Hiroshima was the first Japanese city struck by an atomic bomb during the final surrender crisis of 1945.
The United States dropped the uranium bomb Little Boy over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, at about 8:15 a.m. local time. The attack destroyed much of the city and killed tens of thousands of people immediately, with many more dying later from injuries and radiation effects.
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 and invaded Japanese-held Manchuria during that same rapidly unfolding period. These events intensified the debate inside Japan over whether to accept the Potsdam Declaration.
Hiroshima was not the final location of the surrender ceremony, and its bombing did not itself produce an immediate public surrender announcement. Hirohito’s recorded broadcast came on August 15, after the Japanese leadership had considered the atomic attacks, Soviet entry, and the danger of continued destruction. The formal surrender followed aboard USS Missouri on September 2.