Hiroshima was the first city hit by an atomic bomb in warfare, on August 6, 1945. The United States dropped the uranium bomb nicknamed Little Boy from the B-29 Enola Gay.
The explosion destroyed much of the city and killed tens of thousands of people immediately. Many more died later from burns, injuries, radiation sickness, and other effects. Estimates of total deaths by the end of 1945 are commonly placed around 140,000, though exact figures remain uncertain.
Hiroshima was selected because it was a military and industrial center that had largely escaped earlier conventional bombing. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.
The bombings remain central to debates about military necessity, civilian suffering, and the beginning of the nuclear age. Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park now commemorates the victims and advocates nuclear disarmament.