Which city was the first to be hit by an atomic bomb?

Hiroshima was the first city to be hit by an atomic bomb. On 6 August 1945, the United States dropped the uranium bomb known as Little Boy from the B-29 bomber Enola Gay over Hiroshima, Japan.

Hiroshima was selected because it was a large urban center with military facilities and had not been heavily damaged by earlier conventional bombing. The target committee also wanted the bomb’s effects to be clearly measured. Kokura and Nagasaki were designated alternative targets if weather prevented the Hiroshima mission.

Three days later, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb, Fat Man, on Nagasaki. The bombings, combined with the Soviet declaration of war on Japan, preceded Japan’s surrender announcement on 15 August and the formal surrender on 2 September 1945.

The attacks killed tens of thousands immediately, with many more dying from injuries and radiation exposure. They remain the only wartime uses of nuclear weapons.