On August 6, 1945, the US dropped the first nuclear bomb on the unsuspecting Japanese city of Hiroshima. This cataclysmic event, as well as the bombing of Nagasaki a few days later, not only compounded Japan’s decision to surrender in the Second World War, but it also marked the start of the nuclear age. It’s now been 80 years since the bombing of Hiroshima occurred, but the photos of the devastation it wrought are a chilling reminder of how deadly nuclear weapons are.

The bombing of Hiroshima occurred at 8:15 am on that fateful August morning. The bomb, nicknamed “Little Boy”, was being carried on the USAAF B29 Bomber known as the Enola Gay. Compared to the power of modern nuclear weapons, Little Boy was pretty low in terms of its yield – only the equivalent of 12.5 kilotons of TNT –

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