USA misinterpreted the Japanese response, as the word used by the Japanese press, and Kantaro Suzuki was “mokusatsu”. This word not only means ‘ignore’, but also to ‘treat with silent contempt’. Thus, the Japanese position may have simply been a disagreement with the conditions, but a silent acceptance of them as there were no alternatives.
After the Hiroshima bomb, ‘Little Boy’, was detonated on Monday 6th August 1945, the Nagasaki bomb, nicknamed ‘Fat Man’, was detonated at 11:02 am, on Thursday 9th August 1945. The Nagasaki bomb is less well-documented than the Hiroshima bomb, possibly because less people died (around 80,000 compared to 140,000 in Hiroshima by the end of the year). Around half of the total deaths occurred on the day of the bombs, while the deaths which occurred later came as a result of not only injuries, but also radiation sickness, cancer, and malnutrition. The bombs led to the surrender of Japan on 2nd September 1945, and also to the country signing a declaration forbidding nuclear armament to ever occur in Japan. Nagasaki hadn’t really been bombed heavily at all until shortly before the nuclear attack, when a few bombs were dropped. This meant that some children were evacuated, reducing the death toll. Nagasaki was only a secondary target, and was attacked after the primary target of the second nuclear bomb, Kokura, was covered by cloud.
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