By: History.com Editors

1945

Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki

History.com Editors

Published: November 05, 2009

Last Updated: January 31, 2025

On August 9, 1945, a second atomic bomb is dropped on Japan by the United States, at Nagasaki, resulting finally in Japan’s unconditional surrender.

The devastation wrought at Hiroshima was not sufficient to convince the Japanese War Council to accept the Potsdam Conference’s demand for unconditional surrender. The United States had already planned to drop their second atom bomb, nicknamed “Fat Man,” on August 11 in the event of such recalcitrance, but bad weather expected for that day pushed the date up to August 9th. So at 1:56 a.m., a specially adapted B-29 bomber, called “Bockscar,” after its usual commander, Frederick Bock, took off from Tinian Island under the command of Maj. Charles W. Sweeney.

Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

In August 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What happened to people on the fringes of the blasts?

Nagasaki was a shipbuilding center, the very industry intended for destruction. The bomb was dropped at 11:02 a.m., 1,650 feet above the city. The explosion unleashed the equivalent force of 22,000 tons of TNT. The hills that surrounded the city did a better job of containing the destructive force, but the number killed is estimated at anywhere between 60,000 and 80,000 (exact figures are impossible, the blast having obliterated bodies and disintegrated records).

Hirohito

After the devastating bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the leadership of Japanese emperor Hirohito was put to the test.

General Leslie R. Groves, the man responsible for organizing the Manhattan Project, which solved the problem of producing and delivering the nuclear explosion, estimated that another atom bomb would be ready to use against Japan by August 17 or 18—but it was not necessary. Even though the War Council still remained divided (“It is far too early to say that the war is lost,” opined the Minister of War), Emperor Hirohito, by request of two War Council members eager to end the war, met with the Council and declared that “continuing the war can only result in the annihilation of the Japanese people…” The Emperor of Japan gave his permission for unconditional surrender.

Hiroshima, Then Nagasaki: Why the US Deployed the Second A-Bomb

The explicit reason was to swiftly end the war with Japan. But it was also intended to send a message to the Soviets.

Hiroshima, Then Nagasaki: Why the US Deployed the Second A-Bomb

By: Sarah Pruitt

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on August 9th

378

Romans routed at Adrianople

In one of the most decisive battles in history, a large Roman army under Valens, the Roman emperor of the East, is defeated by the Visigoths at the Battle of Adrianople in present-day Turkey. Two-thirds of the Roman army, including Emperor Valens himself, were overrun and slaughtered by the mounted barbarians. Crowned in 364 A.D., […]

1854

Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden” is published

On August 9, 1854, Henry David Thoreau’s classic Walden, or, A Life in the Woods is published. It is required reading in many classrooms today, but when it was first published, it sold just around 300 copies a year. The American transcendentalist writer’s work is a first-person account of his experimental time of simple living […]

1877

Nez Perce fight Battle of the Big Hole

Having refused government demands that they move to a reservation, a small band of Nez Perce tribesmen clash with the U.S. Army near the Big Hole River in Montana. The conflict between the U.S. government and the Nez Perce was one of the most tragic of the many Indian wars of the 19th century. Beginning […]

1936

Jesse Owens wins 4th gold medal

At the 1936 Berlin Olympics, African American track star Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal of the Games in the 4×100-meter relay. His relay team set a new world record of 39.8 seconds, which held for 20 years. In their strong showing in track-and-field events at the XIth Olympiad, Jesse Owens and other African […]

Gold medalist Jesse Owens, 1936 Olympics

1969

Charles Manson cult kills five, including actress Sharon Tate

Early in the morning of August 9, 1969, members of Charles Manson’s cult kill five people in movie director Roman Polanski’s Beverly Hills, California, home, including Polanski’s pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate. Less than two days later, the group killed again, murdering supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary in their home. The savage […]

The Manson Murders

1974

Gerald Ford becomes president after Richard Nixon resigns

Richard M. Nixon officially ends his term as the 37th president of the United States and former Vice President Gerald R. Ford is sworn in.

Gerald R Ford, Head and Shoulder Portrait speaking to Press shortly after becoming US President upon Richard Nixons Resignation

1988

Hockey’s “Great One” gets traded

On August 9, 1988, Edmonton Oilers center Wayne Gretzky is traded to the Los Angeles Kings along with Mike Krushelnyski and Marty McSorley in return for Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas and first-round draft picks in the 1989, 1991 and 1993 drafts. At age 27, Gretzky was already widely considered the greatest player in hockey history […]

1995

Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia dies

On August 9, 1995, legendary Grateful Dead guitarist and cultural icon Jerry Garcia dies of a heart attack in a residential drug-treatment facility in Forest Knolls, California. Like his band, which was still going strong three decades after its formation, Garcia defied his life-expectancy not merely by surviving, but by thriving creatively and commercially into […]

2010

JetBlue flight attendant quits job via escape slide

On August 9, 2010, JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater quits his job in dramatic style by sliding down his plane’s emergency-escape chute while the aircraft is stopped near the terminal gate at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. Slater, who claimed his actions were prompted by the behavior of a rude passenger, quickly became […]

2014

Michael Brown is killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri

On August 9, 2014, police officer Darren Wilson shoots and kills Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager, in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Protests and riots ensue in Ferguson and soon spread across the country. There are many different accounts of the incident, including the testimonies of Wilson and of Brown’s friend, Dorian […]

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Citation Information

Article title
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
Website Name
History
Date Accessed
March 25, 2025
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
January 31, 2025
Original Published Date
November 05, 2009

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