Atomic Age
When we look at the Roosevelt Administration, we always are thinking of all of the good things . But there are some negative effects, and one of these effects was the creation of the atomic bomb.
Atomic bombAfter the surrender of Nazi Germany in 19451, the main goal of the US was to end the war. Out of the three Axis powers, only one nation was not giving up, and that one nation was Japan. So on JJuly 26,1945, the United States created the "Potsdam declaration"(This declaration called for an immediate surrender of japan) . Japan refused this treaty, and war went on in the Pacific . A few years before this event occurred (1942), the "Manhattan Project" was created, to test and build the first atomic bomb.2 This project was created by President Roosevelt, to ensure that Japan or Germany would not make any weapons of mass destruction (Nuclear/atom bomb). In May (1942), President Roosevelt gave permission to Project Manhattan to begin developing a nuclear bomb.3 After the command was given, Project Manhattan became one of the most top secret programs of the U.S government . Over the course of the Manhattan Projects existence, the secret program created three bombs . The first bomb was called "Gadget". This bomb was never detonated because of its extreme prices for parts, and its unstable nature . The second bomb (little boy) was detonated over the city of Hiroshima. And the third and final bomb (Fat man) was detonated over the city of Nagasaki . (Below are pictures of the bombs)
(Sources)
1) "End of World War II in Europe." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. 2)"Manhattan Project." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. 3)"The Manhattan Project." The Manhattan Project. Web. 10 Feb. |
Nuclear Arms RaceFor a variety of reasons, after WW2, a conflict arose between the United States and Russia that has always been commonly called, the Cold War. The main weapon of this war was, you guessed it, the nuclear bomb. Although we did not drop these bombs on people like we did in WW2, there was still the constant threat of nuclear war. This influenced foreign polices for many decades. When you here the term "War," most people think about things such as, killing and fighting. This was not the case with the "Cold War". There was not any large scale fighting during this war. The video below is a time lapse of all of the nuclear bombs detonated in the Cold War (The dots are the explosions).
These explosions were detonated in order to show other contries how strong we were (we have these bombs, dont mess with us) . This event is known to historians as the Nuclear Arms Race.
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