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On August 6th & 9th, 1945 The cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Japan) were devastated by the first (and second) atomic bombs used in warfare. They completely destroyed the cities, leaving Japan no choice but to surrender in World War II. The nuclear weapons were dropped over the cities by B-29 bombers and were orchestrated by the Truman Administration in the United States. The targets of the bombs were indeed the civilians of Hiroshima and Nagasaki because as of August,1945, the United States had literally run out of industrial targets to bomb. Japan had been the recepient of several large-scale bombings by B-29's over the previous months and was definitely defeated, in a military sense, but showed absolutely no sign of surrender. Japan and America had been in war for quite a long time so the Americans continued their air srtikes and bombardment over Japan and saught new-ways to end this war. The idea of using the Atomic Bomb actually pleased many American leaders as it meant not having to invade the Japneese mainland, which would save the lives of thousands and thousands of American and Japneese Soldiers. These atomic bombs, which had been the result of $2 billion of research and were part of the Manhattan Project, were equivalent to 20000 tons of TNT and killed close to quarter-of a million people (just over 200000), not counting the tens of thousands of civilians who sustained severe injuries.