How Hiroshima Happened

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Alex Judson English Comp 102 2/16/2011 How did Hiroshima Happen? There are many controversies surrounding Hiroshima and the day that the United States decided to drop the Atomic Bomb. Many of these are about whether or not the U.S. was justified in dropping the bomb or not. One thing that we do know about that day however is that one survivor, Michihiko Hachiya, a doctor who lived in Hiroshima; he has an account that he kept of the events that took place that day. This essay is designed to describe how the United States became involved in the war, as well as explain what happened on that day in Hiroshima, Japan, August 6, 1945. World War II began on September 1, 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. At this time, the U.S had really no interest in entering the war. The war was an all European war with two distinct sides among all of Europe. Germany, Italy, and in the beginning Russia were the only Axis powers that were present until Japan entered the war in 1940 joining that side. The Allied powers in the war included France, Great Britain, and in later years Russia and the United States. The United States did not get involved until 1941 with some stress as well as the continuing war in Europe; the United States had no other choice than to enter war against Germany and Japan. On December 7, 1941, the country of Japan, an Axis power of World War II, sent 353 kamikaze torpedo bombers to attack the United States Navy at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Japanese attacked at the morning where most of the soldiers were still asleep and not prepared for anything. On that day in only one attack, the Japanese Navy sank 4 Battleships, two of those that were raised and returned to service. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,402 men were killed and
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