Bombing of Tokyo in the context of "Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki"

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⭐ Core Definition: Bombing of Tokyo

The bombing of Tokyo (東京大空襲, Tōkyō daikūshū) was a series of air raids on Japan by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), primarily launched during the closing campaigns of the Pacific Theatre of World War II in 1944–1945, prior to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The strikes conducted by the USAAF on the night of 9–10 March 1945, codenamed Operation Meetinghouse, constitute the single most destructive aerial bombing raid in human history. Sixteen square miles (41 km; 10,000 acres) of central Tokyo was destroyed, leaving an estimated 100,000 civilians dead and over one million homeless.

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👉 Bombing of Tokyo in the context of Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, during World War II. The aerial bombings killed 150,000 to 246,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only uses of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict. Japan announced its surrender to the Allies on 15 August, six days after the bombing of Nagasaki and the Soviet Union's declaration of war against Japan and invasion of Manchuria. The Japanese government signed an instrument of surrender on 2 September, ending the war.

In the final year of World War II, the Allies prepared for a costly invasion of the Japanese mainland. This undertaking was preceded by a conventional bombing and firebombing campaign that devastated 64 Japanese cities, including an operation on Tokyo. The war in Europe concluded when Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945, and the Allies turned their full attention to the Pacific War. By July 1945, the Allies' Manhattan Project had produced two types of atomic bombs: "Little Boy", an enriched uranium gun-type fission weapon, and "Fat Man", a plutonium implosion-type nuclear weapon. The 509th Composite Group of the U.S. Army Air Forces was trained and equipped with the specialized Silverplate version of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, and deployed to Tinian in the Mariana Islands. The Allies called for the unconditional surrender of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces in the Potsdam Declaration on 26 July 1945, the alternative being "prompt and utter destruction". The Japanese government ignored the ultimatum.

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Bombing of Tokyo in the context of Tokyo Station

Tokyo Station (Japanese: 東京駅, Hepburn: Tōkyō-eki; pronounced [to̞ːkʲo̞ːe̞kʲi]) is a major railway station in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The original station is located in Chiyoda's Marunouchi business district near the Imperial Palace grounds. The newer Eastern extension is not far from the Ginza commercial district. Due to the large area covered by the station, it is divided into the Marunouchi (west) and Yaesu (east) sides in its directional signage.

The station opened in 1914 as an integrated terminus for the present-day Tōkaidō Line, Tōhoku Line, and later the Chūō Line, which previously had separate termini in Tokyo. Since then, it has served as the main terminus for inter-city trains departing Tokyo westwards. The station was badly damaged during the Bombing of Tokyo on 25 May 1945 but soon resumed service. The Tōkaidō Shinkansen, the world’s first dedicated high-speed rail system, opened between the station and Osaka in 1964. With the extension of northbound Shinkansen lines from Ueno in 1991, the station also became a gateway to northeast Japan.

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Bombing of Tokyo in the context of Nuclear winter

Nuclear winter is a severe and prolonged global climatic cooling effect that is hypothesized to occur after widespread urban firestorms following a large-scale nuclear war. The hypothesis is based on the fact that such fires can inject soot into the stratosphere, where it can block some direct sunlight from reaching the surface of the Earth. It is speculated that the resulting cooling, typically lasting a decade, would lead to widespread crop failure, a global nuclear famine, and an animal mass extinction event.

Climate researchers study nuclear winter via computer models and scenarios. Results are highly dependent on nuclear yields, weather and how many cities are targeted, their flammable material content, and the firestorms' atmospheric environments, convections, and durations. Firestorm case studies include the World War II bombings of Hiroshima, Tokyo, Hamburg, Dresden, and London, and modern observations from large-area wildfires such as the 2021 British Columbia wildfires.

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Bombing of Tokyo in the context of Yodobashi, Tokyo

Yodobashi ward (淀橋区, Yodobashi-ku) is one of the 35 former wards of Tokyo-Fu, Tokyo City. On October 1, 1932, the towns of Yodobashi, Okubo, Totsuka, and Ochiai were merged into Yodobashi ward. In 1947, it was merged with Yotsuya and Ushigome wards of Tokyo City to form the present-day Shinjuku ward. It covered 9.33 square kilometres (3.60 sq mi) and 51,090 people as of October 1, 1945, shortly after the end of World War II and after mass loss of population due to Bombing of Tokyo. Yodobashi Camera is a store with its name taken from the town and ward.

35°41′49″N 139°42′16″E / 35.69694°N 139.70444°E / 35.69694; 139.70444

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