The story
80 years ago, on 6th August 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The aim was to force a quick end to World War Two. The bomb destroyed the city of Hiroshima and about 140,000 people were killed.
Hiroshima was the world’s first nuclear attack, and it’s the only time in history that nuclear weapons have been used in warfare.
The threat of using nuclear weapons, and even nuclear war, is still high in the world. At the time of the Hiroshima bombings, only the USA had nuclear weapons. Now nine countries have them, including Russia, China and the UK.
News headlines
Hiroshima at 80: Remembering the bomb, reimagining peace
Gulf News
Nuclear threat still hangs over our world, 80 years on
Business Times
Hiroshima’s fading legacy: the race to secure survivors’ memories amid a new era of nuclear brinkmanship
The Guardian
Key words and phrases
reimagining
thinking about something in a new and different way
- During the Covid pandemic, schools had to reimagine how to teach classes.
hangs over
threatens
- The funding has been rejected, so uncertainty is hanging over the future of the business.
brinkmanship
the act of making a dangerous situation worse to get what you want
- The government said the teachers’ threat to go on strike was brinkmanship.