Hiroshima was the first Japanese city targeted by an atomic bomb in August 1945.
The United States dropped the uranium bomb Little Boy over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The bomb detonated at approximately 8:15 a.m. local time, destroying much of the city and killing or fatally injuring large numbers of people. The attack was the first use of a nuclear weapon in warfare.
Three days later, on August 9, the United States dropped the plutonium bomb Fat Man on Nagasaki. The Soviet Union also declared war on Japan on August 8, with its forces invading Japanese-held Manchuria soon afterward. These events formed the immediate military and political crisis preceding Japan’s surrender announcement.
Hiroshima is sometimes confused with Nagasaki because both bombings occurred within the same week and both were cited in discussions of Japan’s decision to surrender. Hiroshima was first; Nagasaki was second. The two attacks remain central to historical debates about the end of the Pacific War and the beginning of the nuclear age.