Hiroshima Bombing Events

The three main events that led up to the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the bombing of the Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March and the United States successfully testing the world’s first atomic bomb. First, on December 7, 1941, Japan bombed the Pearl Harbor. Japan had always wanted an empire in Asia, so in early 1931 japan set off on their quest and forcefully moved into China. In 1937, Japan launched a major offensive thinking they would force China into submission. By 1939, the Chinese capital was forced to move from Nanjing to the inland area of Hankow. The United States was concerned over Japan’s ambitions cut off 90% of Japan’s raw materials required for war production. The United States had then demanded that the aggressive actions against China and Indonesia be halted. To Japan abandonment was unthinkable, so they chose to attack. By late 1941, Japan had believed the pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor was their only threat. By the end of the attack, the Japanese sunk almost every battleship in Pearl Harbor. At the end of the attack, more than 2,500 Americans and sailors were killed, and another 1,000 were wounded. The day after the attack
On April 9, 1942, the United States General Edward King Jr. surrendered approximately 75,000 troops at Bataan. A few days later, the surrendered troops were forced to march 65 miles from Mariveles, located on the southern end of the Bataan peninsula to San Fernando. These men were divided into groups of approximately 100, which typically took each group around 5 days to complete. To many, it is believed that thousands of troops died because of the brutality of their captors, who starved and beat the marchers and bayoneted those who were too weak to walk. Survivors of the march were taken to Prisoners-of-War camps, where thousands later died due to diseases, mistreatment, and