HIROSHIMA - Dropping the bomb 1945

A calculated act of terror
The atomic bombings were not acts of military necessity—they were calculated acts of terror designed to send a message. Internal documents reveal that American planners deliberately selected large population centers like Hiroshima to maximize “psychological effect” and ensure the bombs’ use would be “sufficiently spectacular” to demonstrate U.S. dominance on the world stage.
This was not just about ending the war with Japan. It was about beginning the next war: the Cold War. The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was as much a warning to the Soviet Union as it was an attack on Japan. The atomic bomb was America’s way of declaring itself the global superpower of the postwar order.