Editors Note: We're blogging through We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel.
World War II was underway, and America was slightly scared. Japan had managed an attack on a major US base, and if they could hit that, they might be able to attack the mainland. In 1941, the Manhattan Project began - a super-secret program to create an atomic bomb. As the war continued, the project became urgent.
The bombs were completed by November 1943. Planes had to be modified to carry the bombs. On August 6, 1945, the bombs were flown to their targets and dropped. The bombs exploded at about 1,750 feet above the ground, with the equivalent force of 13,000 tons of TNT.
7 more bombs were being prepared for the war, but production was suspended when Japan surrendered. Since then, an atomic bomb has never been used in war.