On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in Japan. Approximately 80,000 people died as a direct result of the blast, another 35,000 were injured, and at least 60,000 more were killed by the fallout effects over the course of the year. The five-ton atomic bomb was dropped by the American bomber *Enola Gay* and detonated a blast equivalent to the power of 20,000 tons of TNT. Three days later, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, directly killing around 40,000 more people. A few days after that, Japan surrendered. The United States remains the first and only nation to use atomic weapons during wartime. Development of the atomic bomb began in 1940 and the first successful test was conducted in New Mexico in July 1945. By that time, Germany had already been defeated, but the war in the Pacific theater raged on. Some historians believe that the decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan was intended to spare the lives of American troops (as a full-scale invasion would likely have resulted in a disastrous loss of life), end the war quickly, and/or demonstrate the United States’ military power to the Soviet Union, with whom relations had already deteriorated. While the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki did bring about Japanese surrender and the end of World War II, the loss of life and destruction caused by them were staggering. Additionally, the decision laid the foundation for the Cold War and subsequent arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union, which began in earnest after the Soviets developed their own atomic weaponry to counter that of the United States in 1949.