The atom bomb has the potential to kill all mankind and every living thing on Earth. The atom bomb’s effects are due to a split in an atom, which causes a large amount of gamma rays and thermal energy. This deadly weapon was finished on July 16, 1945 and officially tested on the same day. On Harry S. Truman’s orders, the bomb was first used in combat on August 6, 1945 on Japan in World War II. Because of its creation on such a massive amount of political and war changes it is the most influential weapon that has occured in the past 100 years. After the bombing on Japan, when everyone saw the effects the atom bomb had, the world shook with fear. The Americans and other countries before the bombing did not truly know the disasters the atomic bomb could have.
Other countries such as the United Kingdom, believed that the atom bomb was, “An advancement in technology as we know it,” and “an invention that is going to change the world.” In 1945 after the destruction of Japan, 85% of Americans agreed with the thought on the bombing, yet after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki the Pew Research Center, again, conducted a poll in 2005 asking if they still agreed with the bombing. The percentage dropped to 57%.
Although most Americans still agreed with the bombings on Japan and the making of the atom bomb, fear arose through the country and created an unsettling regard on the government. The other percentage of Americans that disagreed with the atom bomb during the 1900’s, composed propaganda to prevent the use of the atom bomb ever again. As the harsh criticism faded off, artists of all kinds made the atom bomb into their writing, drawings, and or movies. Some entertainment include “The Beginning or the End”, a movie made in 1947 about the making of the nuclear bomb and how the scientists regretted making the toxic invention.
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Other artists such as Stan Lee took a neutral approach, and created superheroes that became “super” due to the atomic bomb, such as the Hulk or superheroes influenced by World War I like Captain America. Although Japan also partook in producing entertainment with examples such as “Godzilla” made in March 9, 1954, Japan didn’t forgive the United States entirely for bombing them twice. Due to the strong fears Japan’s government held, they had became allies with America and joined the United Nations in 1956. Not too soon after the bombs were dropped, America helped recover what was once lost in the two cities of Japan, including their economy. To the Japanese government this was known as the “Economic Miracle”. Japan’s economy started to truly take flight in 1970 due to their strong industrial policy and hardworking government.
As Japan worked away in fear of America the Soviet Union worked away aggressively. The Soviet Union’s response to the testings and air attack on Japan was like a challenge to see if they could build an even bigger bomb. Joseph Stalin told his scientists to work in quiet and made the project top secret. Once the replica of “Little boy”, the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima, was finished it became pubisized. The Soviet Union and the United States went back and forth creating the inventions of destruction which then led to the Cold War. Leading up to the Cold War, a colossal size of war laws and changes came into play.
War crimes today include inhumane treatment to war prisoners, biological experiments, murder or ill treatment, destruction of towns, and etc. Most of war changes came after World War II and before Japan joined the United Nations. This shows the rethinking the American government had on releasing the atomic bomb on Japan. As changes in war law were happening, Stalin’s scientists were making an even bigger atom bomb than “Little Boy” or “Fat Man”, the bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
Once the United States heard about the Soviet Union’s attempts on replicating their weapon in 1947, they as well started to make an even bigger atom bomb than before. This went back and forth until America made an even deadlier weapon than the atom bomb, the hydrogen bomb. The hydrogen bomb was finished on November 1, 1952 which created an unsettling relationship with the United States and other countries. Like the atomic bomb, the hydrogen bomb also splits an atom, but the hydrogen bomb creates a chain reaction which causes multiple atoms to split. Once the hydrogen bomb became public the citizens became even more petrified.
The tension between the Soviets and Americans became unbearable and nobody knew who would strike first. Because of how fearful the American citizens started to become, the United States’ government gave the people a sense of security by telling them what to do if an atom or hydrogen bomb were to hit. Of course if either bomb were coming to hit, the amount of automatic deaths would be 90%, so no matter what they would’ve done the citizens would have died anyway. But the thought of knowing what to do during an attack made the people feel safer than not knowing what to do while they heard the warning sirens go off.
A famous video called “Duck and Cover”, made in 1952, shows what to do during a bombing attack and was mostly showed in schools. Although putting your hands over your neck and head and going under your desks seems comical today, to the students who watched “Duck and Cover” it was reassurance.Do to how America handled World War II with the bombings, other countries, mostly in the middle east, took the idea of how America put fear into the Japan government into their own. The United States showed these countries how to put so much fear into their enemies that their enemies will just back down. Some examples could include Syria and their countless poison bomb attacks on their citizens. “Syria is using the same type of fear factor America did on Japan,” told by the “New York Times”.
With more and more countries using this technique, future wars and/or debates could be brash and hasty do to pressure from the opposing country. Luckily, the cold war didn’t lead up to the downfall of either country, but with the power of such a murderous weapon in the wrong hands of any country or person without experience or control, can be devastating and destructive. The atom bomb has multiple components for becoming the most influential invention in the past 100 years such as political and war changes.
Of course, there are more changes such as medical changes, which caused different cancers and breakthroughs in medicine to come into play, or society/social change, which altered how a person acts to one another or how one thinks about the world and/or others. The biggest two would be political and war changes because of the world outcomes rather than one’s self-outcomes. All of the circumstances made because of the atom bomb made it the most influential weapon in the past 100 years.
